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The Road to Escondido | 
| Artist: Jj Cale And Eric Clapton
Label: Warners
Category: Music
List Price: £15.99
Buy New: £5.97
You Save: £10.02 (63%)
New (48) Used (11) from £4.54
Rating:  18 reviews
Sales Rank: 1862
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 4.9 x 0.4
MPN: 44418
UPC: 093624441823
EAN: 0093624441823
ASIN: B000I5X81A
Release Date: November 6, 2006
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Tracks:
| • | Danger | | • | Heads In Georgia | | • | Missing Person | | • | When The War Is Over | | • | Sporting Life Blues | | • | Dead End Road | | • | It's Easy | | • | Hard To Thrill | | • | Anyway The Wind Blows | | • | Three Little Girls | | • | Don't Cry Sister | | • | Last Will And Testament | | • | Who Am I Telling You | | • | Ride The River |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk Review
JJ Cale penned two of Eric Clapton's career-defining solo hits, "Cocaine" and "After Midnight." And since Clapton has often fashioned his persona in a WWJD manner (what would JJ do?), this collaboration is long overdue. But despite the rather slick production and long list of guest backing musicians (including four bassists, four drummers, five other guitarists, and three percussionists), The Road to Escondido is still dominated more by Cale than Clapton. The relatively reticent Okie wrote 11 of the 14 tracks, and it's his low-key soufflé of blues, jazz, and country that shapes and directs the disc's tone, with Clapton along for the ride. The opening "Danger" sets the dusky mood as the duo rides a typical Cale swamp groove that gives way to a tightly wound Slowhand solo. They trade lead vocals on a lovely version of the after-hours jazz blues classic "Sporting Life Blues," and the ubiquitous John Mayer makes an impressive appearance on the subtle blues of "Hard to Thrill." Clapton hasn't sounded this relaxed or involved in his own material for years. The traditionally laidback, if not quite snoozy, Cale responds with a comparatively energized performance, likely due to the high-profile company. When the two harmonize on the mid-tempo foot tapper "Anyway the Wind Blows," the result is so natural and spontaneous it's a shame these two didn't join forces earlier. On paper, it appears that Cale has the most to gain from partnering with an established superstar, but the fact is this collaboration yields Eric Clapton's most engaging and contagious roots-rock release in a long time. --Hal Horowitz
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| Customer Reviews: Read 13 more reviews...
 Slippers and pipe music March 28, 2008
Eric will be 65 in about three years. When I was a boy, old-age pensioners tended to stay at home wearing slippers and smoking a pipe.
Unfortunately the words to a song on this album - "Hard to Thrill" - say it all; "Nothing really moves me any more".
This is slippers and pipe music; pleasant enough, but nothing to get worked up about. For me, it's music to play whilst pottering on the Internet - reading the news, browsing Wikipedia, writing Amazon reviews, etc.
Over Produced February 17, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Why on Earth does this project need 4 guitarists, 4 bass players, 4 drummers etc...surely Eric and J.J. can handle ALL of the guitar work by themselves? Wasn't Eric's idea to get the J.J. Cale sound and feel for this album? The fantastic sparse feel of the classic track from 'Naturally', 'Any Way the Wind Blows' is totally destroyed in the re-make here. It's so bad it will make you want to weep. Eric plays totally inappropriate solos all over the place with that horrible processed tone that he has been using for years and years..it's a crying shame...and let's not even talk about the dreadful 'Three Little Girls' (his new 'Tears from Heaven').
The album is good in places, and thank God that J.J. wrote nearly all the songs, but it a wasted effort as a collaboration.
 The Road To Escondido January 6, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
'The Road To Escondido' is the brilliant collaboration between JJ Cale and Eric Clapton, and like his previous album with BB King, this is a match made in heaven. The playing is smooth, relaxed and yet full of the flair that makes them both so highly respected. I found particular tracks, such as 'Hard To Thrill' and 'Don't Cry Sister' stood out first listen, and 'Who Am I Telling You?' has a wonderfully laid back feel to it, that soothes me ever time I hear it. 'Ride The River' is a superb album closer and leaves you smiling at the end of a Cd's worth of top music. This album gets better with repeated listening and after EC's slightly lack lustre 'Back Home' album, this is a welcome tour de force. The playing is sharp, the songwriting is spot on and the blend between JJ and EC is pretty unbeatable. A great album and well worth a listen.
 Thank God for JJ Cale... April 8, 2007
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
I've been a fan of JJ Cale for 20 years and am just so happy that he is still alive! Together JJ Cale and Eric Clapton bring a great balance to the laid back brand of music that they each define and evoke in very different ways. Eric Clapton is undoubtedly a legend but somehow playing with JJ Cale brings out the soul in his music in a way that his corporate leanings have robbed him of for so long. All in all a really good album - makes you wonder why it has taken them so long to do it!
Clapton guests on new JJ Cale album February 16, 2007
22 out of 24 found this review helpful
Actually the above title is not meant to be as dismissive as it might seem. Cale said many years ago that the royalties he got from Clapton covers were his main source of income and what Eric has generously done with this album is ensure that Cale will get more money out of this collaboration than he himself will. Which, when you consider Cale's influence on Clapton, is probably fair.
It's a JJ Cale album with Clapton playing some fine guitar. They are nudging codgerdom and the voices don't cut it, hence the fact that they are way down in the mix. What I don't understand is why the guitars are way down in the mix because I suspect that Eric is playing some mean stuff from time to time. Trouble is you have to be wide awake to catch it and this is not wide awake music!
The production is a mess, in fact. It's muddy and indecisive. It tries to be laid back like Cale but with so many musicians tootling around in there nothing is very clear.
They really should have sought out one of the codger producers such as Glyn Johns to handle this.
In the end it's an easy listener and as such it is very good. Clapton should be praised for doing an old mentor a favour.
However, if you want a reminder of what Clapton is capable of go to Stephen Stills' first solo album (1969) and listen to his solo on "Go Back Home". Don't blame me if you then throw away everything he did after that!
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