Troubadour

All of J.J. Cale's albums boil down to tales of life and love on the road, but Troubadour really is solely about livin' and lovin' on the road. It's a smoke-filled, addictive, strutting record - perfectly titled - with absolutely no filler.

Naturally was Cale's debut, Really was his bluegrass record, Okie was the 'lyrical' album, and Troubadour is his guitar album. Every track here seems to have more bite than any of his previous recordings, with more guitar soloing and lots of expert filling.

Troubadour begins with "Hey Baby", which strolls along with some quirky drumming and an excellent backwoods feel. The slide guitar here is just so relaxing, and the understated horns enter and leave exactly when they should, never overstaying their welcome. The ending solo is a perfect mix of country and blues, something the 60's San Francisco bands perfected. Next is "Travelin' Light", with its funky James Burton-style guitar that Jimmy Page tried to copy on "The Crunge", along with great xylophones to fill out the sound - it moves and cooks and rolls and rocks and has just an absolutely earthy quality.

Next up is the 4-minute "You Got Something". It's Cale's longest song out of his first four albums, an island samba - complete with kettledrums - that's a soothing sit-out-on-the-beach with pina colada kind of tune. The middle solo perfectly suits the Latin feel of the music, but unfortunately the tune is just too long - so why, out of all his songs, does he decide to make this one 4 minutes? "Ride Me High" is almost as long, but it picks up the pace and adds some ridiculous spacey-sounding backdrops, fuzzbox guitar experiments, and cool drum fills to really bring this dirty funk to light. It has more electronic noises than might seem typical of Cale, but he handles the change in sound with smutty lyrics, and it's an easy-grooving highlight.
All-Time Records