RY COODER....a national treasure to be heard again and again, 17 Nov 2008
Ry Cooder is one of the most wonderful guitarists on the planet.Anyone looking to play guitar should listen to him,because when it comes to tone,to texture and beautiful playing he's among the very best there is.The rave over Stevie Ray's,Hendrix,et all as great as they are no question of that RC is a master of his art.This anthology has a wonderful range of varying styles from a whole range of his albums right upto his 2008 release I Flathead,and it's all fabulous stuff,no fillers here at all.listen to the texture in his film scores like Paris Texas,or his take on Johnny Cash's Get Rhythm to the wonderful unreleased track Let's Get Together.You get 34 tracks for your money,all put together by his son Joachim,plus notes by the man himself.This is surely among the best releases of the year,certainly the best anthology.You've no Ry Cooder ? then this is one truly great place to begin.TOTALLY FABULOUS SET.

The Ry Cooder Anthology, 30 Oct 2008
For someone who has been making music for over 40 years it's very hard to encapsulate their career into even two CDs as we have here. This compilation was put together by Ry and his son Joachim and contains a good selection of Ry's solo records from his 1970 eponymous debut to 2008's "I, Flathead" and also his film soundtracks. It also contains one unreleased track the old Wilbert Harrison number "Let's work together" featuring Ry playing with accordionist Buckwheat Zydeco.

The two CDs present a good variety across his work from the acoustic worksong "Tamp 'Em Up Solid" to the electric R&B of "The Very Thing That Makes You Rich (Makes Me Poor)" to the evocative soundtrack instrumental "Paris, Texas". Inevitably with a record like this there are some missing tracks which you wish had been included (although my all time favourite Cooder track "Teardrops Will Fall" made the cut) but overall this is a very good overview of his entire career and will allow people to sample and then buy the individual albums if they like particular sounds/styles.

So why haven't I given it five stars? Well I would have preferred less of the soundtrack themes - which did get their own compilation in 'Music by Ry Cooder' - and 12 of these tracks appeared on the 90s compilation 'River Rescue'. I would also have liked a few more obscure tracks, Ry's session work and collaborations with other artists, but perhaps I'm being a bit picky. Overall this is an excellent sampler of a wonderful artist who has produced marvellous music throughout his career.

Ry Cooder's name has helped bring attention to this session, but it's the veteran Cuban son musicians who make this album really special. Reminiscent of Ellington in its scope and sense of hushed romanticism, Buena Vista Social Club is that rare meld of quietude and intensity; while the players sound laid-back, they're putting forth very alive music, a reminder that aging doesn't mean taking to bed. Barbarito Torres's laoud solo on "El Cuarto de Tula" is both more blinding and more tasteful than any guitar showcase on any recent rock album; a quote from "Stormy Weather" and some very distinct parallels to Hawaiian styles remind us of why it's called "world music." --Rickey Wright

RY COODER....a national treasure to be heard again and again, 17 Nov 2008
Ry Cooder is one of the most wonderful guitarists on the planet.Anyone looking to play guitar should listen to him,because when it comes to tone,to texture and beautiful playing he's among the very best there is.The rave over Stevie Ray's,Hendrix,et all as great as they are no question of that RC is a master of his art.This anthology has a wonderful range of varying styles from a whole range of his albums right upto his 2008 release I Flathead,and it's all fabulous stuff,no fillers here at all.listen to the texture in his film scores like Paris Texas,or his take on Johnny Cash's Get Rhythm to the wonderful unreleased track Let's Get Together.You get 34 tracks for your money,all put together by his son Joachim,plus notes by the man himself.This is surely among the best releases of the year,certainly the best anthology.You've no Ry Cooder ? then this is one truly great place to begin.TOTALLY FABULOUS SET.

The Ry Cooder Anthology, 30 Oct 2008
For someone who has been making music for over 40 years it's very hard to encapsulate their career into even two CDs as we have here. This compilation was put together by Ry and his son Joachim and contains a good selection of Ry's solo records from his 1970 eponymous debut to 2008's "I, Flathead" and also his film soundtracks. It also contains one unreleased track the old Wilbert Harrison number "Let's work together" featuring Ry playing with accordionist Buckwheat Zydeco.

