John Cale: Shifty Adventures In Nookie Wood

Most musicians don’t suddenly start embracing new genres when they turn 70, at least not successfully. Then again, most musicians aren’t John Cale. With this, his 15th solo record, the wilful Welshman has not so much turned convention on its head as flipped it inside out and sent it hurtling into space.
Opening track ‘I Wanna Talk 2 U’, created with Danger Mouse, is an infectious little ditty, built around a simple acoustic guitar motif, augmented with electro stylings: catchy but somewhat throwaway. As a guide to the album, it’s something of a false prophet, however. The rest of Nookie Wood is much darker musically, with driving beats and gothic synths straight from the Depeche Mode songbook circa Black Celebration, nowhere moreso than on the brilliant ‘Scotland Yard’, the pulsating ‘Mothra’ and the soaring closer, ‘Sandman (Flying Dutchman)’.
While the musical backdrop may be as black as a baboon’s arse, Cale is at his most diverting and even playful lyrically. Okay, so there’s a touch of Carry On Matron about the album title, which is a little disconcerting for a former member of The Velvet Underground, like finding out Bosco was into S&M. But tracks like the gorgeous, synth symphony of ‘Mary’, the melancholy pop of ‘December Rains’ and the drunken lurch of ‘Midnight Feast’ show a songwriter at the peak of his powers.
It doesn’t always work. ‘Vampire Cafe’ is a little too discordant for most ears, while ‘Hemingway’ is electro-by-numbers. But for the most part, JC has succeeded in making an album that confidently defies expectations.
Like Messrs Young and Dylan, Cale has managed to maintain his musical relevance. While the former pair achieved this through creating a vast canon of material that doesn’t deviate too far from the blueprint that served them well for decades, Cale’s route has been that of the musical chameleon, shifting from the classical-tinged Songs For Drella and Paris 1919 to spoken word epics and classic rock before this flirt with electro. He must be the only septuagenarian in the world who understands Auto-Tune and isn’t afraid to use it. Surely, a collaboration with Kanye is only around the corner...