John Cale & Terry Riley ‎– "Church Of Anthrax" (CBS ‎– S 64259) 1971

Bongwater did a song called "David Bowie Wants Ideas", and the place to find them was usually in the Avant Garde arena. John Cale wasn't slow in coming forward with misappropriating ideas from the avant classical mainstream and trying to bend them into shape for the record buying public. Amid his lengthy back catalogue of truly terrible mild rock albums, this one actually stands up as vaguely interesting.
It should have actually been a three track album of minimalism/rock crossover tunes, but obviously the Record company must have uttered the classic phrase....."Its great,but I'm not hearing a single?"
So a three minute hippy folk tune sung by a guest vocalist was inserted,and a short rocky instrumental B-side was added to bring the album to a limp close. Among the three minimalist inspired tracks,the 'single' sticks out like an enormous carbuncle on a bare arse.I dunno if it was ever actually released as a single, but,whoever bought the album on the strength of it,would not have been happy.
Bowie,Pop,Fripp and Eno, were endlessly prowling the musical underground to steal Ideas,but Cale beat them all to Terry Riley.....mainly because he knew him from his days in LaMonte Young's Theatre of Eternal Music.
In fact, despite the praise dished out for this album, it ain't that good,and relies heavily on the uncredited drumming of one David Rosenboom to hold it together;and i'm struggling to hear much minimalism on this either.Its neither Rock or minimal,or even a sucessful mix of the two,but its an interesting attempt to do something....er....different? These guys were under pressure to deliver remember? File under Prog.

Tracklist:

A1 Church Of Anthrax 9:00
A2 The Hall Of Mirrors In The Palace At Versailles 7:55
B1 The Soul Of Patrick Lee 2:47
B2 Ides Of March 11:03
B3 The Protege 2:47

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John Cale - "Sun Blindness Music" (Audio ArtKive ‎– Audio ArtKive 03) 2001

There's snow blindness like sun blindness.
Three more Tony Conrad recordings of John Cale's new york Drone experiments.This stuff was genuinely decades ahead of its time, and the best thing that Cale was ever involved in,unless he was on that Portsmouth Symphonia Record.....the sad thing is, i could easily check,but really whats the point in finding anything out anymore when there's no need to remember it because if I need to know it I can just go on the internet and it will remember it for me.The real danger is trusting technology to remember the facts as they truly were,and not how persons,or machines, unknown want them to be remembered.
Isn't there a Philip K. Dick story on this subject?.....no, don't look that up either.Use your own memory banks.This is whats killing debate in Pubs,as we sit gazing into our beer in relative silence.
Well, i'm gonna go out on a limb and state that Cale was indeed part of Gavin Bryers Portsmouth Symphonia project,so if anyone wants to argue that he wasn't go ahead,but without fucking googling it!
It doesn't matter if he was or if he wasn't,but at least we tried?
"We can remember it for you"!?

Tracklist:

1 Sun Blindness Music
Organ [Vox Continental] – John Cale 42:42
2 Summer Heat
Guitar – John Cale 11:06
3 The Second Fortress
Sounds [Electronic Sounds] – John Cale 10:36

1 - October 28, 1967
2 - August 1965
3 - Late 1967/Early 1968
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John Cale ‎– "Stainless Gamelan: Inside The Dream Syndicate Volume III" (

They call it 'inside the Dream Syndicate', but its the Welshman's name in large capitals on the cover!?
Ahh, but this has a picture of 'sexy' era John Cale,when he realized that 'art' ain't worth  a fuck, but a fuck is worth selling out for.
The music is from before he sold out to very minor fame, but there's a particularly amusing ending when someone,a neighbour, or the New York Fire Dept, enters Conrad's apartment and tells them to shut up or else......surprisingly they do!?...not very Rock'n'Roll is that eager compliance.

