Wednesday, October 13, 2021

J. J. Cale - Rare Studio Tracks, 1973-2013

Here's something that's a de facto guest post. My musical friend MZ is a big fan of laid back guitarist J. J. Cale, and collected a bunch of his rare studio tracks. I saw that he missed some, and managed to find some more. So we did this together, but most of the work was his. Thanks, MZ!

Cale has left a lot of good songs off his albums, for whatever reason. He's released two archival albums consisting of entirely previously unreleased songs, "Rewind" in 2009, and "Stay Around" in 2019, which was six years after his death in 2013. Even so, there's more. All the songs here are different than the ones on those two albums. 

Since this only includes rare studio tracks, not live ones, the vast majority are officially released songs. Five songs come from the "Anyway the Wind Blows" compilation album. Some more are from an EP, B-sides, bonus tracks, a DVD, his contributions to other people's albums (where he sang as well as played guitar), and the like. There's only one song that's unreleased, and that's "King City." It was done for an in person radio station appearance, so the sound quality is as good as the rest.

Note that two songs, "Artificial Paradise" and "Stone River," are alternate versions of songs that did make his albums. They're different enough to merit inclusion. Also, I wanted to help make them more available, because much of this stuff is extremely difficult to find.

Now, some people are really big J. J. Cale fans, and love everything he's done. MZ is like that, but I'm not. I like some, but not all. So, I'm posting two versions of this album. One is effectively a double album, an hour and 21 minutes long, that contains all the rare songs MZ and I could find. The other is a "best of," 41 minutes long, that contains just the songs that I liked the best. Take your choice.

As far as I can tell, the vast majority of the songs here are Cale originals, or at least co-written by him. If anyone knows of songs here he didn't have a hand in writing, let me know and I'll add that info in. I think MZ and I got just about all the rare studio tracks out there. We found all the ones on our want list, at least. But if anyone knows of anything we missed (that isn't in our early Cale compilation already posted here, called "The Early Years"), let me know and I'll see if we can make additions.

As for rare live tracks, Cale has a bunch of those two. They're a different breed, with a lot more covers, often more soloing, and sometimes a different sound quality, so MZ and I have made a separate collection of those. I plan on posting that soon here as well.

Thanks again to MZ for making this possible. I hadn't planned on doing this otherwise, since I didn't know Cale had so many rare songs. 

Here's the song list for the complete version, followed by the download link:

01 Midnight In Memphis [Instrumental] (J. J. Cale)
02 Durango [Instrumental] (J. J. Cale)
03 Woke Up This Morning (J. J. Cale)
04 Things Ain't Simple (J. J. Cale)
05 Juarez Blues (J. J. Cale)
06 It's Good to Be in Austin (J. J. Cale)
07 Santa Cruz (J. J. Cale)
08 Artificial Paradise [Alternate Version] (J. J. Cale)
09 Feels like Rain (J. J. Cale)
10 Blond-Headed Woman (J. J. Cale)
11 Hang Ups (J. J. Cale)
12 Danny's Song [Instrumental] (J. J. Cale)
13 Love Is Hard to Find (J. J. Cale)
14 Stone River [Alternate Version] (J. J. Cale)
15 King City (J. J. Cale)
16 Daylight (Jamie Oldaker & J. J. Cale)
17 Gasoline (J. J. Cale)
18 Bus Rider (J. J. Cale)
19 High School [Instrumental] (J. J. Cale)
20 Bird's Song [Instrumental] (J. J. Cale)
21 On Tour (J. J. Cale)
22 Louvelda (Tony Joe White & J. J. Cale)
23 Worrying Off My Mind (J. J. Cale)
24 The Taker (J. J. Cale)
25 Top of the Hill (J. J. Cale)
26 Angel (Eric Clapton & J. J. Cale)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15102047/JJCal_1973-2013_RareStudioTracks_atse.zip.html

Here's the song list for the "best of" version, followed by its download link:

01 Things Ain't Simple (J. J. Cale)
02 Juarez Blues (J. J. Cale)
03 Santa Cruz (J. J. Cale)
04 Blond-Headed Woman (J. J. Cale)
05 Hang Ups (J. J. Cale)
06 Danny's Song [Instrumental] (J. J. Cale)
07 Love Is Hard to Find (J. J. Cale)
08 King City (J. J. Cale)
09 Daylight (Jamie Oldaker & J. J. Cale)
10 Gasoline (J. J. Cale)
11 Bus Rider (J. J. Cale)
12 On Tour (J. J. Cale)
13 Top of the Hill (J. J. Cale)
14 Angel (Eric Clapton & J. J. Cale)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15106865/JJCal_1973-2013_RareStudioTracks_BestOfVersion_atse.zip.html

The cover photo of Cale was taken near his home in San Diego in 1989.

10 comments:

  1. is there an active link? I'm like MZ!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Active link, what do you mean? Do you see the zippyshare links towards the bottom?

      Delete
  2. zippy link says website is no longer or moved

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I just checked both zippyshare links and they seem to work with me. Am I missing something?

      Delete
  3. Replies
    1. The links look good to me. You're probably having trouble with Zippyshare in general. If so, check this out:

      If you're having trouble downloading things from my blog, for instance you click on a ZippyShare link and get an annoying ad, I have a few recommendations.

      1) Try right clicking on the link, and opening it in a new window. People say that helps.
      2) Use an ad blocker add on or extension for your browser. That's what I do, and it leaves Zippyshare free of all the crud. Plus, it's a good thing that helps you avoid ads when browsing on the Internet in general. There's a bunch to choose from, and they're generally free.
      3) Use a VPN. That stands for Virtual Private Network. Zippyshare is banned in a few European countries, so this is a way to hide what country you're in. Actually, it's a good (and perfectly legal) thing to do when browsing the Internet in general.
      3) If all else fails, I also share everything I post on my blog through the music file-sharing program SoulseekQT. It's free, no strings attached, and super easy to use. Just search for the artist and album title, plus "atse" (which stands for "Albums That Should Exist").

      Delete
  4. Reply to Mystic:

    I'm listening now. Yeah, those vocals are way low. Heck, Cale always buries his vocals, but this is even more than usual. I'll see what I can do. I like how clear the recording is otherwise.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I just tried editing one of the tracks. What do you think of this?:

      https://www89.zippyshare.com/v/BLxGdRtu/file.html

      How's the vocal volume for you? His voice is always so quiet; I like being able to hear him clearly. Though some people might say that's not what he would want.

      Delete
    2. Sounds spot on. Jj Cale says he has a sore throat so he's even more 'laid back'. With the boost in sound I feel it's a really great recording. I understand the guest guitarist joined Cale the next performance too but I've yet to locate it.So, it's a unique collaboration and very enjoyable one. I hope you complete it and enjoy it too. Thanks.

      Delete
  5. It just needed that little 'lift' you gave it. Excellent.

    ReplyDelete