J.J. Cale, Troubadour (1976)
I was thinking just the other day about how this is one of my favourite J.J. Cale albums – and about how there are a small handful I still don’t really know. But this was not the first Cale album I heard. I had a compilation and one of the more recent albums from the late 80s and I was keen to get the in-between years. So I first ordered this on cassette tape from The World Record Club; remember that (mythical) “place”? I think I’d send away to Wellington. I’d fill in the order form and pay my pocket-money back to dad and he’d write the cheque. This has the original of Cocaine which I only knew at the time from the famous cover. I like this version more. The grunt to the riff. That was the thing J.J. did so well. Well, there were lots of things. I miss him. He was terrific.

Sample Track: Ride Me High

The Vinyl Countdown is a document of every LP I listen to, brand new discoveries and old-old favourites; extremely pre-loved, previously abandoned or with the shrink-wrap having just been removed it’s all here at The Vinyl Countdown