The two CDs present a good variety across his work from the acoustic worksong "Tamp 'Em Up Solid" to the electric R&B of "The Very Thing That Makes You Rich (Makes Me Poor)" to the evocative soundtrack instrumental "Paris, Texas". Inevitably with a record like this there are some missing tracks which you wish had been included (although my all time favourite Cooder track "Teardrops Will Fall" made the cut) but overall this is a very good overview of his entire career and will allow people to sample and then buy the individual albums if they like particular sounds/styles.

So why haven't I given it five stars? Well I would have preferred less of the soundtrack themes - which did get their own compilation in 'Music by Ry Cooder' - and 12 of these tracks appeared on the 90s compilation 'River Rescue'. I would also have liked a few more obscure tracks, Ry's session work and collaborations with other artists, but perhaps I'm being a bit picky. Overall this is an excellent sampler of a wonderful artist who has produced marvellous music throughout his career.



Buy This and Weep!!, 08 Oct 2008
When the lights came up in the cinema where we saw Wim Wenders' movie of the same name, we saw grown adults weeping. This is more than a band, it is a musical phenomenon. Such a synergy is rare in this day and age, and the vibe on this album is just fantastic.

Buy it and weep, because you have missed your chance to ever see or hear Ruben Gonzales, Compay Segundo or Ibrahim Ferrer playing live with the band again, but the remaining members still tour and the band is organic, progressing through the years with younger, equally talented musicians, so if you see a gig advertised and can get to it, don't miss it! This album has changed many lives...

Over rated, 11 Sep 2008
I think there is alittle bit of hysteria about this album. I think the importance of the album lies in the fact that it opened the flood gates for Cuban music in general rather than to the individual merits of the album itself. Since its release there has been renewed interest in Cuban music and it has revitalised the careers of many of those involved in the project. But the album itself? Well, it's good, but not great! The album is pedestrian. I can't help thinking that Ry Cooder was at the mercy of time and just couldn't get the album to sound the way he wanted it to. Compared to other Cuban albums I have heard, and own, this one ranks lower.

Buena Vista Social Club, 06 Jul 2008
'Buena Vista Social Club' is the Ry Cooder produced album of such melodic, harmonious, relaxed Cuban beauty. Each track transports you to another time and place and you honestly feel your cares drifting away as you listen to each song. From the wonderful album opener 'Chan Chan' to the infectious 'El Cuarto de Tula' and the delightfully mournful 'Dos Gardenias' and more, this album throws up delight after delight. Ry Cooder may have brought this amazing music to a wider audience, but it is the talent and passion of the musicians that shines through. A beautiful album that deserves a place in any music collection. Well worth a try.

This is simply amazing..., 16 Dec 2007
Just take a listen, it doesn't matter what you're in to, just listen.

It's relaxing and melodic while being completely passionate and beautiful. How anyone could ban this stuff is beyond me. Damn politics!

Gorgeous classic - Party starter, 27 Apr 2007
This is such a gifted compilation, Ry Cooder gave music lovers everywhere a rare gift by being the inspiration and the driving force behind exposing these great musicians to the world. It's one of those cd's that always somehow seems to be close to the top of your collection, a guaranteed great play and essential for any party.

RY COODER....a national treasure to be heard again and again, 17 Nov 2008
Ry Cooder is one of the most wonderful guitarists on the planet.Anyone looking to play guitar should listen to him,because when it comes to tone,to texture and beautiful playing he's among the very best there is.The rave over Stevie Ray's,Hendrix,et all as great as they are no question of that RC is a master of his art.This anthology has a wonderful range of varying styles from a whole range of his albums right upto his 2008 release I Flathead,and it's all fabulous stuff,no fillers here at all.listen to the texture in his film scores like Paris Texas,or his take on Johnny Cash's Get Rhythm to the wonderful unreleased track Let's Get Together.You get 34 tracks for your money,all put together by his son Joachim,plus notes by the man himself.This is surely among the best releases of the year,certainly the best anthology.You've no Ry Cooder ? then this is one truly great place to begin.TOTALLY FABULOUS SET.

