Obviously, I had to do it. But as hard as it was to pick 10 personally influential albums, it was harder yet to post with no explanations!! Fortunately, I have no such restriction on my blog. 'Cause I make the rules! So here we go, a reposting of the 10 albums I posted on Facebook, but now with a short explanation of each explain WHY I chose it as influential.
Note: these are presented in the same random order I used over there....
Day 2 of 10
J.J. Cale - Troubadour - 1976
Sometime in the second 1/2 of 1977 (I think), I first heard J.J. Cale's (original) version of the song Cocaine, on the local Album-Oriented-Rock station. I'm pretty sure it was before Clapton's version, but not by much. (But I could be wrong, it was, after all over 40yrs ago). And it really grabbed my 17 year old spirit, a great rock song. I knew that J.J. Cale had written two songs covered by Lynyrd Skynyd, and Eric Clapton's "After Midnight". And now this! So I had to pick up the album.
And as I listened to it the first time... well, I didn't quite get it. Because it's not head banging rock and roll. And while his original of Cocaine sounds very much like Clapton's, Cale's original versions of After Midnight, Call Me The Breeze and I Got The Same Old Blues do NOT sound like the covers... [Aside, none of those other songs are on Troubadour].
But as I gave it more listens, it drew me in, and before long had me totally hooked. Totally hooked. I like how one web site put it: "Cale's signature laid back, bluesy style of country rock features rambling snapshots of love and life on the road that are unconventionally addicting. " Before long I had his previous 3 albums, and I picked up his next 5 albums as soon as I knew about them (working through 1990).
All these years later, J.J. Cale is still a staple on my iPod, still a favorite. I own all but one of his albums, two if you include the posthumous collection of unreleased stuff. I should probably get those two, just to be a completest, and prove the point...
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