Customer Reviews

Roll On

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'll be honest, on first listening to this album I was reduced to tears. It took me straight to back to my late teens, early 20's when my mates and myself would get back from the surf and just want to chill out with some beers and JJ Cale on the record player! That was the late 70's early 80's!

This is a classic return that I never thought I would hear again. It is as good as those early albums that we wore out listening to over and over again (Naturally, Troubadour, and of course "5"), and that are forever ingrained in my being. Talk about the power of music, phew I need a beer now!

Roll on buddy, roll on!

I've been a big fan of Mr. Cale's for some time now. I've heard the new album in its entirety 3 times over a 48-hour period now and not once was I tempted to skip a single track. There isn't a single note on this record that to me feels like it doesn't belong. This is how most of Mr. Cale's work has felt for me.

"Uncomplicated"; "Unobtrusive"; and above all else, "FUN" are the 3 words that come to mind when I experience his music. Roll on Mr. Cale, roll on.

There are some artists who seem to have avoided the major spotlight. Certainly JJ's writing is well known. From "Call me the Breeze" to "Cocaine" and "After Midnight" to his own hit "Crazy Mama", his writing is GREAT.
He does not disappoint on this CD.
I really won't take the time to review each song because I'm sure you'll find your own favorites.
On first listening, I can recommend "Cherry Street" and "Down to Memphis".
"Old Friend" and "Where the Sun Don't Shine" are also notable.
Aww, the heck with it. The whole thing is good! Honest.........
Did I mention that Mr. Cale can also play a fantastic guitar with his song writing ability?
Enjoy the CD, I do.

Until the 20th Century, no one asked artists to "grow" or "change". A painter, musician or writer emerged with a style, and if it was deemed commercially acceptable, that style persisted. Dickens, for example, might write a great book or, on occasion, a lesser one, but at no time did critics or his public ask why he didn't try telling a story another way.

"Roll On" is J.J. Cale's 16th collection of songs. If you were to play it before or after his first release --- "Naturally", recorded in 1972 --- you would not be able to tell which came first, or if, perhaps, this was a two-CD set. That's because Cale has had no career development, no growth, no revelation-on-the-road-to-Damascus. He was great at the start, he's great now, and if you want to split the hair, you could say he's a little greater now, because on "Roll On" he plays most of the instruments and is, in fact, 70 years old.

And you could go on to say that some of the songs are about age and loss, but you'd have to be a music critic holding a lyric sheet to say that --- Cale goes to great trouble to mix the vocals down. You can grab a line here or there, but all you'll get for your troubles is a cliché. That's also deliberate.

J.J. Cale, you soon grasp, is all about sound and mood. And there it gets personal, because what you get out of this music has a lot to do with what you put in. On the most basic level, it's easy listening --- pleasant melodies, a nice steady beat, a singer with an inoffensive voice. You hear a new song, it sounds old. That's why you can't remember the first time you heard "After Midnight" or "Cocaine" --- those songs were just always around.

If you pay a little more attention, you start appreciating the subtleties of Cale's music. Calling it "Okie funk" or "country blues" doesn't quite nail it. That little stutter-shuffle in the drumming --- it's almost familiar, but in the way of a dream that runs away when you reach out to grab it. The way the bass guitar is pushed forward, so you really hear it. And how little Cale likes to solo on lead guitar --- it's like a Zen game, the way he doesn't play a single extra note. It sounds casual. It's completely premeditated.

I've written before about J.J. Cale, pointing out how, like Chopin, he plays so softly you have to lean in. But to listen at comfortable volume is to miss a lot of his greatness. Crank the volume higher, then higher again --- wait a minute, that's rock `n roll. And there you see why Eric Clapton and Mark Knopfler went to school on this guy; he's simply one of the American masters. He may look like George Bush's third cousin, but he's in the pantheon with the Guitar Gods.

"Roll On" is a dozen songs, one of them left over from his underwhelming collaborative CD with Clapton. It's fun in the car, bouncy on the iPod, useful at the gym. It's also a secret that J.J. Cale wishes could remain secret --- if you crank the volume, it will wrench you out of your chair.

If I am reading the liner notes correctly, JJ plays all instruments on this CD, with the exception of 3 songs, one of which features a guest appearance by Clapton. Put that in your pipe and smoke on it for a while.

