JJ Cale

This album sounds even cooler than the artwork on the cover, if you can believe that. Even when he's rocking out on boogie-heavy songs like "They Call Me the Breeze", J.J. Cale sounds like he's mellow. The romantic "Magnolia" should be on every courting mix (if not the surprisingly awesome Poco version).

This quiet and leisurely album from an excellent guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter is a
charmer. J.J. Cale has a unique approach to funk, blues, and country and all it involves is
taking things at just as relaxed and mellow a pace as the human metabolism will allow. Here
it results in one of the most enjoyable debut albums heard in some time. Cale is currently
hitting the AM charts with a very unlikely number, "Crazy Mama," a typical Cale b... More >

After years of combatting pretentiousness we discover that unpretentiousness can be just as bad. These murmured blues meditations are so easy on the spirit that even though they have their charms they invite the mistrust of moralizers like myself--there's just too much talent here to justify such slight results. Or maybe there isn't enough talent to justify such minimal effort--only if all the songs were as absolutely beguiling as the side-openers, "Call Me the Breeze" and "Crazy Mama," would the lassitude affected by all hands be as comfortable for us as I'm sure it was for them. Push a little, fellas, it'll feel so good. (Grade - B)