J.j.cale Discography. Part 2 (1989 2009)

Though Robin Trower found his greatest career success in the mid-'70s, his intensely soulful brand of Jimi Hendrix-inspired psychedelic blues-rock guitar playing helped him maintain a healthy audience decades past his commercial heyday…

Two artists had an enormous impact on Eric Clapton's music in the '70s: Delaney & Bonnie and J.J. Cale. Clapton joined Delaney & Bonnie's backing band after Cream dissolved, an experience that helped him ease away from the bombast of the power trio and into the blend of soul, blues, pop, and rock that defined his solo sound…

For the first time in more than 3 decades, this reclusive artist lets a camera into his life in this amazing opportunity to meet the mysterious man behind the guitar. In series of candid interviews, Cale describes his childhood and his wild years in psychedelic California. Cale also shares his insights about his influences, songwriting, success, life on the stage and on the road - all interlaced with outstanding live performances, archival footage, interviews with band members and friends, and awe-inspiring images of American landscapes. Eric Clapton appears in some performance footage.

J.J. Cale's 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection gathers a dozen of his best-known songs, including "Magnolia," "Crazy Mama," and "Call Me the Breeze," as well as "Cocaine" and "After Midnight." The collection focuses on his '70s work, featuring not only singles, but album tracks from Naturally, Really, 5, and Okie, among others. Though it's not as extensive a collection as Anyway the Wind Blows: The Anthology or The Very Best of J.J. Cale, this compilation does provide a good, concise primer on Cale's influential mix of earthy blues-rock and finely crafted songwriting.

J.J. Cale's debut album, Naturally, was recorded after Eric Clapton made "After Midnight" a huge success. Instead of following Slowhand's cue and constructing a slick blues-rock album, Cale recruited a number of his Oklahoma friends and made a laid-back country-rock record that firmly established his distinctive, relaxed style. Cale included a new version of "After Midnight" on the album, but the true meat of the record lay in songs like "Crazy Mama," which became a hit single, and "Call Me the Breeze," which Lynyrd Skynyrd later covered. On these songs and many others on Naturally, Cale effortlessly captured a lazy, rolling boogie that contradicted all the commercial styles of boogie, blues, and country-rock at the time. Where his contemporaries concentrated on solos, Cale worked the song and its rhythm, and the result was a pleasant, engaging album that was in no danger of raising anybody's temperature.

J.J. Cale's debut album, Naturally, was recorded after Eric Clapton made "After Midnight" a huge success. Instead of following Slowhand's cue and constructing a slick blues-rock album, Cale recruited a number of his Oklahoma friends and made a laid-back country-rock record that firmly established his distinctive, relaxed style. Cale included a new version of "After Midnight" on the album, but the true meat of the record lay in songs like "Crazy Mama," which became a hit single, and "Call Me the Breeze," which Lynyrd Skynyrd later covered. On these songs and many others on Naturally, Cale effortlessly captured a lazy, rolling boogie that contradicted all the commercial styles of boogie, blues, and country-rock at the time.

J.J. Cale's debut album, Naturally, was recorded after Eric Clapton made "After Midnight" a huge success. Instead of following Slowhand's cue and constructing a slick blues-rock album, Cale recruited a number of his Oklahoma friends and made a laid-back country-rock record that firmly established his distinctive, relaxed style. Cale included a new version of "After Midnight" on the album, but the true meat of the record lay in songs like "Crazy Mama," which became a hit single, and "Call Me the Breeze," which Lynyrd Skynyrd later covered. On these songs and many others on Naturally, Cale effortlessly captured a lazy, rolling boogie that contradicted all the commercial styles of boogie, blues, and country-rock at the time. Where his contemporaries concentrated on solos, Cale worked the song and its rhythm, and the result was a pleasant, engaging album that was in no danger of raising anybody's temperature.

Sinuous rhythms, conversational singing, and, most of all, intricate, bluesy guitar playing characterize Cale's performances of his own songs. This compilation, covering 11 years of recording, includes the songs Eric Clapton, who borrowed heavily from Cale's style in his 1970s solo work, made famous: "After Midnight" and "Cocaine."