John Cale, the co-founder of
The Velvet Underground, left the group in 1968 after tensions between himself and
Lou Reed became intolerable; neither had much charitable to say about one other after that, and they seemed to share only one significant area of agreement -- they both maintained a great respect and admiration for
Andy Warhol, the artist whose patronage of the group helped them reach their first significant audience. So it was fitting that after
Warhol's death in 1987,
Reed and
Cale began working together for the first time since
White Light/White Heat on a cycle of songs about the artist's life and times. Starkly constructed around
Cale's keyboards,
Reed's guitar, and their voices,
Songs for Drella is a performance piece about
Andy Warhol, his rise to fame, and his troubled years in the limelight.
Reed and
Cale take turns on vocals, sometimes singing as the character of
Andy and elsewhere offering their observations on the man they knew. On a roll after
New York,
Reed's songs are strong and pithy, and display a great feel for the character of
Andy, and while
Cale brought fewer tunes to the table, they're all superb, especially "Style It Takes" and "A Dream," a spoken word piece inspired by
Warhol's posthumously published diaries. If
Songs for Drella seems modest from a musical standpoint, it's likely neither
Reed nor
Cale wanted the music to distract from their story, and here they paint a portrait of
Warhol that has far more depth and poignancy than his public image would have led one to expect. It's a moving and deeply felt tribute to a misunderstood man, and it's a pleasure to hear these two comrades-in-arms working together again, even if their renewed collaboration was destined to be short-lived. ~ Mark Deming