John Cale – Animal Justice (1977)

by 1970s • Tags: , , ,

Another excellent short chapter from the great John Cale library. The upbeat, driving rocker “Chicken Shit” which opens the EP has a great backstory: “Cale’s often loud, abrasive and confrontational live performances fitted well with the nascent punk rock developing on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. During one gig he chopped the head off a dead chicken with a meat cleaver, and his band walked offstage in protest. Cale’s drummer — a vegetarian — was so bothered he quit the group. Cale mocks his decision on the song “Chicken Shit” from the Animal Justice EP. Cale has admitted that some of his paranoia and erratic behavior at this time was associated with heavy cocaine use.” The EP closes with the epic tune “Hedda Gabler” based very loosely on the Ibsen play. All in all an outstanding effort. Highly recommended! [Source]

1. Chicken Shit

2. Memphis

3. Hedda Gabbler



John Cale – Sabotage/Live (1979)

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Sabotage/Live was recorded live at CBGB’s, New York in June 1979. Reissued on CD by A&M Canada without bonus tracks and reissued again in the UK a decade later with the following bonus tracks: “Memphis”, “Chicken Shit” and “Hedda Gabler”, that were released as an EP called Animal Justice in August 1977. “Rosegarden Funeral of Sores” was released as the B-side of the “Mercenaries (Ready For War)” single in 1980; it was later covered by Bauhaus.

1. “Mercenaries (Ready For War)”

2. “Baby You Know”

3. “Evidence”

4. “Dr. Mudd”

5. “Walkin’ The Dog”

6. “Captain Hook”

7. “Only Time Will Tell”

8. “Sabotage”

9. “Chorale”



[via Klaus Lynggaard - dedicated to Martha Podell - happy birthday!!]

Electric Light Orchestra – Roll Over Beethoven (1973)

by 1970s, Classic Rock • Tags: , , , , , ,

“Roll Over Beethoven” is the second single released by the Electric Light Orchestra. It became their second consecutive top ten hit in the UK, as well as a hit in the United States when an edited version of the track was taken from the album ELO 2 in 1973. ELO’s elaborate eight-minute reworking of the track included an opening musical quote from Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and clever interpolations of material from the symphony’s first movement into Berry’s song; the band closed all their concerts using this number, their signature song. The B-side “Queen of the Hours” was the first ever ELO published song, released by Harvest Records in November 1971 in a compilation called The Harvest Bag which featured various Harvest records artists.

TV version:


Long version:


Gene Clark – No Other (1974)

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No Other is the fourth solo studio album by Gene Clark. On release in late 1974 it was a critical and commercial failure; the studio time and cost being seen as excessive and indulgent. The record label, Asylum Records, did not promote the album, and by 1976 had deleted it from their catalog. Clark never recovered from the failure of the album.


Reader review in The Guardian here.

Electric Light Orchestra – 10538 Overture (1972)

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“10538 Overture”, released in 1972, was the first single by Electric Light Orchestra. The song, written by Jeff Lynne, was intended to be a B-side on one of The Move’s singles. Rick Price of The Move played bass on the track originally but was never credited, apparently with all the overdubs and layers that were added to the track the bass line ‘got lost’ in the mix and Jeff Lynne laid down a new bass line. Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne shared vocal duties on the song much like their previous single “California Man,” (as The Move). The song is about an escaped prisoner but Jeff Lynne wanted to give the character in the song a number as opposed to a name when he chanced upon the number 1053 (probably printed on a Neve 1053 mic preamp/EQ module) while looking around the mixing console. Roy Wood suggested adding number eight to fit the melody better. The song was still to be a new song by The Move, until Wood added some cello riffs and after many cello layers were added using overdubbing, the ‘Overture’ and the Electric Light Orchestra were born. It was during the single’s chart run that Roy Wood dramatically left the ELO line-up, emerging later in the year with yet another new band called Wizzard.