JJ Cale

Rewind ( outtakes ) - Universal 2007

Tracks: 1. Guess I Lose / 2. Waymore’s Blues / 3. Rollin’ / 4. Golden Ring / 5. My Cricket / 6. Since You Said Goodbye / 7. Seven Day Woman / 8. Bluebird / 9. My Baby and Me / 10. Lawdy Mama / 11. Blue Sunday / 12. Out of Style / 13. Ohh La La / 14. All Mama’s Children / 15. It's Good to Be in Austin

Comments:

This collection of JJ Cale spans over a period of twenty years, but as Cale’s style and sounds have not changed very much over the years, the album comes out as a pretty consistent collection. Most tracks are easily as good as many of the songs that were originally released on his regular albums. On the other hand a lot of them do sound like alternate versions of well-known Cale songs.

A good handful of them do stand out on their own. First track that really stirred my attension was Cale’s version of Clapton’s “Golden Ring”. As I never was a big fan of Clapton’s I did not know the song beforehand; but Cale’s version is really very strong.

Two songs were written by Cale’s musical partner for many years, Christine Lakeland. They’re both good, though the first “Seven Day Woman” does sound a little like it was abandoned at an unfinished stage.

“Ooh La La” which co-written with Cale, has a great horn arrangement and is definitely one of the stand-outs.

Other favourites are the melodic closing track “It’s Good to Be in Austin” and the country waltz “My Baby and Me” - though quite reminiscent of “Rose in the Garden” from “Closer to You”.

The album is sure to please any fan of Cale, and though it probably would not be the logical album to start a Cale presention, I don’t think it would scare any potential new fans away.

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