ILLEGAL RECORDS CAT' 003. a very late review.

I have passed a collectors record shop for a few weeks now and had seen a record by JOHN CALE released on ILLEGAL RECORDS which seemed a bit of a rarity, especially as i had never heard it (and to be honest i don't remember hearing about it either) so after some deliberation with my own bad self i decided to buy it (being in the 'sale' box helped my decision).
Its not news to many out there that ex-members of the VELVET UNDERGROUND flirted with the emerging punk scene, with LOU REED it was more of a case of hanging out at places like CGBG'S and MAX'S KANSAS CITY and adopting aspects of the look (even earning himself a ban from a London venue because of it, which I'm sure made him happy because of the publicity it gave him made a change from the 'past it' remarks he had been getting at the time from the music press).
But the other member to dip his toes in the muddy pool of punk rock was the VELVET UNDERGROUND'S violin player JOHN CALE who got into PUNK a bit more seriously by not only sticking up for them publicly, he went as far as actually producing some punk records during the early couple of years of the punk scene, another reason his bum was in the production chair was through his friendship with the man behind punk indie labels 'A STEP FORWARD' and its 'sister' label 'ILLEGAL RECORDS', MR MILES COPELAND, brother of POLICE drummer Stewart.
The labels were responsible for giving us records by bands like THE CORTINAS, SHAM 69, CHELSEA, WAYNE COUNTY, MENACE, and a lot more, CALE produced many singles by others (including an E.P by the truly terrible HARRY TOLEDO AND THE ROCKETS) but what is less known is that CALE made a 'punk' record of his own.
Recorded in 1977 on the ILLEGAL RECORD label (for all you geeks out there who wish to know it was cat' number 'ILL 03') he made an e.p called 'ANIMAL JUSTICE', and boy what a record!
Of the records cover, it looks 'punky' enough with an over exposed photo of the man against a brick wall (and taken by punk 'uber' photographer JILL FURMANOVSKY that is reproduced on the back in negative.
Side one opens with the punky named song 'CHICKEN SHIT' that starts with a yobbo chant about chicken pooh. it is a not very good song that has elements of PUB ROCK mixed with a sound more reminiscent of the NEW YORK bands and plods along in a 'half speed' style, while the next song, called MEMPHIS is the old the old CHUCK BERRY song, played again in a bad pub rock style but with guitar solo's almost all the way through it, making it sound more like a status quo recording than a punk single.
And on the 'b' side is a song called HEDDA GABLER, now this can only be described as a plodding PROG ROCK song with touches of the avant garde, it has the usual PROG 'soaring guitar work' and nonsense lyrics and is a well 'far out' song, not quite the type to go down with the 77 punk record buying public.
Altogether this is a record that was a brave step to take for such a young label that had nailed its colours so firmly to the punk mast and i can only assume MILES COPELAND owed CALE a favour! maybe this single is the reason that CALE stuck to being behind the mixing desk and didn't stray into the recording booth more often, and also the reason why the single isn't more well known than it is, after all you would of thought that a record released on one of punks more famous labels by a member of the fabled VELVET UNDERGROUND would be more widely known and sound a bit better.
All in all, its sad to say but this is a bad record, "oops JOHN", you slipped up big time with that one!
No wonder you left the punk scene so quietly by 1979 or whenever it was.
I'm also seriously wondering if this single should be a candidate for the CRIMINAL RECORD list as well.