Vintage Violence was the first solo album from former Velvet Underground member John Cale. Produced for a mere $15,000, Cale stated in his autobiography What's Welsh for Zen? that there wasn't "much originality on that album, it's just someone teaching himself to do something". He also "thought the songs were simplistic." He pieced together a band to play on the album, and they named themselves Penguin. However, the group didn't last beyond the recording sessions.
The cover of the album features Cale with his face obscured by a glass mask over a nylon stocking, which he would later cite in his autobiography as symbolic of the content of the record: "You're not really seeing the personality."
Originally released in 1970, Vintage Violence received mostly positive reviews. Rolling Stone magazine's Ed Ward said that the album sounds "like a Byrds album produced by Phil Spector marinated for six years in burgundy, anise and chili peppers".
The album was rereleased in remastered form in 2001.
Read more about Vintage Violence: Personnel
Famous quotes containing the word violence:
“Men are rewarded for learning the practice of violence in virtually any sphere of activity by money, admiration, recognition, respect, and the genuflection of others honoring their sacred and proven masculinity. In male culture, police are heroic and so are outlaws; males who enforce standards are heroic and so are those who violate them.”
—Andrea Dworkin (b. 1946)