The Velvet Underground’s not-so-secret weapon has been making albums for 50+ years. His best work is often stealth. ALSO: A deep-dive playlist. Arooj Aftab. Grateful Dead. The new film Flipside.
Irman Schmidt told me that Cale was one of the people he bumped into in NYC on his was to a classical music composition competition which he blew off to follow along to a Tony Conrad event. Schmidt was blown away by the NY avant scene and the Velvets. He went back to Germany to his hand at something that combined classical and rock. He started Can.
Somehow I never heard that Bataclan concert - thank you!
Yeah it’s stayed pretty obscure. So much amazing music history in European/Scandinavian TV archives of that era.
Irman Schmidt told me that Cale was one of the people he bumped into in NYC on his was to a classical music composition competition which he blew off to follow along to a Tony Conrad event. Schmidt was blown away by the NY avant scene and the Velvets. He went back to Germany to his hand at something that combined classical and rock. He started Can.
Great post Will. Just killer.
The drones heard ‘round the world… thx D!