New CDs include JJ Cale's "Roll On" and Chris Isaak's "Mr. Lucky"

JJ Cale, "Roll On"

(Rounder Records)

Compare the JJ Cale from his 1972 debut and the JJ Cale on album No. 15, "Roll On": Not a whisker of difference. This is a strange, wondrous thing. At 70 years old, Cale looks as grizzled and aloof as back when, and his sound — languid folk-pop, informed by blues and jazz and disco (really), overlapping electronic with acoustic — is still bracing while his contemporaries are embarrassingly flaccid. Case in point: Eric Clapton — who plundered Cale's "After Midnight" and "Cocaine" — makes a guest appearance on the title track and demonstrates how hard he must try to be cool while Cale just is. Through the rest of the album, copious piano lends a fresh, cabaret-folk feel. Dark, elegant and understated, it's classic Cale.

Also out today

Van Morrison, "Astral Weeks: Live at the Hollywood Bowl" (Listen to the Lion)

Chris Isaak, "Mr. Lucky" (Reprise)

"War Child Presents: Heroes," various artists including Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Franz Ferdinand, The Hold Steady and TV on the Radio (Astralwerks)

K'naan, "Troubadour" (A&M/Octone)

Jonathan Zwickel,

Special to The Seattle Times