‘Travelin’ light, is the only way to fly…’
My dad passed away in November of 2018. I’ve been trying to think of a way to honour his memory that would have a bit of permanence – something that I could tangibly create that I could then return to in later years. I settled on For Pete’s Sake – a YouTube series in which I go through my dad’s record collection and review them one record at a time. To accompany those videos, I will also be writing a written review of each album. This will give me a bit more room to explore the records themselves in greater detail on a musical level. The videos will be more dad-centric, while these reviews will focus more on the music. This week – J.J. Cale’s fourth album, Troubadour…
I should begin by stating that J.J. Cale is not, nor has he ever been, a member of The Velvet Underground. That’s John Cale. A different man. Pleasingly, I don’t seem to be the only one confused by this, and J.J. Cale actually changed his own stage name to avoid confusion with the other guy. Now that’s out of the way, let’s sink our teeth into this record.
Cale is a rootsy, no-nonsense guitar player first and foremost, but he also follows in the ’70s singer-songwriter tradition of Jackson Browne and Tom Petty. Hazy opening track, ‘Hey Baby’ could only have been written and recorded in the ’70s. Cale was born and raised in Oklahoma, but he had been living in LA for over a decade when this album was released in 1976 and ‘Hey Baby’ is shot through with California sunshine. ‘Travelin’ Light’ is more insistent and is perhaps the best song on the album, along with ‘Cocaine’. More on that later. The combination of the driving, insistent bass line and the funk-inflected guitar lick, along with Cale’s simple yet alluring lyrics, is a heady one, and it’s surprising that the song hasn’t endured more in the intervening years since the album’s release. Both ‘Hold On’ and especially ‘Super Blue’ evoke ’70s era Tom Waits. The latter is a lovelorn ballad about a woman finding another man, and it offers some pleasing sonic variation to a record that can sometimes feel a little samey (particularly on more throwaway tracks like ‘You Got Something’ and ‘Ride Me High’).
‘Cocaine’ is the centrepiece of the album, and probably Cale’s most well-known song due to it being turned into a hit by Eric Clapton. I prefer Cale’s version. It’s dirtier. More Bluesy. If you haven’t heard anything by Cale, this should be your starting point. The riff. The lyrics. It’s perfect poker music. I could almost feel the rolled up aces over kings. I’ll fold. Unfortunately, the album peters out somewhat with ‘Cherry’ and ‘You Got Me On So Bad’, both fairly forgettable. The latter is pretty, and is a good showcase for Cale’s voice, but it’s also the kind of standard blues song you’ve heard a million times before.
To summarise, at 36 minutes, Troubadour is well worth checking out for anyone into ’70s guitar music, but I would say that ‘Travelin’ Light’ and ‘Cocaine’ are the only essential tracks.
For episode 2 of For Pete’s Sake – click here.