JJ Cale Shades and The Tulsa Sound

Earlier this month I posted a blog advertising Quicksilver Music - a new independent record shop in Southport. It was in there that I happened to wander one day shortly after Christmas when Shades by JJ Cale was playing over the speakers. I knew instantly that I had to have it. It just had something about it. Made the record shop seem cooler than ever. The owner, Dave, who I have mentioned before, often spots me coming and puts something on that he thinks I'll like. Then he leaves the case on the counter - bait, so to speak, for the vulnerable record collector. This one got swallowed whole.

All of a sudden I could hear where Mark Knopfler got his inspiration, particularly for Dire Straits. I could hear why Clapton champions this man more than most. I could see why JJ Cale - a hider from the limelight and conscious avoider of Rock star 'celebrity' - is such a cult hero. Heralded as the 'creator' of the Tulsa Sound, Cale has single-handedly pioneered a genre that fuses Country, Blues, Rockabilly and Jazz. Clapton is chiefly responsible for Cale's cult status, having made two of Cale's songs - Cocaine and After Midnight - huge hits for himself in the 70's. Admirers also include Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Brian Ferry. His laid back sound is very compelling, and I feel there is no better example than this stunning album, Shades.

So, to the highlights. If I'm honest there are no low lights. This is a remarkably consistent record. It opens with the groovy Carry On, demonstrating Cale's insistence on understated vocals and shuffle rhythm. It is a killer hook, leading into the equally hypnotising Deep Dark Dungeon, another characteristically short but captivating novella of a song. Wish I Had Not Said That is a lighter shuffle with a particularly stripped back sound, Pack My Jack a stereotypical, smoky-bar, post-midnight blues instrumental, and If You Leave Her a somewhat funky, wah-wah infused jaunt. Mama Don't is an infectious, clever lyric riding over a jilted twelve-bar blues: "Mama don't allow no guitar playin' round here/No Mama don't allow no guitar playin' round here/I don't care what Mama don't allow/Gonna play my guitar anyhow/No Mama don't allow no guitar playin' in here." Cale runs through his band list of instruments throughout the song, building up to an intense finale.

Runaround is Cale's Jazz soaked Blues in which his lyrics, about a woman giving him the 'runaround', hark back to the blues men of old. What Do You Expect is lively, Love Has Been Gone a nod to Cale's Country influences, and the album's final track, Cloudy Day, a moody but adorable, Albatross style instrumental in which guitar and saxophone duel beautifully. A staggering end to a great record. In 2005 JJ Cale released a DVD called To Tulsa And Back - a career spanning documentary that gives a great insight into this reclusive legend and his wonderful musical achievements. He is a must-discover artist for any music fan, and there is no better way to do it than with this album, Shades.