ALBUM REVIEWS
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ALBUM REVIEWS |
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JJ Cale
ROLL ON BECAUSE MUSIC 9.3.09 @www.vanguard-online.co.uk
Who? That’s a lot of people’s response to JJ Cale yet name some of his songs and everyone knows them. How about: Cocaine (Eric Clapton), Magnolia (Beck), After Midnight (Clapton, Jerry Garcia and everyone else in the world), Call Me The Breeze - even Spiritualised covered this (as “Run”), Same Old Blues (Lynyrd Skynard). His albums have functioned as demo tapes for JJ Cale the songwriter, better known artists picking from it and riding the songs to riches. Born John Cale, a promoter changed his name so we’d not think he was the John Cale from The Velvet Underground. And that avoiding fame has served him well. Here, at the age of 70, he delivers his 16th album and remains a connoisseur’s favourite rather than stadium filler like the heavily-influenced Mark Knopfler. Cale more or less invented the sound that served Dire Straits so well. It’s a straight-forward sound, clear and close with distinct instruments and a distinctive delivery – both vocal and guitar. These are songs that are stretched into jams live but here are delivered concise and pure. JJ says: “People ask me why I don’t cut one of them unplugged albums, and I go, well, that’s what I did first”. The snappy Who Knew opens the set before the bluesy lament of Former Me. Who Knew, like all good blues tells us of the woes of the protagonist and unfairness of the world. Unlike some other new releases (yes, Morrissey, I’m talking about you), JJ takes it as a given and instead of wallowing in pity, provides a tune that says he’s rolling on and surviving. Where The Sun Don’t Shine invites the target of the song to…. well, you figure it out. Down To Memphis is a funky shuffle with a nice organ backdrop. Guitar shines out on all these, with steel strings carrying simple and pure plucking. The dobro turns up for some lovely-toned picking on Strange Days. The whole effect is marvellously understated and would go down well with a bourbon whisky, sat on your porch, somewhere in Tennessee. Fonda-Lina could be a hit for him or anyone else. Tales of street-life ala Tom Waits are tied to beautifully restrained guitar and a ticking rhythm section. Don’t let the presence of lap steel guitar make you think this is some Nashville country album. This is down-home roots music about the soul of JJ. He mumbles a bit, like all good bluesmen, singing quietly and slightly wearily, giving a relaxed feel to even the uptempo rock and roll numbers. Old Friend is nostalgic and smoky while the playing is clear and precise. It carries the emotional wallop of a Neil Young country number. Old colleague Eric Clapton turns up for the signature song and, such is the standard of the rest of the album, that he is no more than a sidesman here. The album ends with the sense of time spent with an old friend. If you like to hear a master craftsman at work then this will bring you delight, being not a jot of a step down from work he was doing decades ago. www.jjcale.com |
