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Album Review: John Cale - M:FANS

Christopher H James
StarStarStar

"It's a curious twist for the initiated, and a lesson in bitter as coal songwriting for newbs."

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Inspired by the death of his former Velvet Underground sparring partner Lou Reed, M:FANS is a re-recording of Music For A New Society, Cale's grotesque slab of despair from 1982.

The music's almost identical to the original, the only variations being subtle differences in performance, which Cale has described as shifting from "sorrow" to "rage". Either way, dread cuts like (I Keep A) Close Watch remain just as devastating. It's a curious twist for the initiated, and a lesson in bitter as coal songwriting for newbs.