“Songs for Drella”, Lou Reed & John Cale’s marvelous 1990 posthumous tribute to Andy Warhol, offers an intensely personal view of Warhol with songs and playing that rank among the finest in either man’s career. Their first collaboration since The Velvet Underground, nearly 20 years earlier, led to both artists vowing never to work with the other again. 

Our album today, suggested by listener Nick Farmer, is “El-Rayo-X" (1981) by multi-instrumentalist David Lindley. We hadn’t come across this album before, and we both agree it’s a lot of fun - mainly reggae-influenced beat, but clearly Californian.   Lindley sounds familiar, probably because of his presence on albums by so many others we love – Warren Zevon, Jackson Browne and Linda Ronstadt to name but a few. 

In the segment, Lunacy, Legends and Lies we look at how Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi only stopped setting drummer Bill Ward on fire after Bill’s mum called Tony a "barmy bastard" who should "grow up", and recount how, in 1989, Slash ran naked and bleeding through a resort hotel after a hallucination.  

This episode has lots of stuff you may not have known before, and isn’t that the fun of it? 

References:  The Factory, Banksy, Bowie, “Andy Warhol”, “15 minutes of fame”, Metallica, Master of Puppets, Stone Temple Pilots, MTV Unplugged, Valerie Solanis, Nico, “Waiting for the Man”, White Light/White Heat, “Words for the Dying“, Dylan Thomas, “New York”, The Church of St. Anne's Brooklyn, “Berlin”, Czechoslovakia, viola, “Fragments of a Rainy Season”, “Hallelujah” 

Our email: MickandthePhatman@Gmail.com 

Songs for Drella – Album

El-Rayo-x – David Lindley 

Werewolves of London - David Lindley; Late Night with Jules Holland 

Song for Drella – The Movie 

Fragments of a Rainy Season – John Cale

Nobody Like You Video
Interview Part 2