JJ Cale - Rewind: Unreleased Recordings

Small, neatly-formed offcuts and covers

Everyone thinks of JJ Cale as a real laidback dude – and he is. But as Rewind makes clear from the very first thud of the opening track, the music he makes is driven by a pulse strong enough to resuscitate a stunned elephant. The CD’s 14 tracks, none of them released before, were brought out of the archive by Cale’s producer’s widow, and anyone who digs the Tulsa Sound should give thanks. Eight of the songs are originals, and Cale “personally selected” five covers. This was nice of him, and it is unusual to hear Cale playing Randy Newman, Waylon Jennings and all, but it might also have had something to do with the fact that, at full stretch, Rewind lasts but 31 minutes. Although this brevity knocks one star off, it is a highly varied small package. Some of the tunes are almost fragmentary (Bluebird), some epitomise the funky shuffle that Cale made his trademark (Lawdy Mama) and some verge on jazz (Out Of Style). The covers are good, but could almost be a proficient bar band doing, um, covers. Mind you, with Richard Thomson, Glen Hardin, Spooner Oldham and Jim Keltner accompanying, it would have to be one hell of a bar.

W14 Music | 1746945

Reviewed by Tim Holmes
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