The Ry Cooder Anthology, 30 Oct 2008
For someone who has been making music for over 40 years it's very hard to encapsulate their career into even two CDs as we have here. This compilation was put together by Ry and his son Joachim and contains a good selection of Ry's solo records from his 1970 eponymous debut to 2008's "I, Flathead" and also his film soundtracks. It also contains one unreleased track the old Wilbert Harrison number "Let's work together" featuring Ry playing with accordionist Buckwheat Zydeco.

The two CDs present a good variety across his work from the acoustic worksong "Tamp 'Em Up Solid" to the electric R&B of "The Very Thing That Makes You Rich (Makes Me Poor)" to the evocative soundtrack instrumental "Paris, Texas". Inevitably with a record like this there are some missing tracks which you wish had been included (although my all time favourite Cooder track "Teardrops Will Fall" made the cut) but overall this is a very good overview of his entire career and will allow people to sample and then buy the individual albums if they like particular sounds/styles.

So why haven't I given it five stars? Well I would have preferred less of the soundtrack themes - which did get their own compilation in 'Music by Ry Cooder' - and 12 of these tracks appeared on the 90s compilation 'River Rescue'. I would also have liked a few more obscure tracks, Ry's session work and collaborations with other artists, but perhaps I'm being a bit picky. Overall this is an excellent sampler of a wonderful artist who has produced marvellous music throughout his career.



Buy This and Weep!!, 08 Oct 2008
When the lights came up in the cinema where we saw Wim Wenders' movie of the same name, we saw grown adults weeping. This is more than a band, it is a musical phenomenon. Such a synergy is rare in this day and age, and the vibe on this album is just fantastic.

Buy it and weep, because you have missed your chance to ever see or hear Ruben Gonzales, Compay Segundo or Ibrahim Ferrer playing live with the band again, but the remaining members still tour and the band is organic, progressing through the years with younger, equally talented musicians, so if you see a gig advertised and can get to it, don't miss it! This album has changed many lives...

Over rated, 11 Sep 2008
I think there is alittle bit of hysteria about this album. I think the importance of the album lies in the fact that it opened the flood gates for Cuban music in general rather than to the individual merits of the album itself. Since its release there has been renewed interest in Cuban music and it has revitalised the careers of many of those involved in the project. But the album itself? Well, it's good, but not great! The album is pedestrian. I can't help thinking that Ry Cooder was at the mercy of time and just couldn't get the album to sound the way he wanted it to. Compared to other Cuban albums I have heard, and own, this one ranks lower.

Buena Vista Social Club, 06 Jul 2008
'Buena Vista Social Club' is the Ry Cooder produced album of such melodic, harmonious, relaxed Cuban beauty. Each track transports you to another time and place and you honestly feel your cares drifting away as you listen to each song. From the wonderful album opener 'Chan Chan' to the infectious 'El Cuarto de Tula' and the delightfully mournful 'Dos Gardenias' and more, this album throws up delight after delight. Ry Cooder may have brought this amazing music to a wider audience, but it is the talent and passion of the musicians that shines through. A beautiful album that deserves a place in any music collection. Well worth a try.

This is simply amazing..., 16 Dec 2007
Just take a listen, it doesn't matter what you're in to, just listen.

It's relaxing and melodic while being completely passionate and beautiful. How anyone could ban this stuff is beyond me. Damn politics!

Gorgeous classic - Party starter, 27 Apr 2007
This is such a gifted compilation, Ry Cooder gave music lovers everywhere a rare gift by being the inspiration and the driving force behind exposing these great musicians to the world. It's one of those cd's that always somehow seems to be close to the top of your collection, a guaranteed great play and essential for any party.

The best Cooder Album for at least 20 years, 07 Jan 2009
Wey hey hey...at long last Ry Cooder returns to electric slide. After over 20 years of unbelievably eclectic musical wanderings, and in spite of this being labelled a 'concept' album and the final instalment of the California trilogy that began with the brilliant "Chavez Ravine", this is in many senses a follow-up to 1987's "Get Rhythm", and is none the worse for it.

