Hi-Res Downloads

96kHz/24-BIT FLAC*, Polydor 378 630-8 (supplied by www.highresaudio.com)

Eric Clapton is joined by an all-star cast – including Tom Petty, Mark Knopfler, bass supremo Nathan East and many others – in this tribute album honouring singer-songwriter JJ Cale. It was Cale, of course, who penned two of EC’s greatest solo hits: ‘After Midnight’ and ‘Cocaine’; and this collection of songs is named after ‘Call Me The Breeze’ which was the opening track on Cale’s 1972 debut album Naturally – it opens this set too. Sound quality varies from uninspiring (‘Rock And Roll Records’ and ‘Train To Nowhere’) to slightly better than average (‘Someday’ and ‘Songbird’). Highlights are John Mayer’s vocal performance in ‘Magnolia’ and Don White’s charming rendition of ‘Sensitive Kind’. It would be lovely to describe this as a fitting tribute to JJ Cale’s body of work, but it’s a missed opportunity that many will judge to have fallen short of the mark. JB

Sound Quality: 65%

Hi-Fi News Lab Report

Another new release from a rock favourite and another set of very suspect ‘96kHz’ files. Tracks 9 and 11 look like they might be on the money but others, including ‘Crying Eyes’ [see Graph], are clearly derived from 48kHz tracks. PM