Ultimate Collection [Import, Original recording remastered]

J.J. Cale | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 30, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 3
• Format: Import, Original recording remastered
• Label: Universal
• ASIN: B0002Q2294
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #398,537 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. After Midnight

2. Crazy Mama

3. Call Me the Breeze

4. Magnolia

5. Lies

6. I'll Kiss the World Goodbye

7. If You're Ever in Oklahoma

8. Crying

9. Cajun Moon

10. Okie

See all 17 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Sensitive Kind

2. Carry On

3. Mama Don't

4. City Girls

5. Don't Wait

6. Downtown L.A.

7. Devil in Disguise

8. Money Talks

9. Hard Times

10. Teardrops in My Tequila

See all 17 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Notorious for his laid-back, rootsy style, J.J. Cale (b. Jean Jacques Cale) is best-known for writing 'After Midnight' and 'Cocaine', songs that Eric Clapton later made into hits. But Cale's influence wasn't only through songwriting -- his distinctly loping sense of rhythm and shuffling boogie became the blueprint for the adult-oriented roots-rock of Clapton and Mark Knopfler, among others. This Ultimate 3-disc collection has been digitally remastered and comes packaged in a gate fold digipak. Universal. 2005.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great American Blues - superb collection of JJ Cale, February 6, 2007

By 

bagadonutz "bagadonutz" (Indianapolis) - See all my reviews

This review is from: J.J Cale - Collected (Audio CD)

OK - first this admission: I consider myself a longtime music fan but I was totally unfamiliar with JJ Cale until recently. For years I confused JJ Cale with John Cale who played with the Velvet Underground and decided I didn't need hear John Cale playing solo. Yes, I have deprived myself of years of some of the best American music produced in the last 35 years. I finally introduced myself to JJ Cale through "Road to Escondido" and then bought "To Tulsa and Back."

This is a very nice 3-CD set of great music spanning over 30 years of well-produced guitar-centered Americana. The music here is from the following albums:
1972 Naturally (6 songs)
1972 Really (3)
1974 Okie (4)
1976 Troubadour (5)
1979 Five (5)
1981 Shades (3)
1982 Grasshopper (5)
1983 #8 (4)
1990 Travel-Log (2)
1992 Number 10 (2)
1994 Closer to You (1)
1996 Guitar Man (2)
1997 Anyway the Wind Blosw (All 6 of the 'previously unrelased' tracks!)
2004 To Tulsa and Back (2)
Includes 7 exclusive live tracks from the Dutch 2 Meter Sessie radio show and 3 live concert tracks from the mid-1990's.
I'm not an audiophile so I won't comment on the audio quality but my the audio is crisp and clean throughout so my guess is that great care was taken in remastering this material.

Hopefully, this will be widely available in the States soon. But don't wait - your will not be disappointed with this collection.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Ultimate Cale, November 28, 2007

By 

C. J. Stensrud (Slidell, LA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Ultimate Collection (Audio CD)

JJ Cale was a recent discovery for me. I originally bought the CD "The Very Best of JJ Cale," but lost it during a move following Hurricane Katrina. Replacement of the album was high on my priority list, but while browsing Amazon, I stumbled onto the "Ultimate Collection. The three-CD set includes all of the cuts from "The Very Best," and from what I can tell, a large share of the best of his recorded music.

I like his laid back style - soft vocals and articulate but subdued guitar solos. I'd recommend this collection to anyone with an interest in contemporary delta influenced blues/rock.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE BEST-SOUNDING AUDIO OF ANY J.J. CALE COMPILATION OR ALBUM, July 20, 2008

By 

BOB (LOS ANGELES, CA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: J.J Cale - Collected (Audio CD)

The majority of Cale's CD catalog were all derived from old LP-EQ'd masters and were never brought properly into the digital world.

Things improved with the release of the 1997, 2CD, 50-track Anthology, which offered the first remasters of Cale's material.

However, from an audio-quality standpoint, this 60-track, 3CD Collected set supercedes Anthology for the best-in-class-audio mark. With proper mastering, it's actually rather stunning just how much additional fidelity emerges from these decades-old recordings.

From a material standpoint, Anthology has 16 tracks which do not appear on Collected, so if you already own that set, it's worth holding on to.

The sixty remastered tracks on Collected only represent approximately one-third of Cale's recorded studio output. After listening to this set, one can only hope that someday someone will finish the job.