David Bowie's first official compilation album, released in the wake of Station to Station and sharing that album's odd typography, Changesonebowie is a handy one-stop roundup of four years of hits.
I'm a huge fan of home recordings and this is the master at work. He's a little doped up on goofballs but still has all the magnetism of early velvet underground.
Cale describes this re-issue as not merely "something for the sake of an anniversary or racking up a catalogue favorite - but finding new treasures and highlighting what made it special in the first place."
On 'Slow Dazzle', Cale sounds like a jaded Brian Ferry whose syrupy croon is sliding downhill into a Sadian croak, a perfect fit for the songs of loss, betrayal and emotional damage gathered here.
If being avant-garde is the act of subverting common expectations, then Cale slyly crafted a brilliant achievement in Paris 1919 by utilizing a mournful gentility to catch his original target audience unaware and hiding in plain sight.
