5 (J. J. Cale album)
5 is the fifth studio album by J. J. Cale. Released in 1979, it was his first album in three years. When the album was re-issued on CD, "Katy Kool Lady" was replaced by a new song listed as "Out of Style," though it was still listed as the former on the CD. "Out of Style" is also included on the 2007 album Rewind: The Unreleased Recordings under its proper title. There is still no U.S. domestic release of the song "Katy Kool Lady" on CD. Background By 1979, Cale had recorded four albums, his debut Naturally being the most commercially successful and containing the minor hit "Crazy Mama". While his albums did not sell in high numbers, Cale enjoyed great success as a songwriter when other artists recorded his songs, like Eric Clapton ("After Midnight" in 1970 and "Cocaine" in 1977) and Lynyrd Skynyrd ("Call Me the Breeze" in 1974), providing the Oklahoma singer with a degree of financial security to pursue his musical vision. By the time he recorded 5, Cale had also met singer and guitarist Christine Lakeland, and the LP marks her first appearance on his albums. In the 2005 documentary To Tulsa and Back, Lakeland says they met backstage at a prison benefit show featuring B.B. King and Waylon Jennings. Cale and Lakeland would later marry. Recording As the title suggests, 5 was Cale’s fifth album with Audie Ashworth producing and was recorded in various studios in Nashville, where Cale was living at the time. Most of the tracks were recorded and mixed at The Lakehouse, Old Hickory, Tennessee. William Ruhlmann observes in his AllMusic review of the album that "As Cale's influence on others expanded, he just continued to turn out the occasional album of bluesy, minor-key tunes. This one was even sparer than usual, with the artist handling bass as well as guitar on many tracks. Listened to today, it sounds so much like a Dire Straits album, it's scary." However, Cale developed this intimate sound and refined it throughout the decade: a swampy mix of country, folk, R&B, jazz, and rock 'n' roll played in a restrained manner. Unlike on his previous album Troubadour, the guitar sound on 5 was very clean, with Cale ignoring the new disco and punk music genres trending at the time. Thematically, the songs on 5 are dominated by lust, typified by tracks like "Boilin' Pot", "I'll Make Love to You Anytime" (recorded by Eric Clapton for his 1978 album Backless), and "Too Much for Me" ("She tickled my toe and she kissed my ear, told me not to worry, told me not to fear…"). "Mona" and the cautionary "Sensitive Kind" are more tender in tone, while "Friday" and "Let's Go to Tahiti" speak to the desire of escaping the monotony of working life. "Fate of a Fool" and the druggy "Thirteen Days" tell of the high and lows of being a touring musician. "Katy Kool Lady" was co-written by Cale and Christine Lakeland, and it was