10 tracks · 30 min
#8 is the eighth album by JJ Cale. Released in 1983. For #8, Cale reconvened with producer Audie Ashworth and the usual group of ace session musicians who played on his previous records, including drummer Jim Keltner and keyboardist Spooner Oldham, as well as Fairport Convention guitarist Richard Thompson, among many others. In fact, on the track “Talkin’ Care of Business,” Cale name drops many of his musician friends in tribute. (“Tim Drummond’s on the bass, Jim Keltner‘s on the drums, They’ll put it right on you for a shot of rum…”) Musically, #8 is less polished than his previous album Grasshopper, with most of the songs having a rock and roll swagger. Lyrically speaking, however, with the exception of “Takin’ Care of Business,” the subject matter on #8 is unremittingly grim. The cynical “Money Talks” (“You’d be surprised the friends you can buy with small change…”), “Hard Times,” “Unemployment,” and “Livin’ Here Too” deal with harsh economic woes and dissatisfaction with life in general. “Losers,” a song co-written with wife Christine Lakeland, explores a similar theme, while “Trouble in the City,” like his earlier song “Downtown L.A.,” presents the seedy underbelly of urban l…
