{"product_id":"fragments-of-a-rainy-season","title":"Fragments Of A Rainy Season","description":"\u003cp\u003eDomino Records reissue John Cale’s classic live album \u003ci\u003eFragments Of A Rainy Season\u003c\/i\u003e, featuring his revered interpretation of Leonard Cohen’s \u003ci\u003eHallelujah\u003c\/i\u003e amongst many solo versions from his enduring catalogue and previously unreleased outtakes. \u003ci\u003eFragments Of A R\u003c\/i\u003eainy \u003ci\u003eSeason\u003c\/i\u003e was the first live John Cale album to feature him performing solo and ‘unplugged’ - before that term became a mid 1990s buzzword. In contrast to the jaundiced punk truculence of \u003ci\u003eSabotage \/ Live\u003c\/i\u003e (1979) or \u003ci\u003eEven Cowgirls Get The Blues \u003c\/i\u003e(1986), \u003ci\u003eFragments Of A Rainy Season\u003c\/i\u003e gives us Cale at his most melodic and moving, a mellowed and certainly a soberer man in a Yamamoto jacket and a lopsided haircut running through a selection of his prettiest songs. It’s a Cale many love deeply, a man alone at a concert-hall Steinway revisiting the pop-rock of \u003ci\u003eParis 1919\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eA Child’s Christmas In Wales\u003c\/i\u003e, as wistful and whimsical as any 70s singer songwriter holding court at LA’s Troubadour club. It’s the Cale who disavowed the spiky nihilism and decadence of the Velvets, inspired instead by melodicism of Paul McCartney and Brian Wilson (to whom he’d paid haunting homage on Slow Dazzle’s brilliant Beach Boys pastiche \u003ci\u003eMr. Wilson\u003c\/i\u003e). It’s the Cale who improbably took a staff job at Warner-Reprise in LA and - for an all-too-brief moment - became part of the Burbank producers’ mafia alongside Lenny Waronker and his laidback chums. (Lest we forget, 1973’s \u003ci\u003eParis 1919\u003c\/i\u003e featured members of Little Feat and The Crusaders among the backing musicians.) Cale being Cale, \u003ci\u003eFragments Of A Rainy Season\u003c\/i\u003e isn’t all rueful tenderness. The deceptively jaunty \u003ci\u003eDarling I Need You\u003c\/i\u003e is flippantly introduced as a song about “religious awakening in the southern part of the United States,” while Elvis’ \u003ci\u003eHeartbreak Hotel\u003c\/i\u003e is no less gothic in the solo version here than it is in the Grand Guignol horror show of the original on \u003ci\u003eSlow Dazzle\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003ci\u003eGuts\u003c\/i\u003e is as close as Cale ever came to Lou Reed at his most withering. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e2CD - Double CD includes eight previously unreleased tracks from the original touring period. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e3LP - Limited Triple LP pressed on Hevyweight Vinyl includes eight previously unreleased tracks from the original touring period and digital download code of all content.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e2LP - Double LP pressed on heavyweight vinyl and includes digital download code (digital download also includes the eight bonus tracks). \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Domino","offers":[{"title":"CD | x2","offer_id":50402398011723,"sku":"1002795","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"LP | x3","offer_id":50402398404939,"sku":"1002796","price":22.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"LP","offer_id":50402398273867,"sku":"1002797","price":29.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/07e5cb95-ef2f-4372-8dab-23ca56893328_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726544263","url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/products\/fragments-of-a-rainy-season","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}