Track Listing

1. Call Me The Breeze
2. Crazy Mama
3. Magnolia
4. After Midnight
5. Lies
6. Midnight In Memphis
7. Cajun Moon
8. Rock And Roll Records
9. Cocaine
10. Hey Baby
11. I'll Make Love To You Anytime
12. Don't Cry Sister
13. Thirteen Days
14. Sensitive Kind
15. Carry On
16. Mama Don't
17. City Girls
18. Devil In Disguise
19. Don't Wait
20. Money Talks

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7259 in Music
• Released on: 1999-10-01
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

CD Description
A one-disc, 20-track condensation of Mercury's two-disc, 50-track anthology ANYWAY THE WIND BLOWS, THE VERY BEST OF J.J. CALE is the one J.J. Cale CD to have when you're having only one. Leading off with a new recording of "Call Me the Breeze", featuring Johnny Cash's R&B-playing son John Carter Cash, THE VERY BEST OF J.J. CALE runs through 19 other Cale gems, including the original versions of "After Midnight" and "Cocaine", both made famous by Eric Clapton.
The surpriseto new listeners used to the more showboating Clapton versions will be how laid-back and seemingly offhand Cale's originals are. That goes for every song on this set. A master of the two-minute blues, Cale plays and sings with remarkable restraint and economy. There's no one like him.

Customer Reviews

Check this great man out!!!!!!
Many people walk around and sing along to JJ Cale and they don't even know it for he has been an influence to many musicians, the most well known being Mark Knopfler and Eric Clapton. This is a great retrospective of material spanning the decades from this most enigmatic of performers.

The wonderful thing about JJ Cale is that if you like one album you are bound to like all of the others, for he found his furrow early on and has successfully ploughed it since. That is not to say that it ever gets tedious or wearing because it doesn't. It always pleases and excites in a lazy sort of way.

Most of the great songs are here, including "After Midnight" (covered by EC on his first album), the wonderful "Magnolia" that always moves me, the previously unreleased and quite magnificent "Midnight in Memphis" which sizzles along nicely, the eloquence of tracks such as "Sensitive Kind" which John Mayall recorded for his album Sense of Place, the unrestrained rocker that is "Mama Don't" which features some exquisite playing by JJ, "Don't Cry Sister" which has been covered by many artists, not least Clarence Gatemouth Brown with Sonny Landreth on slide and of course crowd favourite for EC, "Cocaine".

This is an excellent primer for anyone not yet familiar with the work of JJ Cale and is also a joy to listen to for those who have walked down the years with him. If you find that you like what you hear, then you will find yourself wanting to search out every other album ... JJ is that addictive as an artist. Buy this, you will not be disappointed.

Introduced to a genius
I bought this album because of the Magnolia track which I had heard on Turin Brakes' Late Night Tales compilation. It was a real moody track and to be honest I expected the same on the greatest hits. But to my pleasant surprise what I got was an album full of great variant tracks. From honky tonk blues to upbeat guitar and piano songs this really is a pleasure to listen to. Highly recommended for chilling out to.

Relaxing in the groove! A fine introduction to J.J. Cale
No ordinary pop singer, John "J.J." Cale of Tulsa, Oklahoma, is something of an acquired taste. He has maintained a solid cult following for forty years, but most people probably associate "After Midnight", "I'll Make Love To You Anytime" and "Cocaine" with Eric Clapton, "They Call Me The Breeze" with Lynyrd Skynyrd or Johnny Cash, and "Cajun Moon" with Randy Crawford, rather than with Cale.

Here they are, though, played and sung by Cale himself in his (very!) laid-back style which emphasises the songs and their rhythm over fancy solos.
J.J. Cale is an idiosyncratic vocalist, and some people may be turned off by his singing voice, or lack thereof, but Cale's loping sense of rhythm and shuffling boogie patterns became the blueprint for the adult-oriented roots-rock of men like Eric Clapton and Mark Knopfler, and if you are into that kind of music you really owe it to yourself to at least give Cale a chance. You might come away preferring Clapton's covers over Cale's originals, but then again you might not.
Me? I'll take Cale's "Cocaine" and "I'll Make Love To You Anytime" and Clapton's "After Midnight". But one thing is for sure: J.J. Cale grows on you.