John Cale - Ready For War (Bootleg)

While John Cale is one of the most famous and, in his own way, influential underground rock musicians, he is also one of the hardest to pin down stylistically. Much has been made of his schooling in classical and avant-garde music, yet much of what he's recorded has been decidedly song-oriented, dovetailing close to the mainstream at times. Terming him a forefather of punk and new wave isn't exactly accurate, either. Those investigating his work for the first time under that premise may be surprised at how consciously accessible much of his output is, at times approaching (but not quite attaining) a fairly "normal" rock sound. There is always a tension between the experimental and the accessible in Cale's solo recordings, meaning that he usually finds himself (not unwillingly) caught between the cracks: too weird for commercial success, and yet not really weird or daring enough to place him among the top ranks of rock's innovators.               

"Ready For War" is a great collection of live tracks, rarities, outtakes, and B-sides, released in Germany in 1993.  Fear Is A Man's Best Friend gives us detailed information about the sources:

• She Never Took No For An Answer from the Sid & Nancy soundtrack released in 1986.
• Heartbreak Hotel taken from June 1, 1974.
• Mercenaries and Rosegarden Funeral Of Sores from the single released in 1980.
• Jack The Ripper from the deleted single planned for 1978.
• Empty Bottles taken from Jennifer Warne's Jennifer, released in 1972.
• Feast of Stephen from the 1971 Mike Heron album, Smiling Men With Bad Reputations
• Sylvia Said, released in 1974 as the B-side of the The Man Who Couldn't Afford To Orgy.
• Hallelujah taken from the Leonard Cohen tribute album I'm Your Fan released in 1991.
• Queen Victoria taken from the More Fans ep released in 1991.
• Last Day On Earth extract taken from the Last Day On Earth album.
• Go West recorded with Chris Spedding.
• Grandfather's House taken from the One Word EP.
• First Evening and Hunger with Hector Zazou.
• L'Heritage Du Dragon from the Paris S'Eveille EP, released in 1991.
• Villa Albani instrumental version.

Tracklist:
                           

1	She Never Took No For An Answer	3:14
2	Heartbreak Hotel	5:11
3	Mercenaries (Ready For War)	4:36
4	Rosegarden Funeral Of Sores	5:44
5	Jack The Ripper	3:10
6	Empty Bottles	3:09
7	Feast Of Stephen	4:41
8	Silvia Said	4:20
9	Nanna	1:59
10	Hallelujah	4:13
11	The Queen And Me	3:19
12	Last Day On Earth (Extract)	3:24
13	Go West	3:38
14	Grandfather's House	3:08
15	First Evening	6:29
16	L'Heritage Du Dragon	3:08
17	Hunger	4:37
18	Villa Albani (Intrumental)	5:34

John Cale - Ready For War (Bootleg)
(192 kbps, cover art included)