Two solo albums from John Cale‘s early solo career will be reissued this fall. The Academy in Peril, the 1972 modern classical album featuring cover art designed by Andy Warhol, will be reissued officially for the first time, and the critically acclaimed 1973 album, Paris 1919, will be expanded into a deluxe edition. Both albums will come out on Nov. 15 via Domino Records.
The Paris 1919 deluxe edition includes previously unreleased outtakes, a new song, “Fever Dream 2024: You’re a Ghost,” and liner notes by Rolling Stone contributor Grayson Haver Currin. The Academy in Peril includes a bonus track, “Temper.” Recording engineer Heba Kadry remastered each of them.
“Revisiting work from the past is a double-edged sword for me,” Cale said in a statement. “Of course, it’s bound to happen when you’ve been making music for 60 years or so. What’s unique about this process with Domino is their desire to get it right. Not merely reissue something for the sake of an anniversary or racking up a catalogue favorite, but finding new treasures and highlighting what made it special in the first place.
“After hearing the test pressings, it occurred to me that the new mastering was a major part of how these works will be presented, rather than simply being preserved,” he continued. “There are moments of clarity and even a laugh or two had by revisiting not only the music, but recalling the sessions (and antics) that made up what became these two recordings. It is my pleasure to share these with you … again.”
Earlier this year, Cale released his 18th solo album, Poptical Illusion. “Nobody since Leonard Cohen has had such a creative boom in the eighty-something years, which makes sense since neither of them was ever exactly the starry-eyed idealistic type, even in their younger days,” Rolling Stone remarked in a review.
In an interview around the album’s release, Cale looked back on his career, including how Warhol contributed to the cover of The Academy in Peril. “I had a row of Kodachrome photographs, and he just took them and gently dropped everything onto the page,” Cale told Rolling Stone. “It was a million miles away from having to put all of them in an order and design it properly. But it had a charm to it that was really great. So you learned a lot about how uptight you are [by working with him].”
Paris 1919 deluxe edition track list:
Side A
1. “Child’s Christmas in Wales”
2. “Hanky Panky Nohow”
3. “The Endless Plain of Fortune”
4. “Andalucia”
5. “Macbeth”
Side B
1. “Paris 1919”
2. “Graham Greene”
3. “Half Past France”
4. “Antarctica Starts Here”
Side C
1. “I Must Not Sniff Cocaine”
2. “Hanky Panky Nohow (Drone Mix)”
3. “Child’s Christmas in Wales (Rehearsal 1)”
4. “Half Past France (Intro Chat)”
5. “Macbeth (Take 11)”
Side D
1. “Hanky Panky Nohow (Guitar Mix)”
2. “Fever Dream 2024: You’re a Ghost”