Delving into a variety of musical genres well-trodden by Cooder over the years - such as the rock'n'roll of "Ridin' With The Blues" "Drive Like I Never Been Hurt" and "Pink-O Boogie", the 1940's influenced "Steel Guitar Heaven" "Filipino Dance Hall Girl" and "Spayed Kooley", the world music of "Fernando Sez" and the film noir of "Can I Smoke In Here", not to mention the inspiringly titled ballad "My Dwarf Is Getting Tired", this album touches all Cooder's familiar bases and sounds like it was a real labour of love from start to finish.

As someone who was largely disappointed by his previous "My Name Is Buddy" album, this is a stunning return to form and is probably my favourite album of 2008. Where does he go from here? That'll be interesting.

Intelligent music making at its best, 27 Oct 2008
If you like the recent crop of character fuelled narrative records from Ry, then this is for you.

Paints wonderful images with his lyrics and often profound emotions with his music. A true new world genius.

He left the slide in his pocket, 14 Sep 2008
This is a very good album indeed, a SONG album, Maybe Ry sorta felt he didn't need to whip out his slide this time around, (it makes a brief show on 'PINK 'O BOOGIE') sort of imagine a Beach Boys album without any harmonies and you get the idea. Ry's singing is very strong and confident although a little affected at times, even apeing Mick Jagger on the Stones-like 'WAITIN' FOR A GIRL'. '5,000 COUNTRY MUSIC SONGS' will probably in time be covered by every musician/singer in Nashville. The production is first class and sounds great relaxing in your favourite chair on your own by lamplight. The killer track is 'LITTLE TRONA GIRL' sung by Juliette Commagere with Ry in 'Duane Eddy mode', this is so touching and lovely it could make a stone statue weep...absolutely beautiful and a brilliant closer to a real fine collection of songs...miss this at your peril !.

Worn Vista, 06 Aug 2008
I'm afraid I was sadly disappointed in the latest offering by Mr. Cooder. Perhaps being British, and not in possession of the novella which apparently explains what the album is all about may have something to do with my lack of enthusiasm. Mr. Cooder is not a singer, and someone in his entourage should tell him so. His voice has a very limited range, and his singing appears to be strained. We are given two talking "songs" out of 14 on the album, which is an indication that too much of the Cooder vocals is not a good thing. In Chavez Ravine, he found some fine songs,the best of them written by others, and some fine singers, and assembled a package which was a delight. But since he has decided to do all the composing and all the singing, on Buddy as on Flathead, the magic has,I'm afraid, disappeared. The Johnny Cash song sounds as if it was made up in a bar on a Saturday night -indeed it's almost disrespectful, whilst his obsession with J.Edgar Hoover resurfaces
unnecessarily. And why ration the wonderful accordion player to one song? Arranging new sound combinations, and finding good tales and ,crucially, characterful singers connected to those tales, are what Mr.C. does best,in my opinion.

Keep em' coming Ry !!!, 27 Jun 2008
These days, Ry Cooder is a musical novelist and I happen to believe that his format of album making is quietly revolutionary. Here is another great example of what a concept album should be like. Mysterious, Iconic, Intruiging and totally musical.

In an age where you select a few tracks of an album for a download, it's quite incredible that we have an artist who makes you realise what a lazy musical culture we live in.

It's time to wake up People !!! Music is still alive ...

This 1976 effort contains some of Cooder's most compelling work and finds him re-exploring some of the fundamental influences on a musician known for remarkable eclecticism. Most notable are "Always Lift Him Up", "Smack Dab in the Middle", and a beautiful adaptation of "Stand By Me" (which includes Flaco Jimenez on accordion.) The album opens and closes with covers of Leadbelly, namely "The Bourgeois Blues" and (you guessed it) "Goodnight Irene". Also notable is a fine reworking of the traditional number "I Got Mine". --Wayne Pernu

RY COODER....a national treasure to be heard again and again, 17 Nov 2008
Ry Cooder is one of the most wonderful guitarists on the planet.Anyone looking to play guitar should listen to him,because when it comes to tone,to texture and beautiful playing he's among the very best there is.The rave over Stevie Ray's,Hendrix,et all as great as they are no question of that RC is a master of his art.This anthology has a wonderful range of varying styles from a whole range of his albums right upto his 2008 release I Flathead,and it's all fabulous stuff,no fillers here at all.listen to the texture in his film scores like Paris Texas,or his take on Johnny Cash's Get Rhythm to the wonderful unreleased track Let's Get Together.You get 34 tracks for your money,all put together by his son Joachim,plus notes by the man himself.This is surely among the best releases of the year,certainly the best anthology.You've no Ry Cooder ? then this is one truly great place to begin.TOTALLY FABULOUS SET.

