John Cale’s fabled excursions in noise, melody and lyrical intrigue takes several inspired twists on this interim collection. Although it precedes his first solo album in seven years, 5 Track is a stand-alone experience which embraces sampled utopia and piquant longing (“Verses”), urban dislocation and wry comedy (“Waiting For Blonde”), international drug smuggling (“Wilderness Approaching”) and the spectre of 9/11 (“Chains Of Dumpty”).
