John Cale
Honi Soit - A&M Records 1981
Tracks:
1. Dear Or Alive / 2. Strange Times In Casablanca / 3. Fighter Pilot / 4. Wilson Joliet / 5. Streets Of Laredo / 6. Honi soit / 7. Riverbank / 8. Russian Roulette / 9. Magic & Lies
Comments:
Unfortunately, I think that "Honi Soit" is quite far from the qualities Cale delivered on his many fine albums from the 1970s.
The album does start very promisingly with the catchy rocker "Dead or Alive", which could well be called classic Cale and which could be a number taken from "Helen of Troy" or "Slow Dazzle". Sadly, the album only seems to briefly reach the level of the opening track during the following 34 minutes. A couple of decent fra are "Riverbank", which is quite quiet and melodic - nice but also long, and "Magic and Lies" which is melodic but also somewhat heavily arranged.
The other tracks are to varying degrees monotonous or noisy - unfortunately. Cale was clearly influenced by the punk/new-wave wave, but I don't think this has done anything positive for his music - unfortunately.
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