John Cale previews M:FANS with Close Watch clip

By ( Classic Rock ) published

View video for track taken from reimagined version of Music For A New Society

John Cale will release a reworked version of his 1982 solo album Music For A New Society next year.

M:FANS features tracks from the original record, reimagined in the wake of the death of Cale’s former Velvet Underground bandmate Lou Reed. It’s released on January 22 via Double Six/Domino on 2CD, with the second disc including a remastered version of the original record featuring three previously unreleased bonus songs. Both discs are also available individually on vinyl.

A video for the new version of the track (I Keep A) Close Watch can be streamed below. It features a guest appearance from Amber Coffman and is directed by Abby Portner.

Cale says: “Making any form of art is always personal to my mind. During the making of M:FANS, I found myself loathing each and every character written about in those original recording sessions of Music For A New Society.

“Unearthing those tapes reopened those wounds. It was time to decimate the despair from 1981 and breathe new energy, re-write the story. Then, the unthinkable happened. What had informed so much over lost and twisted relationships in 1981 had now come full circle. Losing Lou forced me to upend the entire recording process and begin again – a different perspective, a new sense of urgency to tell a story from a completely opposite point of view – what was once sorrow, was now a form of rage.

“A fertile ground for exorcism of things gone wrong and the realisation they are unchangeable. From sadness came the strength of fire.”

A deluxe edition of The Velvet Underground’s album Loaded, entitled Re-loaded, was released last month.

John Cale M:FANS tracklist

  1. Prelude
  2. If You Were Still Around
  3. Taking Your Life In Your Hands
  4. Thoughtless Kind
  5. Sanctus (Sanities Mix)
  6. Broken Bird
  7. Chinese Envoy
  8. Changes Made
  9. Library Of Force (feat. Man In The Book excerpt)
  10. Close Watch
  11. If You Were Still Around (Choir Reprise)
  12. Back To The End

John Cale Music For A New Society (Re-Mastered) tracklist

  1. Taking Your Life In Your Hands
  2. Thoughtless Kind
  3. Sanctus (Sanities)
  4. If You Were Still Around
  5. Close Watch
  6. Broken Bird
  7. Chinese Envoy
  8. Changes Made
  9. Damn Life
  10. Risé, Sam And Rimsky Korsakov
  11. Library Of Force (Unreleased)
  12. Chinese Envoy (Outtakes)
  13. Thoughtless Kind (Outtakes)
Stef Lach

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.