CLAPTON/CALE:Cue the curmudgeons

[KiwiCoromandel]

Two grizzled icons sit side by side on a sofa in a Los Angeles hotel room, while assistants fuss around, making sure everything is to their satisfaction. Eric Clapton would like the air-conditioning unit turned off. J.J. Cale suggests opening a window. The requests are made politely and Clapton and Cale appear amused at the scramble to do their bidding. "People are scared of us these days; we're angry old men," Clapton laughs. "Waldorf and Statler in the Muppets, that's who we are. Two curmudgeons."

Clapton, 61, and Cale, 67, are promoting a collaborative album, The Road to Escondido. The musical connection between the rock and blues veterans is clear, their soft, growling voices and fluid guitar-playing blending effortlessly on a fine selection of warm, rootsy songs.

They are mainly composed by Cale, who has provided Clapton with some of his most celebrated moments, notably his first solo hit, After Midnight, and the memorable Cocaine. Yet for all the good-humoured affection between them, they make quite an odd couple.

Urbane and articulate, Clapton is a restless individual, always touring and recording. Since the 1960s he has released 28 studio albums, either solo or with various groups. Active throughout the same period, Cale has managed only one band and 12 solo albums, with gaps of up to seven years between them, while remaining reclusively resident in Tulsa.

"The purity of what John does is an ideal," Clapton says. "It's something I have aspired to."

"You're way too restless and inventive to be satisfied doing one thing," says the weatherbeaten Cale.

Clapton describes Cale as an inspiration and the collaboration as "the realisation of what may have been my last ambition. I can't think of anything else I want to do."

He recalls being struck by Cale the first time he heard him, especially by Cale's voice. "It seems like he's singing in my head - you can barely hear the voice, but you understand every word. The tonality of his voice is unique."

"I'm an electronic manipulator," Cale chuckles. "Most people think J.J. Cale, he's organic. There ain't nothing organic about me.

"I'm a recording studio guy, an engineer, a songwriter and a guitar player, in that order. I would never ever sing at all if I could get away with it. I had pitch problems, no range. So what I did was manipulate the sound ... that way you couldn't tell that I wasn't very good. When Eric sings, you just move the slider up and it sounds great. When I sing you go, 'Oh, I got to do something with that!' "

Sometimes Clapton and Cale may be referred to, almost pejoratively, as laidback but it's not simply for their mellifluous style and technical expertise that they are so widely loved. In the welcoming grooves and sinuous interplay of this collaboration lurk powerful emotions, a sense of lives fully lived.

"I'm a troubled guy," says Clapton of his well-documented past of drug and drink addictions. "I live a very decent and consistent life these days because I don't put myself through the wringer any more. But inside I've got frustrations, which I think is what drives a blues player. Music facilitates expressions of grief, bewilderment, too, which I think is a great thing for people to latch on to."

"I thought the song that fit me and Eric most was The Sporting Life," says Cale, referring to a jazzy blues that is almost nostalgic for excesses of the past. "We've been there, done that. Old people will like that recording."

"Do we only appeal to old people these days?" Clapton wonders.

"Well, I don't think young people buy records any more," Cale says.

"They don't," Clapton concurs, as the two fall into the role of two curmudgeons.

"They want everything for free," Cale grumbles.

"They do," Clapton nods.

"So we're appealing to the right audience!" Cale cackles.

source:Telegraph/London

image:AP:CLAPTON/CALE..."People are scared of us these days" ... ERIC CLAPTON (right) and J.J CALE..NEW ALBUM..."The Road to Escondido"...

[KiwiCoromandel]

"Do we only appeal to old people these days?" Clapton wonders.

"Well, I don't think young people buy records any more," Cale says.

"They don't," Clapton concurs, as the two fall into the role of two curmudgeons.

"They want everything for free," Cale grumbles.

"They do," Clapton nods...

..Time changes everything don`t it boys...

[DudeAsInCool]

I definitely want to get this