Tracklist:
1 Stainless Steel Gamelan
Harpsichord [Cembalet], Guitar [Fretless] – John Cale, Sterling Morrison 10:30
2 At About This Time Mozart Was Dead And Joseph Conrad Was Sailing The Seven Seas Learning English
Tape [Wollensak] – John Cale Viola, Guitar – John Cale, Sterling Morrison 26:27
3 Terry's Cha-Cha
Drums [Hand], Tambourine – Angus Maclise Soprano Saxophone – Terry Jennings Tape [Wollensak] – John Cale 8:20
4 After The Locust
Electric Piano – John Cale; Performer [Thunder Machine] – Tony Conrad 4:18
5 Big Apple Express
Viola, Tape – John Cale;Vocals – New York Fire Department 5:45

1 - Mid 1960s. 
2 - May 1967. 
3 - May 1967.
4 - Circa 1968.
5 - Early/mid 1960s

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John Cale ‎– "Dream Interpretation: Inside The Dream Syndicate Volume II" ( Audio ArtKive ‎– Audio ArtKive 04) 2001

John Cales' name sits proudly atop these archive releases from his days with La Monte Youngs 'Theatre Of Eternal Music"; renamed "The Dreeam Syndicate" by Cale and Conrad.

'Cale' rhymes with 'sale', so as the most saleable member of the 'Dream Syndicate' he gets his name on the top of the list of players,in large capital letters.

This is the Second of three 'Dream Syndicate' discs reproduced from archival recordings by Tony Conrad, of Cale and verious members of La Monte Youngs crew, namely MacLise, Conrad and everyones favourite ex-Velvet Underground member.

Here they mess around with La Monte Young's basic drone concept,which would later turn up in Cale's work with VU.On the opening track,his Viola is like a chainsaw gnawing at your inner ear;and maybe even your inner-soul,if you have one.Which you almost certainly don't......and equally as certain, neither do I, if you were wondering?

John seems to take full credit for all this ground breaking mid-60's experimentation, and one must say, it hasn't dated.Unlike Cales' seventies Rock albums, which are pretty awful trad rock,but caused a slight stir back in the day, and today sound rather dull.....unlike these drone experiments.One Would have preferred the lyrics to 'Fear' sung over these unsettling pieces of music, rather than the flaccid adult orientated rock of his early seventies output.Thats inevitably the result of discovering that girls now found him attractive,after donning sunglasses and growing his hair for minor pop stardom in the Velvet Underground.Its difficult to go back to pure experimentation once this has happened to yer average male with low self-esteem.Lou Reed, never really struggling with low self-esteem, managed to do 'Metal Machine music', but I suspect that was merely a 'Fuck You' concept album, as opposed to rediscovering the artist within;but that was a full ten years after these Cale and Conrad experiments.

Alas 'Metal Machine Music' does stand up as one of Reeds best albums,and is neck and neck with Public Image Limited's 'First Issue' in the race to be crowned 'Thee Badest Bad Attitude Album' of allllll time.

Tracklist:

1 Dream Interpretation
Viola – John Cale ;Violin – Tony Conrad 20:33
2 Ex-Cathedra
Organ [Vox Continental] – John Cale 5:03
3 [Untitled] For Piano
Piano – John Cale 12:28
4 Carousel
Sounds [Electronic Sounds] – John Cale 2:32
5 A Midnight Rain Of Green Wrens At The World's Tallest Building
Viola – John Cale;Violin – Tony Conrad 3:19
6 Hot Scoria
Cimbalom – Angus MacLise;Guitar – John Cale 9:21

1 - February 6, 1969.
2 - Late 1967/Early 1968.
3 - Early/mid 1960s. 
4 - Late 1967/Early 1968.
5 - February 8, 1968. 
6 - March 2, 1964 or 1965.

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Theatre Of Eternal Music :featuring John Cale / Tony Conrad / Angus MacLise / La Monte Young / Marian Zazeela ‎– "Inside The Dream Syndicate Volume I: Day Of Niagara(1965)" ( Table Of The Elements ‎– 74 W) (1965 / 2000)

