J. J. Cale did a lot of recording on his own and released far more albums then most people probably realize. But a number of tracks he laid down just never got released. An album might have been full, or the song didn't fit with the rest of the material. Whatever the reason, fourteen tracks that had been recorded in the late seventies and early eighties have been laying dormant in the vaults for all this time.
Finally Time Life Music, who released the DVD To Tulsa And Back: On Tour With J. J. Cale last year, have managed to pry the tracks from the grasp of Cale's late producer's wife. Rewind: Unreleased Recordings will be hitting the streets on October 2nd/2007 and I think Cale fans everywhere will be delighted with what they hear.
One of the nice ironies of this recording is that the man whose music has been covered by so many other performers, hardly ever covered another person's song. Yet on Rewind he covers songs by Waylon Jennings, his buddy Leon Russell, Randy Newman, and — wait for it — Eric Clapton. It's funny to think of Cale recording a Clapton tune around the time of, let's say, "Cocaine," and I wonder what would have happened had they both been released at the same time.
In the end, it doesn't really matter who wrote any of the fourteen songs on this record, because they all sound like vintage J. J. Cale. In fact, like any good vintage, they have aged nicely, and are still as fresh as when they were recorded. Not only do you get Cale's melodious guitar work and distinctive vocals, you also get all the great musicians who were always clamouring to play with him showing up on these tracks.
People like Richard Thompson lay down guitar tracks, and Neil Young's bassist Tim Drummond teams up with Jim Keltner, who played drums for Dylan and Lennon, to form one hell of a rhythm section. But, you don't buy a J. J. Cale album to listen to the other players, it would be like buying an opera to listen to the orchestra and not Pavarotti.
Article comments
1 - JC Mosquito
Call Me the Breeze was one of his too, wasn't it? In fact, the whole Naturally album is a classic. JJ Cale is one of the few writers that could write a song off of a two chord change and make it sound great.
2 - lars jørgensen
Nb. ALL of Cale's albums are great masterpieces;-)
but off course some are better than others - I hope they will find other "forgotten" songs of Cale, because it will take years...-maybe not at all, before we will have another so kind and sensitive musician/man as Cale.
A man so humble and down-to-the-ground isn't easy to find among "stars";-)
Lars(a fan since -74, Denmark )
3 - Mike U.
I am a singer/songwriter/guitarist who has been heavily influenced by Johnny Cale's work ever since I first played his album "Naturally" in a small record shop in Orlando, back in 1971. His lyrics to the song "Carry On," though never a hit, enabled me to get through my last year of teaching high school English and retire with a smile instead of the frowns on so many retiring teachers. No one can touch his laidback sound. Some can write better (Jimmy Buffett, John Prine); some can outplay him in that style (Clapton, et. al.)- but NO ONE puts it all together in one package like JJ Cale. Listen all the way through one Cale album and you'll be a believer, unless you're young and absolutely have to have a faster, more driving beat all the time. I used to be that way- then I grew up some. Age happens.
I recently found an incredible interview with JJ Cale over at Vintage Guitar. Check out www.vintageguitar.com/artists/details.asp?ID=197
for a conversation with a man with less pretention than most stars. He's the only star I know of to turn down the typical multi-million dollar deal to tour. His response: "Why do I need to tour to sell these songs when they're already a hit?" Cale is the only artist I feel is worthy to follow closely. He never disapoints.
Don't waste your time trying to hear him in a bar. A bunch of us tried to listen to him in Charlotte at the Visilite Theater, which was really a bar, and went home extremely dissapointed. The management in three tries simply could not stop the young folk who were there to party- didn't even know Cale- from talking,screaming, and carrying on with their partying. JJ plays and sings softly. We heard very little of his music that night, our only chance to hear The Master of Mello. But I've got his albums and the mello-ness continues.