Shades (J. J. Cale album)

Shades is the sixth studio album by J. J. Cale, released in February 1981.

Background

After years of living and recording in Nashville, Cale relocated to California in 1980 and lived in an Anaheim trailer park but still worked with longtime producer Audie Ashworth. Shades, which continued Cale’s tradition of giving his albums one word titles, was recorded in various studios in Nashville and Los Angeles. It boasts an impressive list of top shelf session musicians, including Hal Blaine and Carol Kaye of the Wrecking Crew, James Burton, Jim Keltner, Reggie Young, Glen D. Hardin, Ken Buttrey, and Leon Russell, among many others. As AllMusic states in its retroactive review of the LP, “His songs and his overall approach to music are all-encompassing; the seductive and laid-back grooves his rhythm sections empower are written into the very fabric of the songs. ‘Carry On,’ ‘Pack My Jack’ – these are songs of simple, sturdy strengths, succinctly written and concisely rendered. There are never any stray notes or decorative filigrees.”

Composition

Despite the coterie of musicians used on the sessions, Shades has a remarkably cohesive sound that is immediately recognizable as J.J. Cale. Nine of the ten songs are original compositions, the exception being “Mama Don’t,” which would become Cale’s show opener. As can be seen in the 2005 documentary To Tulsa and Back, Cale would take the stage himself and introduce the band members one by one following along to the words of the song (“Mama don’t allow no bass in this place…”) The album opens with “Carry On,” an optimistic call for perseverance in the face of adversity, followed by the chugging prison song “Deep Dark Dungeon.” The relationship songs have a sour tone, as is evident in “Runaround” and the bitter “What Do You Expect” (“What do you expect, caviar and candlelight? Champagne every night?") "Love Has Been Gone” is also despairing, with Cale repeating the line “There’s nothing new…” Even the straight love song “Wish I Had Not Said That” has an inherent ambivalence in the title, despite the tenderness found in the lyrics.

“Pack My Jack” recalls earlier Cale songs like “Travelin’ Light” and “I’m a Gypsy Man” and speaks to the freedom of the highway and how “a ramblin’ man keeps ramblin’ on.” The album’s closing track, “Cloudy Day” is an instrumental that clocks in at nearly five-and-a-half minutes, making it the longest song to appear on one of Cale’s albums.

Shades cover features a silhouette of a guitar player, presumably Cale, inspired by the design of French cigarettes brand Gitanes. The notoriously media-shy singer would not use his own image on an LP cover until his 1983 album #8.