John Cale: Strange Times in Casablanca

I saw "Honi Soit" the 1981 album by John Cale, performed live at a club in Manhattan. Cale was wearing a black jumpsuit and dark glasses, clutching the mike and singing accompanied by a powerful, explosive performance by his band. Andy Warhol suggested the album should be called "John and Yoko", and provided the cover art, in black and white, but against Warhol's wishes Cale colorized it. The musicians on this album are listed as the crew of fighter airplane, with Cale as the flight surgeon.



Personnel :John Cale: guitar, keyboards, viola, lead vocals ("flight surgeon")
John Gatchell: trumpet

Jim Goodwin: keyboards, synthesizer, background vocals ("gunner")
Peter Muny: bass, background vocals ("wing and prop")
Robert Medici: drums, background vocals ("navigator")
Sturgis Nikides: guitar, background vocals ("hellcat")
Bomberettes (members of the Mo-dettes): background vocals on "Fighter Pilot"

The album's title is an abbreviation of the phrase "Honi soit qui mal y pense" (French: "shame upon him who thinks evil of it"), the motto of the British Order of the Garter. The spelling of the word "Honi" is old French, it would nowadays be spelt "Honni".