J.J. Cale & Eric Clapton - The Road to Escondido (Enhanced Edition) [2LP Red & Blue]

The Road to Escondido returns as an Enhanced Edition, the 2006 meeting of J.J. Cale and Eric Clapton spread across two LPs of red and blue vinyl.

Clapton had been recording Cale's songs since the start of his solo career, so when he invited Cale to his Crossroads festival in 2004, a full collaboration felt overdue. What began as a plan for Cale to produce Clapton grew into a shared album, recorded in Los Angeles with Simon Climie co-producing and guests including Billy Preston, Derek Trucks, Taj Mahal and John Mayer. It went on to win the Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Album.

Danger opens with Cale's unhurried, low-slung groove, setting a tone of easy-going mastery that rarely lets up. Hard to Thrill, co-written by Clapton and Mayer, adds a brighter blues-rock edge, and Ride the River rolls along with a relaxed country lilt. This edition adds three previously unreleased songs from the original sessions, among them Roll On, plus three live tracks from Live in San Diego.

The pleasure here is in the conversation between two guitarists who never needed to show off, trading licks like old friends on a porch. Twenty years on, it stands as a fond tribute to Cale's laid-back Tulsa sound, and the coloured vinyl offers a handsome way to revisit it.