An album replay show: on the menu are Warren Zevon’s Excitable Boy, Elton John’s Honky Chateau and Naturally, J.J. Cale’s debut album, from 1971.

Playing Zevon was inspired by a friend mentioning him during the week and I haven’t played him in a while, so I figured I’d go with likely his best-known album, largely due to its hit single Werewolves of London. But while that song drew many to Zevon and the 1978 album, his third studio release, there’s depth to the record – and Zevon’s entire catalog, which I do dig into fairly often on the show. Still, perhaps a case for many listeners where a song drives purchase of an album or, nowadays, an online listen at least, one is rewarded with a classic and an entry point into an artist’s work.

The hit singles from 1972’s Honky Chateau were Honky Cat and Rocket Man, but Elton John’s work had such depth in the early to mid-1970s that, like Zevon’s Excitable Boy, every album was a solid song-for-song listen. Examples on Honky Chateau are Amy, one of my favorite EJ deep cuts, Slave, Salvation, Mellow and Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters which is pretty well known and was a single in the UK. Ah, just listen to the whole thing; I’ve already listed seven of the 10 tracks. Depth, as mentioned.

J.J. Cale’s Naturally, a typical laid back effort, features two songs covered by other artists. Lynyrd Skynyrd did Call Me The Breeze on their 1974 album Second Helping while Eric Clapton (who also later had a hit with Cale’s Cocaine) had a hit single with a speeded up version of After Midnight in 1970, a year before Cale’s album was released. Cale had cut a fast version of After Midnight in 1966 as the B-side to an unsuccessful single, Slow Motion and it was Cale’s fast version that Clapton heard and covered in the same style. Cale was then encouraged to put After Midnight on his album to capitalize on the success of Clapton’s version but decided he’d done his own uptempo take already, so he slowed it down for Naturally. I’ve included all three versions, after the bare-bones song list, below.

Warren Zevon – Excitable Boy

1. Johnny Strikes Up The Band
2. Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner
3. Excitable Boy
4. Werewolves Of London
5. Accidentally Like A Martyr
6. Nighttime In The Switching Yard
7. Veracruz
8. Tenderness On The Block
9. Lawyers, Guns And Money

Elton John – Honky Chateau

1. Honky Cat
2. Mellow
3. I Think I’m Going To Kill Myself
4. Susie (Dramas)
5. Rocket Man (I Think It’s Going To Be A Long, Long Time)
6. Salvation
7. Slave
8. Amy
9. Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters
10. Hercules

J.J. Cale – Naturally

1. Call Me The Breeze
2. Call The Doctor
3. Don’t Go To Strangers
4. Woman I Love
5. Magnolia
6. Clyde
7. Crazy Mama
8. Nowhere To Run
9. After Midnight
10. River Runs Deep
11. Bringing It Back
12. Crying Eyes