The Ry Cooder Anthology, 30 Oct 2008
For someone who has been making music for over 40 years it's very hard to encapsulate their career into even two CDs as we have here. This compilation was put together by Ry and his son Joachim and contains a good selection of Ry's solo records from his 1970 eponymous debut to 2008's "I, Flathead" and also his film soundtracks. It also contains one unreleased track the old Wilbert Harrison number "Let's work together" featuring Ry playing with accordionist Buckwheat Zydeco.

The two CDs present a good variety across his work from the acoustic worksong "Tamp 'Em Up Solid" to the electric R&B of "The Very Thing That Makes You Rich (Makes Me Poor)" to the evocative soundtrack instrumental "Paris, Texas". Inevitably with a record like this there are some missing tracks which you wish had been included (although my all time favourite Cooder track "Teardrops Will Fall" made the cut) but overall this is a very good overview of his entire career and will allow people to sample and then buy the individual albums if they like particular sounds/styles.

So why haven't I given it five stars? Well I would have preferred less of the soundtrack themes - which did get their own compilation in 'Music by Ry Cooder' - and 12 of these tracks appeared on the 90s compilation 'River Rescue'. I would also have liked a few more obscure tracks, Ry's session work and collaborations with other artists, but perhaps I'm being a bit picky. Overall this is an excellent sampler of a wonderful artist who has produced marvellous music throughout his career.



Buy This and Weep!!, 08 Oct 2008
When the lights came up in the cinema where we saw Wim Wenders' movie of the same name, we saw grown adults weeping. This is more than a band, it is a musical phenomenon. Such a synergy is rare in this day and age, and the vibe on this album is just fantastic.

Buy it and weep, because you have missed your chance to ever see or hear Ruben Gonzales, Compay Segundo or Ibrahim Ferrer playing live with the band again, but the remaining members still tour and the band is organic, progressing through the years with younger, equally talented musicians, so if you see a gig advertised and can get to it, don't miss it! This album has changed many lives...

Over rated, 11 Sep 2008
I think there is alittle bit of hysteria about this album. I think the importance of the album lies in the fact that it opened the flood gates for Cuban music in general rather than to the individual merits of the album itself. Since its release there has been renewed interest in Cuban music and it has revitalised the careers of many of those involved in the project. But the album itself? Well, it's good, but not great! The album is pedestrian. I can't help thinking that Ry Cooder was at the mercy of time and just couldn't get the album to sound the way he wanted it to. Compared to other Cuban albums I have heard, and own, this one ranks lower.

Buena Vista Social Club, 06 Jul 2008
'Buena Vista Social Club' is the Ry Cooder produced album of such melodic, harmonious, relaxed Cuban beauty. Each track transports you to another time and place and you honestly feel your cares drifting away as you listen to each song. From the wonderful album opener 'Chan Chan' to the infectious 'El Cuarto de Tula' and the delightfully mournful 'Dos Gardenias' and more, this album throws up delight after delight. Ry Cooder may have brought this amazing music to a wider audience, but it is the talent and passion of the musicians that shines through. A beautiful album that deserves a place in any music collection. Well worth a try.

This is simply amazing..., 16 Dec 2007
Just take a listen, it doesn't matter what you're in to, just listen.

It's relaxing and melodic while being completely passionate and beautiful. How anyone could ban this stuff is beyond me. Damn politics!

Gorgeous classic - Party starter, 27 Apr 2007
This is such a gifted compilation, Ry Cooder gave music lovers everywhere a rare gift by being the inspiration and the driving force behind exposing these great musicians to the world. It's one of those cd's that always somehow seems to be close to the top of your collection, a guaranteed great play and essential for any party.

The best Cooder Album for at least 20 years, 07 Jan 2009
Wey hey hey...at long last Ry Cooder returns to electric slide. After over 20 years of unbelievably eclectic musical wanderings, and in spite of this being labelled a 'concept' album and the final instalment of the California trilogy that began with the brilliant "Chavez Ravine", this is in many senses a follow-up to 1987's "Get Rhythm", and is none the worse for it.

Delving into a variety of musical genres well-trodden by Cooder over the years - such as the rock'n'roll of "Ridin' With The Blues" "Drive Like I Never Been Hurt" and "Pink-O Boogie", the 1940's influenced "Steel Guitar Heaven" "Filipino Dance Hall Girl" and "Spayed Kooley", the world music of "Fernando Sez" and the film noir of "Can I Smoke In Here", not to mention the inspiringly titled ballad "My Dwarf Is Getting Tired", this album touches all Cooder's familiar bases and sounds like it was a real labour of love from start to finish.

As someone who was largely disappointed by his previous "My Name Is Buddy" album, this is a stunning return to form and is probably my favourite album of 2008. Where does he go from here? That'll be interesting.

Intelligent music making at its best, 27 Oct 2008
If you like the recent crop of character fuelled narrative records from Ry, then this is for you.

Paints wonderful images with his lyrics and often profound emotions with his music. A true new world genius.

He left the slide in his pocket, 14 Sep 2008
This is a very good album indeed, a SONG album, Maybe Ry sorta felt he didn't need to whip out his slide this time around, (it makes a brief show on 'PINK 'O BOOGIE') sort of imagine a Beach Boys album without any harmonies and you get the idea. Ry's singing is very strong and confident although a little affected at times, even apeing Mick Jagger on the Stones-like 'WAITIN' FOR A GIRL'. '5,000 COUNTRY MUSIC SONGS' will probably in time be covered by every musician/singer in Nashville. The production is first class and sounds great relaxing in your favourite chair on your own by lamplight. The killer track is 'LITTLE TRONA GIRL' sung by Juliette Commagere with Ry in 'Duane Eddy mode', this is so touching and lovely it could make a stone statue weep...absolutely beautiful and a brilliant closer to a real fine collection of songs...miss this at your peril !.

Worn Vista, 06 Aug 2008
I'm afraid I was sadly disappointed in the latest offering by Mr. Cooder. Perhaps being British, and not in possession of the novella which apparently explains what the album is all about may have something to do with my lack of enthusiasm. Mr. Cooder is not a singer, and someone in his entourage should tell him so. His voice has a very limited range, and his singing appears to be strained. We are given two talking "songs" out of 14 on the album, which is an indication that too much of the Cooder vocals is not a good thing. In Chavez Ravine, he found some fine songs,the best of them written by others, and some fine singers, and assembled a package which was a delight. But since he has decided to do all the composing and all the singing, on Buddy as on Flathead, the magic has,I'm afraid, disappeared. The Johnny Cash song sounds as if it was made up in a bar on a Saturday night -indeed it's almost disrespectful, whilst his obsession with J.Edgar Hoover resurfaces
unnecessarily. And why ration the wonderful accordion player to one song? Arranging new sound combinations, and finding good tales and ,crucially, characterful singers connected to those tales, are what Mr.C. does best,in my opinion.

Keep em' coming Ry !!!, 27 Jun 2008
These days, Ry Cooder is a musical novelist and I happen to believe that his format of album making is quietly revolutionary. Here is another great example of what a concept album should be like. Mysterious, Iconic, Intruiging and totally musical.

In an age where you select a few tracks of an album for a download, it's quite incredible that we have an artist who makes you realise what a lazy musical culture we live in.

It's time to wake up People !!! Music is still alive ...



My favourite Ry Cooder album, 19 Sep 2007
This is the most essential of a list of essential Ry Cooder albums. If you only ever buy one of his CDs, make it this one.

I wore the vinyl out and had to buy it again and then I had to buy the CD. Someone borrowed the CD, they moved and I never got it back so I had to buy it again.

The playing is immaculate, it is simply wonderful music. The Mexican influences are great and really bring an extra dimension. This is the culmination of everything RC did before and overshadows everything he has done since.

Buy this album.

Ry at his best, 31 Mar 2007
Ry Cooder at his best. A superb CD - one of my absolute favourites. 'He'll have to go' - better than the original. 'Yellow Roses' - a wonderful rendition. The best ever Ry Cooder album. Listen and enjoy! It does not disappoint.

