John Cale – Mercy (Domino) (Album Review)

John Cale at age 80, is the last man standing from the original Velvet Underground. On this, his 17^th solo album, Cale proves to be as musically adventurous as ever.

It’s been a while since we heard from JC. His previous album of original material, Shifty Adventures In Nooky World, came to us in 2012.

But the downtime during the pandemic seems to have re-energized the sleeping musical giant. And Cale has made some new friends to give a hand with Mercy…Laurel Halo, Actress, Sylvan Esso, Animal Collective, Fat White Family Tei Shi and Weyes Blood.

Despite the list of collaborators this is very much a John Cale record. Age has done nothing to temper his deep, dark, growl of a voice as you’ll hear on the opening title track.

Cale has stated that these songs were “written during a period of mourning and loss’ and one can hear it as he pleads, ‘Have mercy, mercy…lift me up’. The tone is cold and dark and the music is provided mostly by an electronic beat.

Both Mercy and second track, Marilyn Monroe’s Legs (Beauty Elsewhere) clock in at around the 7 minute mark, making them somewhat daunting to get into. But, if you know anything about John Cale, you know he’s never been an ‘easy’ listen. Instead, I’d say here the music is both discordant and unsettling.

I was most intrigued to hear how Natalie Mering (Weyes Blood) mixed with Cale. She has a beautiful, classic pop voice (her newest album was my fave of 2022) and on Story Of  Blood she still sounds dreamy…but with Cale, that dream often turns into a nightmare.  The song’s bluesy piano is interrupted by intermittent bursts of static, just to keep the listener on the edge.

Let’s face it, the edge is where John Cale has always been. The classically-train Welshman arrived in NYC in the early 60s joining an avant garde scene that included Tony Conrad and LaMonte Young. Then he and Lou Reed teamed up and eventually formed The Velvet Underground (that’s Cale singing BVs on Reed’s early demos released as Words & Music, May 1965)

After being ousted from Velvets, Cale’s career took two paths, one as a producer (Nico, The Stooges, Patti Smith, The Modern Lovers) and his own solo records (Fear, Vintage Violence, Helen Of Troy, Paris 1919).

Back to Mercy, we hear that same adventurous mind at work still.

The album isn’t perfect and some of it can be hard going. But I found as the 71 minute record progressed, Cale seemed to become more inviting starting with track 6, Moonstruck (Nico’s Song) where Cale’s voice is layered like an unholy choir.

Not The End Of The World is strangely reassuring and I Know You’re Happy is the most traditional song in terms of structure. By the end, on Out Your Window, John Cale is here to help.

‘If you jump out your window, I will break your fall’, he promises.

As he again pleads, ‘please, please don’t go’, I can only hope that he takes his own advice.

Marty Duda

Click here to buy John Cale’s Mercy