Customer Reviews

Really

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Everyone has their favorites, but being a J.J. Cale fan for a lot longer than I'd wish to admit (has it really been almost 30 years?) I'd say that you'd do a lot better by getting "Naturally" and "Really" than any "best of", anthology or live album. Maybe "Troubador" would round it out with "Cocaine", but you start getting away from the real meat of J.J.'s sound and into filler with the other albums.

J.J.'s music can be witty, foot-tapping ditties, or can be absolutely boring. So stick with the real winners, which are the two I mentioned.

"Really" is much better engineered than "Naturally", at least on at least half the tracks. They even hired some real studio musicians, since after "Naturally" they figured this boy might actually have some potential. The piano and bass players are fabulous, and there's solid drumming on most tracks.

J.J. Cale played an important role in the mentoring of some influential rock guitarists, as I discussed in my review of "Naturally"

There are about 5 essential Cale-albums. This is the one without songs like After Midnight and Cocaine. Still it's the best one. Cale is as laid-back as always, but also funky and jazzy with a unique sound only to be heard on this album. I like the piano and of course the guitar is allright. Together with Naturally it's the best of the Cale-albums you can get.

Goin' Down was getting the radio play back when FM stations were kind of operating in the underground mode. FM used to be subversive, so the programming was anything but pop and top 40.

This is a great release, showcasing the style of J.J. as only J.J. could do it. A number of his songs have been recorded by other artists. Clapton has done two that I know of (Cocaine and Tulsa Time), Merle Haggard... I'm sure there's more. J.J. used to play at the Inn of the Beginning in Cotati California (Marin County) back in the mid-70's, I saw him there a couple of times. Very down to earth music and vastly underappreciated or virtually unknown by the mainstream masses. Pick this one up, Natually was good too. These were early releases yet they displayed a developed musician who was totally into his own thing. Not many musicians were the real deal. I think J.J. was and is the embodiment of J.J. Cale, no false pretenses here. What you see is what you get. You just gotta' love honesty, it comes out in the music.

This is one of my 10 favorite albums and JJ Cale's best. No one can blur the distinction between country and blues like this man. His wife was quoted as saying there was nothing like sitting on the porch at their place in Tennessee, drinking a beer, and listening to him play. If I could be there, I would want to hear songs from this album.

Without getting too wordy about it, if you don't like this album, you just don't get J J Cale. This is his seminal stuff, done at the beginning of his career, before he slid off into the sameness of his later albums. Eric Clampton may have made a mint off of "Cocaine"--this guy wrote it.

J J Cale almost single-handedly created Okie Rock as a mixture blusey, jazz-inspired and eminently listenable electric/brass arangements that proved that Rock and Roll didn't have to be LA, New York or leave you hearing-impaired to be good. Outlaw without being criminal about it. I listened to it when it was new; and at the time, there was almost nothing like it. If the production values don't always match today's digital precision, the down-home authenticity makes up for it.

The lyrics and delivery are deceptively laid back. Songs about heartbreak, running the highways and honkey-tonks that are tight and easy on the ears without being "Easy Listening". It covered most of Country/Western's territory without the treacle; what Garth Brooks would like to be if he wasn't so bottom-line driven.

Even when this canny and wistful troubadour from Oklahoma is accompanied by a boatload of session musicians his relaxed vagabond vibe is still the first thing that gets your attention--not even the big-band backing in the album opener Lies can drown out Cale's inimitable low-key mojo. Lovely songs these, spare but fleet of foot, sweetly sung behind electric and friendly arrangements. Smoky little snapshots from where it's really at I like to think. Catchy too, dagnabbit! That oddly crafty organ solo in Right Down Here just about kills me every time. The plinking Leon Russell-style piano groove in Ridin' Home is also dang hard to shake once you've heard JJ cook it up. The toe-tapping closer, Louisiana Women, wraps the whole shebang up in a warm Cajun glow. The longest song on this succinct and understated album is just over three minutes and a couple of numbers are hardly up and running before they start to fade but the overall impression left behind is surprisingly strong and crunchy. Same goes for Naturally, Troubadour or in fact just about any other record by this unaccountably undersung American treasure. In short, Really truly is a righteous slice of cool.

Perhaps if Cale wasn't so eclectic, he'd be better known as one of only white guys to perform truly natural,relaxed blues. Question: how come nobody seems to know the right words to the second verse of "Goin' Down",(including Cale),?

If you know the sound.If you know you like the sound.This is the ultimate sleeper album(as many other seem) released by J. J. Cale.Hell of a songwriter,hell of a muscian,hell of a performer.Several of the tunes could have easily been on "Anyway the Wind Blow",the greatest hits anthology.While that is a nice collection(I own it),you definately wonder where some of the VERY BEST is."Everythings Will be ALRIGHT,If you're ever in oklahoma,I'll kiss this world goodbye,Right down Here,Soulin, Ridin ,THERE ALL GREAT.mY ONLY GUESS IS THAT THE cALE ANTHOLOGY WAS TO BE A 3 DISC SET AND SOMEBODY REALLY [messed] UP.In all seriousness, its great,a must have.That is if you want the sound.The J.J. Cale sound at its best.

I have the record, remember those?, so I am gradually replacing them. I have over 200 and J.J.Cale. Really, is one the best. It is also great to exercise to I just wish it contained the words to the songs but I know most of them anyway. This is it! You won't be disappointed.

Of all the artists in my large and eclectic music collection, J.J. holds a unique position: I never tire of him and he has the most tunes by any one artist on my iPod. (I only load my favorite tunes onto my 'Pod--hardly ever an entire album.)

J.J. Cale's music is timeless. It enters the ears and mind like a caress from someone you love and who loves you. Picture some musicians sitting on a porch in the country South. They're all playing to the same groove, black and white together, known each other forever, and we're talking the blues. Now you get the idea.

If you're reading this, you're probably already a fan and you know what I'm talking about. If you're not that familar with J.J., I'm going to recommend you buy the double album "Anyway the Wind Blows."

I think it is useful to know any particular reviewer's musical tastes; it lets you know if he or she is in sync with your own preferences.

OK, here goes with an abbreviated list: Bach, Vivaldi, Mozart, Glen Gould, John Cage etc., Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Armstrong, Miles Davis, Pat Metheny, Dizzy, Ellington, Coltrane, Nina Simone, The Chieftans, etc., Doo Wop, early Elvis, Chuck Berry, Dylan, Stones, Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Mark Knophler/Dire Straits, Bob Marley, Bonnie Raitt, Radiohead, Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, A3, Lucinda Williams, Sheryl Crow, Aimee Mann, Willie, Tom Petty, Talking Heads, Roy Buchanan---I should stop here because I'm leaving too much out. I have an extensive selection of "World," whatever that means, music. And, I have a goodly number of selections, usually a song or two, of stuff from the 'nineties to present day.

If I had to, was forced to choose, say, my absolute favorites, they'd be: Dylan, Hendrix, J.J., Miles Davis, and Bach. And "Sun Sessions" Elvis.

I can't agree with another reviewer who claims that some J.J. tunes are "boring." And, I hope that I haven't bored you too much with this little essay.