| Travel-Log | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1989 | |||
| Studio |
| |||
| Length | 42:06 | |||
| Label | Silvertone/BMG | |||
| Producer | J. J. Cale | |||
| J. J. Cale chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
| Q | [2] |
Travel-Log is the ninth studio album by J. J. Cale. It was released in 1989. [3]
Cale initially made his reputation in the 1970s as a songwriter for Eric Clapton and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Cale's recording career came to a halt in the mid-1980s. Although he produced a handful of minor hits, Cale was indifferent to publicity and preferred to avoid the spotlight. As a result, his albums never sold well. However, his 1983 Mercury release #8 was the first album of his career not to chart, and he became disillusioned with the music business, taking six years off. In 1990 he explained in an interview, "In 1984 I was with a different record company, and it didn't seem to be working out too good, so I asked to get out of my contract, and that took a couple of years to shuffle the paper around. Then when I got through doin' that, I thought I'd take a little break from recording; maybe go in once or twice a year and record somethin' I'd written." [4]
Travel-Log was the first solo album Cale produced himself, without long-time producer Audie Ashworth. Audie co-wrote the opening track "Shanghaid" with Cale. While the album has a travel theme with titles like "Tijuana" and "New Orleans", Cale insisted he did not set out to make a concept album and only recognized it after he picked the songs:
It's kind of ironic. When Andrew Lauder of Silvertone said he'd like to put out some tapes, I just got a bunch together and they put 'em out as an album. It wasn't till I got to listening to the album that I noticed that I'd written a bunch of tunes in the last four or five years about towns, and places, and travellin' around. [4]
Cale had continued recording at his home studio and other studios, and explained that Travel-Log was "a gathering of all those things." [4] He drafted many of the same session musicians who worked on his previous recordings, such as drummer Jim Keltner and keyboardist Spooner Oldham, and also enlisted guitarist James Burton and folk veteran (and fellow Okie) Hoyt Axton, who sings on "Lean on Me." Cale's wife, singer and guitarist Christine Lakeland, appears on the album. Travel-Log contains the bluesy, shuffling rock and roll fans would expected, although songs like "Hold On Baby" and "No Time" are harder-edged, with AllMusic's William Ruhlmann noting in his review, "Cale's first album in six years finds him taking a more aggressive stance in terms of tempos and playing, although he remains a man with a profound sense of the groove and, especially as a singer, a minimalist." The mysterious and spooky "Tijuana" tells the story of the "land of broken dreams" where women with flashing dark eyes ask "Can you take us over the border, just tell them I'm your daughter." "End of the Line" has a jazzy, cocktail lounge after-hours vibe that recalls earlier Cale songs, "Call the Doctor" and "You've Got Me on So Bad." The track "Disadvantage," which is credited to Cale and four of the session players, sounds like the product of a studio jam, while "Riverboat Song" is an intimate acoustic blues featuring Cale's trademark multi-tracked vocals.
All tracks written by J. J. Cale, unless otherwise noted.
| Chart (1989–1990) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [5] | 76 |
| Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) [6] | 50 |
| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) [7] | 29 |
| US Billboard 200 [8] | 131 |
John Weldon "J. J." Cale was an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Though he avoided the limelight, his influence as a musical artist has been acknowledged by figures such as Mark Knopfler, Neil Young, Waylon Jennings, and Eric Clapton, who described him as one of the most important artists in rock history. He is one of the originators of the Tulsa sound, a loose genre drawing on blues, rockabilly, country, and jazz.
Naturally is the debut studio album by J. J. Cale released on October 25, 1971.
"After Midnight" is a rock song by J. J. Cale, first released in 1966. Eric Clapton later covered it for his eponymous album, released in 1970. Clapton's rendition became a success, prompting Cale to re-record the song for his own 1971 album Naturally. In 1987, Clapton later re-recorded the song for a Michelob beer commercial and then released the re-recording as a single. "After Midnight" has been considered one of Clapton's signature songs throughout his career. Other artists covered the song in later years.
Troubadour is the fourth studio album by J. J. Cale. Eric Clapton covered the song "Cocaine" on his 1977 album Slowhand, turning it into one of his biggest hits.
The Road to Escondido is a collaborative studio album by J. J. Cale and Eric Clapton. It was released on 7 November 2006. Contained on this album are the final recordings of keyboardist Billy Preston. The album is jointly dedicated to Preston and Brian Roylance.
Really is the second studio album by J. J. Cale. It was released in 1972.
Okie is the third studio album by J. J. Cale, released in 1974.
5 is the fifth studio album by J. J. Cale. Released in 1979, it was his first album in three years. When the album was re-issued on CD, "Katy Kool Lady" was replaced by a new song listed as "Out of Style," though it was still listed as the former on the CD. "Out of Style" is also included on the 2007 album Rewind: The Unreleased Recordings under its proper title. There is still no U.S. domestic release of the song "Katy Kool Lady" on CD.
Timothy Lee Drummond was an American musician from Canton, Illinois. Drummond's primary instrument was bass guitar and he toured and recorded with many notable artists, including Conway Twitty, Bob Dylan, James Brown, Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Crosby & Nash, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Ry Cooder, J. J. Cale, Mother Earth, Lonnie Mack, Miles Davis, B.B. King, Joe Cocker, Albert Collins, Joe Henry, Jewel, Essra Mohawk, and many others.
Grasshopper is a 1982 album by J. J. Cale. It was his seventh studio album since his debut in 1971.
Roll On is the 14th studio album by J. J. Cale, released on February 24, 2009, by Rounder Records. All songs were written by Cale; they include "Who Knew", "Former Me", and "Roll On", the last of which is a collaboration with Eric Clapton. Some tracks were recorded at sessions at David Teegarden's studio, north of Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 2003.
To Tulsa and Back is the 13th album by J. J. Cale, released in 2004.
Shades is the sixth studio album by J. J. Cale, released in February 1981.
#8 is an album by the American musician J. J. Cale, released in 1983.
Clapton is the eighteenth solo studio album by English rock guitarist and singer-songwriter Eric Clapton. It was released on 27 September 2010 in the United Kingdom and the following day in the United States.
Guitar Man is the 12th studio album by J. J. Cale, released in 1996.
Closer to You is the 11th studio album by J. J. Cale, released in 1994. It was published under the independent French label Delabel and distributed by Virgin Records.
Number 10 is a 1992 album by J. J. Cale. It was his tenth studio album since his debut in 1971.
The Breeze: An Appreciation of JJ Cale is a collaborative studio album featuring Eric Clapton and a host of other musicians. It consists of covers of songs by J. J. Cale, who had died the previous year. It was named after Cale's 1972 single "Call Me the Breeze". It was produced by Clapton and Simon Climie. The guests invited on the album include Tom Petty, Mark Knopfler, Willie Nelson and John Mayer.
Stay Around is the 15th and final studio album by songwriter, guitarist and singer J. J. Cale, and his first and only posthumous album so far, released on April 26, 2019 by Because Music.
