The final review is the last release that Cale has made. A live album called
Circus Live from 2007.
Live albums are by nature a generally hit or miss affair. I am of the opinion that the live atmosphere is rarely recaptured and they are fan fodder at best. There are always exceptions. Though to a degree this is in the most part fan fodder it has it's moments and I put that down to the fact that Cale has had no issue with reconstructing a couple of his songs for live performance. It is also generally a "best of" with a few recent tracks and has wonderful packaging consisting of 2 CD,s and a DVD.
There are a couple of VU songs on Disc one. Faithful versions of
Venus In Furs and
Femme Fatale. Femme Fatale melds with an obscure Cale B Side
Rosegarden Funeral Of Sores with good effect. A couple of blasts from the Island years in
Save Us, Helen Of Troy, Buffalo Ballet, Cable Of Hogue and
Dirty Ass Rock and Roll. A track follows called
Set You Free from an album I do not have nor have I heard called Walking On Locusts. The other tracks are of recent vintage from both Hobo Sapien and Black Acetate and are performed very well and faithfully. Disc 2 opens with a cover of
Walking The Dog and a totally reconstructed 12 minute version of
Gun shows Cale at his experimental best in a live situation. If you are looking for that famous guitar solo forget it.
Hanky Panky Nohow from Paris 1919 harks back to the early days and then he rocks out with a nice crunchy version of
Pablo Picasso that segues into
Mary Lou a nice obscure rock and roll song from a compilation called Guts. Cale whips in a drone, what would be a live performance without Cales famous drones, and then we get the recent
Zen from Hobo Sapiens,
Style It Takes from Songs for Drella with a version of
Heartbreak Hotel. The anti war
Mercenaries (Ready For War) from Sabotage Live follows and we finish out with another Drone. The DVD is good as it has band practise in dribs and drabs and a new song with a cartoon film clip called J
umbo In The Modern World and a couple of audio tracks,
Gravel Drive and a 2007 version of
Big White Cloud. I actually prefer this to the original from Vintage Violence. Modern Production techniques are better for the song. This DVD alone makes the package a worthy addition to the Cale fans collection.