"Macbeth" is the outlier of Paris 1919. It's also ...

2007-06-28T22:33:00.000-04:00

"Macbeth" is the outlier of Paris 1919. It's also the turning point, the fifth-track of a nine-track album. The gentle "Andalucia" gives way to a barrage of percussion and guitar with an almost crunchy feeling to it. Cale's vocals sound a little processed on this, though it may be an illusion created by how explosive the backing track is. It's an abrupt shift in tone, coming after the dreamlike mood established by the preceding four songs.

The rockin' fadeout of "Macbeth" in turn gives way to the dramatic strings that open "Paris 1919" itself-- a second head-turning shift, though not quite as rude as the transition from "Andalucia." It's like passing from lazy late afternoon to full-moon midnight to the proverbial morning after (and then we get dark teatime of the soul that is "Graham Greene").

So what's... uh... the deal? "Macbeth" couldn't have fit anywhere else on the album, so making it the keystone song was a brilliant move on Cale's part. But what's the significance to this Shakespearean nightmare? Well, oddly enough, "Macbeth" is actually a re-working of one of the weakest offerings on Vintage Violence. Give the dopey and trivial "Adelaide" a spin, and lo and behold, it's the skeleton of "Macbeth" there beneath the forgettable lyrics (shrill harmonica subs in for slide guitar). Cale must have found something redeemable in the tune and turned this early clunker into the sinister revved-up vehicle for the themes of fate, betrayal, death, and surreal faux-history that make Paris 1919 so tasty.

Good move, Cale. Nice save, there. It's one of the best pieces of song cannibalism this side of Pete Townshend. And the quotage from Shakespeare's play on the cover of Fragments of a Rainy Season makes it even more provocative.

Comments on Fragments of a Cale Season: Macbeth

"Macbeth" is the outlier of Paris 1919. It's also ...