Lend Me Your Ears
J.J. CALE & ERIC CLAPTON – THE ROAD TO ESCONDIDO
Review By Philip Nutman
J.J. CALE & ERIC CLAPTON
THE ROAD TO ESCONDIDO
Reprise/WEA
If you don’t know that J.J. Cale penned the songs “Cocaine” and “After Midnight,” widely considered as solo career defining moments for Clapton, then you don’t know Eric. Chances are, you don’t know Cale, either. J.J. is a guitarist’s guitarist, a reclusive musician from Oklahoma who is known for his laidback, rootsy style, who in addition to influencing Clapton has had an effect on other guitarists like Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits. A longtime mutual appreciation society, this record, recorded in California near to where Cale currently resides, has been a long time coming—some could say over 30 years since Clapton recorded those two anthems back in the early ‘70s. As if thanking Cale for the career boost all those years ago, Clapton lets his friend take the lead here, with J.J. penning most of the compositions. Laidback, often with the music sounding effortless, it’s clear this is a record made by a couple of friends for the sake of both their own pleasure, and well, just for the hell of it. “Dynamic” is not the word to describe this disc, so if you’re expecting guitar pyrotechnics, look elsewhere. Otherwise, just sit back and enjoy two consummate musicians collaborating together along with support from John Mayer and the late, great Billy Preston, who makes his final appearance as a keyboardist here.
PRIMUS – THEY CAN’T ALL BE ZINGERS
Review by Scott Jason
Primus
They Can't All Be Zingers
Interscope
I’ll admit, I’ve never found Primus to be a band I wanted to get into, but this career-spanning (Best Of...? Greatest Hits...? have they ever had any hits?) slice of cheese (and why do they call Primus fans “cheeseheads”? Oh, yeah, they put out a CD called Sailing on the Seas of Cheese or something) is mighty tasty. Another friend, who is a cheesehead it turns out, gave me a “see, I told ya so” look when I told him I was actually enjoying this. How do you describe Primus to someone who doesn’t know what they sound like? Jazzfunkmetal? Said friend told me to describe them as a post-metal Rush (huh?) meets Parliament meets Frank Zappa, but I don’t get it. I’m asking too many questions here. If you want to check out Primus, this is a good place to start. Who knows, after you’ve listened to eccentric main man Les Claypool’s frenetic upright bass playing, you, too, may find yourself a cheesehead. Oh, as for the music, I really dig the track, “Wynona’s Big Brown Beaver.” And one final question: is it?
NEIL YOUNG & CRAZY HORSE -- LIVE AT THE FILMORE
Review by Scott Jason
NEIL YOUNG & CRAZY HORSE
LIVE AT THE FILMORE
Reprise
I have another confession to make: this is the first time I’ve ever listened to Neil Young & Crazy Horse. Seriously. See, to me, Young was a folkie, one of those rich old ‘60s rock stars that was in one of the first super-groups, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and that was a big turnoff other than the fact my parents had CSNY vinyl in their collection. I think my Dad owned a Crazy Horse record, but he never played it. Besides, back in the early ‘70s I was more interested in watching reruns of The Banana Splits Show and playing with my Major Matt Mason than listening to hippies, folkies or “rock.” Somehow, I ended up dumping them in with The Dead and Jefferson Airplane as old fart music, so I never checked ‘em out—but man, as live CDs go, does this be-atch rock! It’s now my favorite live CD of the year. The only downside is it’s only six songs, apparently half of a concert (one of four they gave over two days at the legendary Bill Graham auditorium in NYC back in 1970), and although this is the first release from Young’s personal archives, some of these cuts have been released before, much to the bitchin’ of Young die-hards. But, hey, it’s getting a lot of great press all over the place, so don’t take my word for it – this is a great live disc.
