Growing up, pop music was still young enough to make the idea of an elderly rocker unimaginable. It has long been clear that pop and rock have no retirement age, but few musicians seem to have as little influence on routine and routine as on the now 80-year-old (!) John Cale. Ever since he moved to New York as a young Welshman to help shape modern pop music with The Velvet Underground, his came re has been all about uniting melody and avant-garde. In recent years he has not been very productive (his previous album
Shifty Adventures In Nooky Wood dates back ten years ago), but when new material appears, Cale undeniably has something to say. Mercy is an impressive testimony to his artistic urgency. The double album is full of exciting. idiosyncratic songs in which clichés and conventional structures are far removed and various remarkable guests make an appearance. Names such as Laurel Halo, Actress, Weyes Blood and Animal Collective not only show that Cale has an open eye for the new vandals of pop music , but also prove the respect that the great man enjoys among a younger generation. Their contributions are valuable, but relatively modest. Mercy is above all the brainchild of Cale himself, who with his undiminished beautiful baritone denounces some of the greatest excesses and threats of the Western world. No doubt there is life before death, MATTHIS LINNEMANN