Grandaddy of the minialist drone epic, La Monte focused his attention on pieces of extended duration, with minimal, often microtonal, change,since,i am told, the fifties???? For this reason, he is known as thee initiator of the minimal music "movement". All originators need to surround themselves with like-minded individuals at some stage,and the list on the cover of this album reads as a who's who of early minimalism.
More or less a Minimalist Super Group, 'The Theatre Of Eternal Music',later known,by Cale and Conrad, as The Dream Syndicate, was formed by La Monte Young, to focus on experimental drone music. Again, no-one thought of recording this stuff in a studio, because they likely thought that no-one would want to listen to it for more than 30 seconds. This rare live recording of the Theatre in action in 1965, lasts for a standard tape reel length of thirty minutes......not until the CD age would we get to hear the full five hours of "The Well Tuned Piano", and now, even that can be edited together to run continously on a computer without changing discs.
Young was born in a log cabin in the american wilderness, and somehow graduated to playing his Indian influenced drones at Yoko Ono's loft after he relocated to the Big Apple in the early sixties. Some people are just born into it, it seems? Most of us have to work at it, but some, like La Monte, just effortlessly go where nobody else has dared to tread.......then get ignored. He's still far less known than Cale, Conrad, and Terry Riley, but maybe thats a good thing......the public will only ruin him...maybe get him to do an album with Faust, or join a pop group like Cale did.

Tracklist:

1. Inside The Dream Syndicate Volume I: Day Of Niagara (1965) 30:54

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Jack Smith ‎– "Silent Shadows On Cinemaroc Island - 56 Ludlow Street 1962-1964 Volume II" ( Audio ArtKive Ag 47) 1997

More camp shenanigans from Jack Smiths apartment on Ludlow Street,as recorded,one assumes by mr minimalism,Tony Conrad,who also appears.
It manages to be both weird and hilarious at the same time,a feat only achieved by such luminaries as The Residents.
I would write more,but I had a heavy night down the pub yesterday evening.Never again!

Tracklist:

1 Carnival Of Ecstacy
Performer – Tony Conrad 3:19
2 The First Memoirs Of Maria Montez
Finger Cymbals – Jack Smith Performer – David G., Mario Montez, Tony Conrad 22:12
3 Buffalo Song
Performer – Mario Montez Violin – Tony Conrad Vocals – Jack Smith 2:10
4 Mario And The Flickering Jewel
Voice – Jack Smith, Tony Conrad 3:51
5 Contadina Tomato Paste 3:03
6 Silent Shadows On Cinemaroc Island
Performer – John Cale, Tony Conrad 8:45
7 The Horrors Of Agony 10:50
8 Jack, Mario, And Tony
Voice – Mario Montez 6:00

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Jack Smith ‎– "Les Evening Gowns Damnees - 56 Ludlow Street 1962-1964, Volume I" (Audio ArtKive ‎– Audio ArtKive 01) 1997

If fucking around with your mates and recording it is Art, then so be it. Hell, we've all done it ain't we?...if not ,then you should have.
Jack Smith, who virtually invented 'Camp Art' and zero budget trash cinema, seemed to have a great time at 56 Ludlow Street with his artsy chums, which included most of the nascent Velvet Underground.
It all sounds great fun to these ears.
This is where Lou Reed stole his lyrics from and Warhol stole the ideas for his movies.
Jack Smith is another one of those ignored and forgotten counter culture heroes who accidently inspired others with greater ambitions to achieve imortality.Without Smith there would have been no John Waters,or Laurie Anderson;but Smith did all of this for no other reason than to entertain himself,because there was nothing out there like his films or his living artwork,himself, existed pre-Smith.
He certainly had his fifteen minutes,but thats all he wanted,and all he got.Others,like Lou Reed, outlived their quarter of an hour,and how we wished they hadn't.
In the future everyone will be as obscure as Jack Smith for Fifteen Minutes.

Tracklist:

1 Earthquake Orgy
Voice [Screams] – Arnold Rockwood, Jack Smith, Kate Heliczer, Mario Montez, Piero Heliczer 3:53
2 Love Is Strange
Featuring – Frances Francine, Tony Conrad 17:51
3 Jack Smith Reads From "The Great Moldy Triumph" On His 31st Birthday
Engineer – Robert Adler*Voice, Effects – Frances Francine, Ron Rice 6:35
4 Cold Starry Nights
Featuring [Sarinda] – John CaleStrings [Bowed Cembalom] – Tony Conrad 2:19
5 Jack Smith Tells Tales Of Francine 8:08
6 The Second Dance Of The Harem Mongos (Excerpt)
Cymbal [Finger], Drums – Jack SmithFeaturing [Mandola] – Tony Conrad 4:00
7 Jack Smith Reads "Les E. G.'s Damneés"
Guitar [Lute] – Tony ConradStrings [Bowed Mandola] – Angus MacLise 16:13

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