He's an American treasure.

It's always nice to hear new music from veteran laid-back blues-boogie-rocker J.J. Cale. This new CD maybe does not add much new to his long career, and most songs really sound like something you've heard before; but as always 2-3 tracks stand out - and many on the others are likely to grow on you - that's what usually happens.

I've always liked the melodic side of Cale, which was very predominant on albums like "Grasshopper" and "Closer to You". His more recent albums have relied more on his always present boogie-blues style, which is not a bad thing at all.

For me the stand-outs are the up-beat title-track, which features friend Eric Clapton who helps giving this track a fuller and heavier sound than other similar tracks on the album, and the two melodic country-influenced songs "Leaving in the Morning" and "Old Friend" are also great. And of course the bluesy closing track "Bring Down the Curtain", too.

Great to know that Cale is still going strong.

Roll On is back to the roots of Classic Cale.
It's hard not to be impressed by such a great sound.
I'm amazed at this album.... It's great!!
Thanks to Cale and Rounder we got ourselves more excellent music.
I love the country tinged Okie feel I am getting from it....
Whoa! I am excited.....
the first 2 tracks are keepers, but
the album really kicked off for me at track 3 til the end...
J.J. Cale just keeps on rollin' out the five star albums!!
Cale has been very generous to his fans in releasing oldies
and making new ones.
After 5 Cale releases in 8 years, it's been a great decade!
Never would I have thought there would be so many JJ Cale albums in such a short span ever again... Keep rollin' on, brother!

The Quarter Drops Here! - YOU WIN AGAIN

Highly Recommended!

I'm a dedicated J.J. Cale adept, but this album will be the first one that I won't buy. Why? Because it has all been done before. Listening to it, it struck me that every single song can be traced back and linked to one (better) song from the past. Sounds, beats, harmonies and melodies, it's all there. But far from original. There must be some honest fans out there who agree with me? Sorry J.J. You're the best, but was this one really necessary?

If there's one thing you can say about JJ, it's this: he's got TASTE, STYLE, and CHOPS.

Cale's last album, "To Tulsa and Back", was so good it felt like sinning and getting away with it. One stone cold classic after another delivered with all the nonchalance of a veteran and connoisseur. This was as strong, and at times stronger, than Cale's classic 70's output. By the time I got my tremulous hands on "Roll On", there was only thought bouncing in my head, 'will he be able to top THAT?'

The Cale style is so embedded in his music that enjoying JJ often means paying attention to the fine print, the way he works subtleties, the deftness with which he manipulates the familiar. On the face of it, "Roll On" seemed like retreading old ground, albeit there was a dash more of technology and percussive innovation this time around.

Then the backdrop began to creep to the fore.

This is Cale's most swirling music to date, never so intoxicating, so deceptively simple and yet so precisely elaborate. This is a different beast from "Tulsa" altogether. Whereas "Tulsa" thrived from the directness of the songwriting, "Roll On" weaves an intricate tapestry of effects, colors, thumps, clicks, all riding on disarmingly naive melodies. And there's the vintage guitar-work: a bewitchingly wicked interplay of simultaneous rhythm and leads that is more sophisticated than anything JJ's done before. Over this pulsating sea of sounds, you get his laconic, less-is-more singing rasp. Sheer brilliance.

JJ sows and reaps within the space of each song, delivering what is one of his most accomplished platters, one of his most tasteful collections yet. Sexy, ironic, playful, daring, and perfectly understated without ever forsaking the Cajun country rock/jazz shuffle he conjured up and perfected. In fact, JJ has taken the style a step further: while the old seeds are firmly rooted, this is not typically laid back and sparse music; in fact, it veers away from the minimalism of yore towards a more urgent, accelerated, and heavy-laden sound. It's the flip side of "Naturally", his first, but equal in cool charm and bristling invention. You'll be sucked into 'Cale-World' and spit out a (much) happier person.

Besides stompingly classic and modern, this is an album no modern band could create. It's that classy.

Yes, it took a few listens. Yet, the rewards were richer. JJ IS A NATIONAL TREASURE.

This is the best and I want to listen to it over and over. I enjoy every song.