John Cale's Paris 1919

Mark Doyle

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
• Year: 2025
• eBook ISBN: 9798765106808
• Edition: 0
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Music

John Cale's enigmatic masterpiece, Paris 1919, appeared at a time when the artist and his world were changing forever. It was 1973, the year of the Watergate hearings and the oil crisis, and Cale was at a crossroads. The white-hot rage of his Velvet Underground days was nearly spent; now he was living in Los Angeles, working for a record company and making music when time allowed. He needed to lay to rest some ghosts, but he couldn't do that without scaring up others. Paris 1919 was the result. In this vivid, wide-ranging book, Mark Doyle hunts down the ghosts haunting Cale's most enduring solo album. There are the ghosts of New York – of the Velvets, Nico, and Warhol – that he smuggled into Los Angeles in his luggage. There is the ghost of Dylan Thomas, a fellow Welshman who haunts not just Paris 1919 but much of Cale's life and art. There are the ghosts of history, of a failed peace and the artists who sought the truth in dreams. And there are the ghosts of Christmas, surprising visitors who bring a nostalgic warmth and a touch of wintry dread. With erudition and wit, Doyle offers new ways to listen to an old album whose mysteries will never fully be resolved.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Series
• Dedication
• Title
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1 The Ghosts of New York
• 2 The Ghost of Dylan Thomas
• 3 The Ghosts of History
• 4 The Ghosts of Christmas
• Notes
• Select Bibliography
• Copyright