Grasshopper - J.J. Cale

Advantages: A collection of fine music....
Disadvantages: None...

...I grew up listening to Eric Clapton and JJ Cale as totally different singers and always wondered what they would sound like if they came together and made music combining the two styles and I was delighted to find this compact disc in my favourite music shop. This long overdue result is champagne in the veins, absolutely mind-blowing music. It's a bluesy; slow burning and twangy album and old slow hand gets even slower. It is however Cale who dominates most of the album by writing 11 of the 14 tracks. This is a hybrid sound that I find unique but I can still hear the Cale and Clapton styles. These songs are affectionate and powerful but they use very little vocabulary to articulate so much. The pleasant-sounding connection between these two veterans of rock and the blues is flawless. Their subtle, rumbling voices and elegant... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: perfect pop songs, mature, amusing and catchy
Disadvantages: slightly dated production

...This album contains some of Brain Eno's most commercial songs ever and some of John Cale's most atmospheric lyrics ever. Recorded in 1990 at Eno's home studio the sessions began amicably enough but by the end the two men were hardly speaking as Cale began to resent what he saw as Eno's constant tinkering with perfectly good recordings. The daggers between the faces on the album cover reflect this tension. However none of this is apparent when listening to the record. Without doubt one of the cheeriest albums I own there is a perpetual sunny atmosphere throughout, which occasionally spills over into outright goofiness. The absurdity of the sea shanty "Empty Frame" is infectious and I defy anyone not to grin along with the tune. But somehow it avoids embarrassment and silliness. Other highlights include one of Eno's most romantic tunes... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Each song is different
Disadvantages: Lou Reed and John Cale's style is not to everyone's taste

...‘Drella’ was Andy Wahl’s nickname, a combination of ‘Dracula’ and ‘Cinderella. In this affectionate tribute to their former manager/producer, the Velvet Underground’s Lou Reed and John Cale are reunited in both song and spirit to create a musical biography of the 20th century’s most revered and reviled artist. A largely cut-down recording (many songs are just guitar and piano) the pair put their Velvet history behind them and manage to create something that borrows from each writer’s solo style and creates something new at the same time. While Lou writes and sings most of the material, it’s John Cale’s otherworldly approach that will stay with you. His poetic reading of one of Warhol’s haunting diaries is neither song nor poem; it transcends all usual definitions, it exists unique. Unusual among ‘rock monsters’ both Reed and Cale have... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful