Grasshopper

Even as the ‘80s saw Cale drifting towards radio-friendly AOR (“City Girls” is as gentle and breezy as Loggins and Messina), Grasshopper livened up Cale’s signature style with a trick bag of new sounds. A farfisa organ taps a refrain in the atmospheric travel tune “Mississippi River,” while the title track features steel drums in the leading role. The instrumental flourishes that Cale and producer Audie Ashworth added to the mix for Grasshopper are just enough to flavor the recipe without sounding like a distracting gimmick. In addition, Cale turned in several classic songs: the sweet AM country of “You Keep Me Hangin’ On,” the desperate street shuffle of “Downtown L.A.,” and especially “A Thing Going On,” with its muted, sexy sense of dread. “Drifters Wife” is a spare folk song that emphasizes Cale’s Okie roots, but even when he accelerates his trademark shuffle into vibraphone-led jazz (“Dr. Jive”), he always sounds like himself: hushed, unassuming, and more than a little mysterious.