''HoboSapiens'' is a solo studio

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

John Cale John Davies Cale (born 9 March 1942) is a Welsh musician, composer, singer, songwriter and record producer who was a founding member of the American rock band the Velvet Underground. Over his six-decade career, Cale has worked in various styl ...

, his first album since 1996's ''

Walking on Locusts ''Walking on Locusts'' is the thirteenth solo studio album by Welsh musician John Cale, released on 24 September 1996 by Hannibal Records. Cale worked with several guest musicians including David Byrne, Moe Tucker, Dave Soldier with the Soldi ...

''. ''HoboSapiens'' was released by

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

in October 2003, and was preceded by the EP ''

5 Tracks ''5 Tracks'' is the second extended play by Welsh musician John Cale, released in May 2003 and comprising five previously unreleased songs. It was Cale's first release for EMI. The EP was followed by the album ''HoboSapiens'', which was release ...

'' in May 2003. A single was released for "Things" shortly after the album's release. Cale co-produced the album with

Nick Franglen Nick Franglen (born 1965 in Westminster, London) is a British musician, record producer and installation artist. He is best known as a founding member of the electronic music duo Lemon Jelly. Music composition and production A classically trained ...

Lemon Jelly Lemon Jelly is a British electronic music duo from London that formed in 1998 and went on hiatus starting in 2008. Since its inception, the band members have always been Fred Deakin and Nick Franglen. Lemon Jelly has been nominated for awards l ...

, and

Brian Eno Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop an ...

provided the drum loop for the song "Bicycle". The album was met with widespread critical acclaim.

Release and reception

Between the release of ''Walking on Locusts'' in 1996 and the recording of ''HoboSapiens'', John Cale worked on film scores, classical pieces, and composed the score ''

Dance Music Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded danc ...

'' for the tribute ballet ''

Nico Naftiran Intertrade Company Société à responsabilité limitée#In Switzerland, limited (NICO) is a Switzerland, Swiss-based subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC). NICO is a general contractor for the oil and gas industry. NIOC bu ...

''. In a 2004 interview with ''

Time Out New York ''Time Out'' is a global magazine published by Time Out Group. ''Time Out'' started as a London-only publication in 1968 and has expanded its editorial recommendations to 328 cities in 58 countries worldwide. In 2012, the London edition becam ...

'', Cale attributed the quick, streamlined recording of ''HoboSapiens'' to his soundtrack endeavours and modern studio advances, stating that "The songs on ''Hobo'' are different from my past stuff in that nearly all of them were written in the studio. I don't like being in the studio, so I'd try to get things done as fast as possible and run to the gym. New recording methods are gratifying — you get to where you want to go very swiftly." ''HoboSapiens'' was released by EMI in Europe on 6 October 2003, and nearly a year later in the United States by Or Music on 7 September 2004. The album was released to mostly positive reviews; at

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 based on reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received "universal acclaim" with a score of 89, based on 16 reviews.

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

's Thom Jurek stated that "Cale's reentry into the world of pop music is a contentious and accessible one. This is the Welsh iconoclast at his most elegant, energetic, and innovative," while Brian James of

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...

claimed that "''HoboSapiens'' is dense and difficult for much of its running time, but the challenge comes from following the author through his many compositional twists rather than sitting through passages that drone on far too long." A CD single was released for "Things" with the additional album track "Things X" in mid-October 2003. A re-recorded version of "Set Me Free", originally found on the album ''Walking on Locusts'', appears as a hidden track in the CD's

pregap The pregap on a Red Book audio CD is the portion of the audio track that precedes "index 01" for a given track in the table of contents (TOC). The pregap ("index 00") is typically two seconds long and usually, but not always, contains silence. Po ...

on European pressings of the album, while the song was issued as a bonus track on North American pressings.

Track listing

Release history

Personnel

*John Cale - keyboards, guitars, electric viola, viola, vocals, backing vocals, samples, bass, harmonium *Andy Green - guitar, samples, additional production *

Erik Sanko Erik Sanko (born 27 September 1963) is a bass player from New York who has played in The Lounge Lizards and currently active in Skeleton Key. Biography In the past he also worked with notable musicians including Marc Ribot, John Cale, Yoko Ono, Su ...

- bass, slack dulcimer *Joe Gore - guitar *Emil Miland - cello *Ryan Coseboom - samples *Mikael "Count" Eldridge - drum loops, samples *Marco Giovino - drums, percussion *Roberto, Daniele, Alba Clemente, Giovani - Italian voices *Lance Doss - guitars, backing vocals * John Kurzweig - guitars *Joel Mark - guitars, bass *Jeff Eyrich - bass *Bill Swartz - drums *Eden Cale - spoken words *Dimitri Tikovoï - samples *Brian Foreman - bass * Shelley Harland - samples *

Lisa Bielawa Lisa Carol Bielawa (born September 30, 1968) is a composer and vocalist. She is a 2009 Rome Prize winner in Musical Composition and spent a year composing as a Fellow at the American Academy in Rome. Early life and education Bielawa was born in ...

, Elizabeth Farnum, Alexandra Montano, Gayla Morgan - a tonal voices *

- drum loops on "Bicycle" ;Technical *Photography - Jon Shard *Art direction and design - Rick Myers *Executive producer - Nita Scott *Recorded at MediaLuna, New York City; Globe Studios, New York City; Engine Studios, Chicago; D's Attic, London; and SF Soundworks, San Francisco *Mixed at

Eden Studios Eden Studios was a commercial recording facility in west London. It opened in 1967, originally at 11 Eden Street in Kingston upon Thames (now under the Eden Walk shopping centre), before moving to 20-24 Beaumont Road in Chiswick in 1972. It was ...

, London

References

{{Authority control John Cale albums 2003 albums Albums produced by John Cale EMI Records albums Albums produced by Nick Franglen