Class still shines 30 years on, 27 Nov 2005
I first heard this on tape in 1988 when it was already 14 or so years old. I loved it immediately and still love it today. Cooder is a master of anything with strings and frets, and he has assembled a great bunch of musicians around him for this album of familiar and occasionally less familiar American folk and blues standards. 'Goodnight Irene,' 'He'll have to go,'and 'Stand by me' are probably definitive versions, though 'yellow roses' does not really work for me. Still, you can forgive one slightly poorer track on an album on which most are outstanding. 'Always pick him up' may be a bit maudlin and even sexist by today's standards, but it's still a brilliant song.

I'v heard most of Ry's other albums from this period, and while they are all good, this one remains, for me, the best of the bunch.

Scottish Amazon users might remember that track 2 'I've got mine' was used in Tennents Lager TV promotion in the late eighties. But don't let it put you off - the music is much better than the lager!

Skilful Blend, 05 Jun 2004
The rediscovery of a rich indigenous American musical history didn't begin with O Brother Where Art Thou, though it gave a timely boost to an undervalued genre. Somehow the blues and folk archives of Alan Lomax and Harry Smith, and music handed down through families over generations and kept alive, needed to be woven into a whole that was both true to a tradition and yet contemporary. Among the honourable few who attempted such a synthesis were the Band, Neil Young and Ry Cooder.

Ry Cooder toured his Chicken Skin Music band after making this album and if you saw it you probably will remember a Whistle Test concert for UK television in 1977. Ry Cooder had assembled an extraordinary orchestra, uniquely combining the Tex-Mex accordion mastery of Flaco Jiminez with the Hawaiian slack key guitar maestros Gabby Pahinui and Atta Isaacs to perform traditional minstrel and gospel songs, soul ballads, Leadbelly and Ray Charles covers and standards such as the wonderful He'll Have To Go, and Chloe.

The result is a skilful blend that is not dry or academic but designed for dance and entertainment

Cracking, 22 Apr 2004
Ry Cooder is probably best know to contemporary music buyers as the manbehind the Buena Vista Social Club, which was an unexpected runaway hit afew years back. Well, I say unexpected, but not so if you've been payingattention to his output over the last 30 years. This CD is a simmilar ideato Buena Vista - get a bunch of less-well know but very talented musicians- and play through some old, and somtimes long forgotten tunes. To thisend he has included the fantastic Flaco Jimenez, plus two greats ofHawaiian music: Gabby Pahinui and Atta Isaacs.
The tunes on this album may be familiar to many: Leadbelly's "BourgeoisBlues" and "Goodnight Irene", plus the King/Leiber/Stoller classic "StandBy Me". There are some that will be less familiar, with "Always Lift HimUp" first recorded by the wonderful Blind Alfred Reed standing out. Thisis an accomplised, ecclectic and hugely enjoyable CD.

A rare solo outing from Ry Cooder, but don't expect the conventional `twelve unrelated songs' schtick that constitutes an album these days. For "Chavez Ravine" is a concept album about the eponymous area near Los Angeles that was torn down in the 1950's by developers to make way for the Dodgers Stadium. The attraction of this neighbourhood for Cooder is obviously its largely Hispanic population, which is explicitly echoed in the music that tells the story.

Linking his past solo work with his famed Buena Vista Social Club projects, Cooder delivers his story amidst lazy Cuban percussion, rolling piano, mariachi horns and of course, his understated guitar playing. Of course there are still surprises; the schizophrenia of "Don't Call Me Red"; half ballad, half frenetic percussion and television narration being the biggest and best. With a large cast of vocal talents, including the legendary Little Willie G of The Midniters, and Cooder's own contributions (which end up sounding not unlike Steely Dan fronted by John Sebastian), the album as a whole is extremely effective and succeeds in every department, evoking the kind of atmosphere aimed for. --Thom Allott

RY COODER....a national treasure to be heard again and again, 17 Nov 2008
Ry Cooder is one of the most wonderful guitarists on the planet.Anyone looking to play guitar should listen to him,because when it comes to tone,to texture and beautiful playing he's among the very best there is.The rave over Stevie Ray's,Hendrix,et all as great as they are no question of that RC is a master of his art.This anthology has a wonderful range of varying styles from a whole range of his albums right upto his 2008 release I Flathead,and it's all fabulous stuff,no fillers here at all.listen to the texture in his film scores like Paris Texas,or his take on Johnny Cash's Get Rhythm to the wonderful unreleased track Let's Get Together.You get 34 tracks for your money,all put together by his son Joachim,plus notes by the man himself.This is surely among the best releases of the year,certainly the best anthology.You've no Ry Cooder ? then this is one truly great place to begin.TOTALLY FABULOUS SET.

