[rating=7.00]
The greatest tribute Eric Clapton and Friends offer in their tribute to the late J.J. Cale on Call Me The Breeze is to so accurately emulate the low-key sound the late Oklahoman most often formulated on his own records. The brevity and economy of the tracks just begins to descend into sameness when the album turns into a more direct, and palpably heartfelt, eulogy to the Oklahoma musicians and songwriter.
An Appreciation of J. J. Cale doesn’t begin so auspiciously with the sound of a click track on the title cut–Cale was nothing if not human–but there’s no discernible mechanical feel throughout the rest of that cut, or, in fact, anything similar during the rest of the sixteen tracks. Except, that is, “Cajun Moon” and another other EC solo number, “Since You Said Goodbye.” As has often been the case during his career, Eric Clapton elevates the level of his playing when surrounded by musicians he admires and that’s key to the success of this project.
In combination, that is, with the understated approach Slowhand and co-producer Simon Climie maintain elsewhere, supplemented by the co-stars. On “Someday,” for instance, Mark Knopfler’s guitar and vocals create a quietly ghostly air that reminds what an influence JJ Cale was on Dire Straits. John Mayer acquits himself almost equally well on “Magnolia,” his singing as unaffected as the soft but pungent guitar playing that adorns the track.
Tom Petty refuses to call attention to himself, almost to a fault, on “I Got the Same Old Blues” and even more so as he sings alongside EC on “Rock and Roll Records,” but Clapton offers a stinging solo on the former that helps alleviate the very homogeneity here that often afflicted Cale’s own records. That effect is even more pronounced on “That Old Man and Me,” where TP assumes that whispery tone that was so effective for Cale. The more upbeat blues rocker “Don’t Wait,” featuring Clapton and Mayer trading brisk licks, might better have been placed near the middle of the song sequence to effectively pace the album.
It’s at this very point, however, that Call Me the Breeze becomes more personal expression than mere homage. Gently intertwined guitar lines, including those of David Lindley’s, distinguishes “Song Bird” as much as Willie Nelson’s readily identifiable voice, while the master instrumentalist and former sideman to Jackson Browne is a dream pairing with guitar wunderkind Derek Trucks on “Crying Eyes.” This concluding track might well have been a worthy exception to the otherwise concise arrangements throughout An Appreciation, but Trucks adds to the dreamy moody of the song even without much room for him to stretch out.
Eric Clapton’s first attempt to extend his debt of gratitude to J.J. Cale was 2006’s Road to Escondido, originally conceived as the latter’s production of a Slowhand album that eventually turned into a full-fledged collaboration. Call Me the Breeze holds true to its underlying intent so fully throughout its execution, its subject couldn’t really be honored more except if these artists continue to play his songs as they wend their way through the careers. And that premise applies as much (perhaps more) to the seminal guitar hero as any of these artists: the rootsy economical musicianship contained here is exactly that which Eric Clapton would do well to emulate both on stage and in the studio.
