John Cale HoboSapiens

Who would have thought that John Cale's current release would efficiently challenge the work of his former bandmate, Lou Reed? After the demise of Velvet Underground and the uptick in the solo career of Lou Reed, John Cale became a different performer. His forays through the genres of rock gave him critical success but not the commercial success that provided former bandmate, Reed, with the clout of sales and accessibility.

John Cale produced memorable work with 1973's Paris 1919 with movement into punk with his CBGB's recorded Sabotage Live and threading work that includes 1992's intriguing Songs For the Dying. Throughout his recorded career, Cale has always maintained a willingness to respond to the sounds of the times that he recorded in yet maintaining his familiar quality. However, with HoboSapiens, he has created a work of thought and complexity with a musical accompaniment that complements an intelligent lyrical depth that is poetic and challenging.

As we age, we become more aware of our emotional surroundings. That elicits bouts of introspection that accompanies an approaching mortality. We look at things much closer and evaluate their importance to us and to our families. Cale has had his feet mired in the muck of this self-inspection and outward appraisal for many years but never has he entered into it with a more musically pleasant and less darkly ambient set such as is HoboSapiens.

It is very difficult to get past the first track of this album as it is one of the most accessible. Beginning with a single tone and merging with beats, "Zen" captures the listener with an intensity of rhyme that combines to stir us into being open to the rest of the album. As it advances, HoboSapiens' becomes an extraordinary work, changing in scope and feel, chameleon-like. On "The Look Horizon", the music is without pretentiousness as it uses strong basslines, twanging guitar, and simple drumming. With tunes like "Magritte", about a surrealist painter who painted extraordinary works that captured imagination, and "Archimedes", we start to hear more familiar Cale work. With "Twilight Zone", there is a recognizeable Bowie/Low era sound. With the bonus track of "Set Me Free", there is an unmistakeable feel of Eno influenced U2, Unforgettable Fire era, however maintaining equally unmistakeable Cale work.

The whole of HoboSapiens is like a trip around the world; each stop is as different as the last. But each stop helps to complete the cycle of travel making for a trip unmatched and quite wonderful and memorable. Cale fans will be drenched with excitement.

We benefit from HoboSapiens because it reveals the mind of Cale as he walks through life. It's an artist's ability to communicate what the rest of us cannot comprehend because we fail to understand our changes. Cale does this effortlessly with an album of brilliance. To assemble all that thought within the framework of a diverse and satisfying musical palette is a work of art of the same essence as Magritte. And all this from a guy in his 60s. John Cale, much wiser and more adept, is still in touch with his audience, lyrically and musically. Maybe better than Lou has done.