Vintage Violence
| Vintage Violence | ||||
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| Studio album by John Cale | ||||
| Released | 25 March 1970 | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 34:25 | |||
| Label | Columbia | |||
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| John Cale chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Vintage Violence | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
| Robert Christgau | C+ |
| Rolling Stone | favourable |
Vintage Violence is the debut studio album by Welsh musician John Cale, released in March 1970 by record label Columbia.
Produced for a mere $15,000, Cale stated in his autobiography What's Welsh for Zen? that there wasn't "much originality on that album, it's just someone teaching himself to do something". He also "thought the songs were simplistic". He pieced together a band to play on the album, and they named themselves Penguin. However, the group didn't last beyond the recording sessions.
The cover of the album features Cale with his face obscured by a glass mask over a , which he would later cite in his autobiography as symbolic of the content of the record: "You're not really seeing the personality".
Vintage Violence was released on 25 March 1970 by record label Columbia.
The album was re-released in remastered form in 2001.
Vintage Violence received mostly positive reviews. Rolling Stone magazine's Ed Ward said that the album sounds "like a Byrds album produced by Phil Spector who has marinated for six years in burgundy, anise and chili peppers". Ward was also quoted in Billboard magazine as saying, "I believe that this is destined to become one of the most important albums of the past few years."
In his retrospective review, Mark Deming of AllMusic wrote: "John Cale had the strongest avant-garde credentials of anyone in The Velvet Underground, but he was also the Velvet whose solo career was the least strongly defined by his work with the band, and [...] Vintage Violence certainly bears this out."
All tracks written by John Cale; except where indicated.
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Wikipedia