About This Item
Limited 180gm vinyl LP pressing. Released in October 1974, Fear is an incredibly important in the 50+ year career of John Cale - This re-issue faithfully replicates the original 1974 Island Records UK and is pressed onto high quality 180gm vinyl. Fear marked Cale's return to recording in London after the best part of a decade in America. Signing to Island, he made fast friends with two key admirers, Phil Manzanera and Brian Eno, who assisted him in returning his music to the rawer sound of his earlier work, as opposed to the rich textures of his previous studio album, Paris 1919. The tense, clipped InchFear Is A Man's Best FriendInch harks back to the work of the Velvet Underground, as does the standout, InchGunInch, eight minutes of overdriven bleakness with Eno duelling with Cale's guitar solo on synthesisers. Much is rightly made of these tracks, but there is also the sweetness of the gospel of InchBuffalo BalletInch and the Beach Boys homage InchThe Man Who Couldn't Afford To OrgyInch. The pretty, semi-autobiographical InchShip Of FoolsInch offers listeners an opportunity to hear Cale reference the South Wales city of Swansea, it's seaside suburb, Mumbles and his home village of Garnant. In it's often-skeletal simplicity, the often triumphant Fear is an album that brought an angular aggression with it. Album Tracks 1. Fear Is a Man's Best Friend 2. Buffalo Ballet 3. Barracuda 4. Emily 5. Ship of Fools 6. Gun 7. The Man Who Couldn't Afford to Orgy 8. You Know More Than I Know 9. Momamma Scuba
