The latest releases reveiwed

JJ CALE Rewind W14 ****

JJ Cale has said of this collection of particularly luminous, previously unreleased outcuts that it's "kinda like someone showing you a bunch of old photographs from 35 years ago". Old they be, but all of oddball Cale's work is shrouded in a mellow timelessness that blurs the edges of the years. The chugging rhythm, spiky lead guitar and JJ's buried nasal vocals are his signature. Some of the songs on Rewind, recorded during his heyday in the 1970s and 1980s, are very good. Six tracks are covers (surprisingly, as Cale tended to record only his own songs), including a lovely warm version of Randy Newman's Rollin. Cool, laidback, subtle, a hazy bluesy pleasure to the ears, Rewind is a welcome blast from the past. www.jjcale.com  JOE BREEN

Download tracks: Guess I Lose, Rollin, Golden Ring

JIM WHITE Transnormal Skiperoo Luakabop *****

We begin with a quote from Jim White that explains the tone of this warm, thoughtful, maverick collection of tunes. "Transnormal Skiperoo is a name I invented to describe a strange new feeling I've been experiencing after years of feeling lost and alone and cursed. Now, when everything around me begins to shine . . . I call that feeling 'transnormal skiperoo'." And in the sensitive hands of producers Joe Pernice (The Pernice Brothers)

and Michael Demming, White's wonderfully atmospheric tales of rural southern gothic are layered with meaning, mood and mellifluous melody. White is often described as alt.country but he is really post-country, someone who shows his love for the peculiar normality of southern life by celebrating it in all its glory - gospel, country, blues, rap, calypso rhythms; happy, sad, bizarre lyrics. A heady combination. www.jimwhite.net JOE BREEN

Download tracks: A Town Called Amen, Jailbird, Counting Numbers in the Air