The Ry Cooder Anthology, 30 Oct 2008
For someone who has been making music for over 40 years it's very hard to encapsulate their career into even two CDs as we have here. This compilation was put together by Ry and his son Joachim and contains a good selection of Ry's solo records from his 1970 eponymous debut to 2008's "I, Flathead" and also his film soundtracks. It also contains one unreleased track the old Wilbert Harrison number "Let's work together" featuring Ry playing with accordionist Buckwheat Zydeco.

The two CDs present a good variety across his work from the acoustic worksong "Tamp 'Em Up Solid" to the electric R&B of "The Very Thing That Makes You Rich (Makes Me Poor)" to the evocative soundtrack instrumental "Paris, Texas". Inevitably with a record like this there are some missing tracks which you wish had been included (although my all time favourite Cooder track "Teardrops Will Fall" made the cut) but overall this is a very good overview of his entire career and will allow people to sample and then buy the individual albums if they like particular sounds/styles.

So why haven't I given it five stars? Well I would have preferred less of the soundtrack themes - which did get their own compilation in 'Music by Ry Cooder' - and 12 of these tracks appeared on the 90s compilation 'River Rescue'. I would also have liked a few more obscure tracks, Ry's session work and collaborations with other artists, but perhaps I'm being a bit picky. Overall this is an excellent sampler of a wonderful artist who has produced marvellous music throughout his career.



Buy This and Weep!!, 08 Oct 2008
When the lights came up in the cinema where we saw Wim Wenders' movie of the same name, we saw grown adults weeping. This is more than a band, it is a musical phenomenon. Such a synergy is rare in this day and age, and the vibe on this album is just fantastic.

Buy it and weep, because you have missed your chance to ever see or hear Ruben Gonzales, Compay Segundo or Ibrahim Ferrer playing live with the band again, but the remaining members still tour and the band is organic, progressing through the years with younger, equally talented musicians, so if you see a gig advertised and can get to it, don't miss it! This album has changed many lives...

Over rated, 11 Sep 2008
I think there is alittle bit of hysteria about this album. I think the importance of the album lies in the fact that it opened the flood gates for Cuban music in general rather than to the individual merits of the album itself. Since its release there has been renewed interest in Cuban music and it has revitalised the careers of many of those involved in the project. But the album itself? Well, it's good, but not great! The album is pedestrian. I can't help thinking that Ry Cooder was at the mercy of time and just couldn't get the album to sound the way he wanted it to. Compared to other Cuban albums I have heard, and own, this one ranks lower.

Buena Vista Social Club, 06 Jul 2008
'Buena Vista Social Club' is the Ry Cooder produced album of such melodic, harmonious, relaxed Cuban beauty. Each track transports you to another time and place and you honestly feel your cares drifting away as you listen to each song. From the wonderful album opener 'Chan Chan' to the infectious 'El Cuarto de Tula' and the delightfully mournful 'Dos Gardenias' and more, this album throws up delight after delight. Ry Cooder may have brought this amazing music to a wider audience, but it is the talent and passion of the musicians that shines through. A beautiful album that deserves a place in any music collection. Well worth a try.

This is simply amazing..., 16 Dec 2007
Just take a listen, it doesn't matter what you're in to, just listen.

It's relaxing and melodic while being completely passionate and beautiful. How anyone could ban this stuff is beyond me. Damn politics!

Gorgeous classic - Party starter, 27 Apr 2007
This is such a gifted compilation, Ry Cooder gave music lovers everywhere a rare gift by being the inspiration and the driving force behind exposing these great musicians to the world. It's one of those cd's that always somehow seems to be close to the top of your collection, a guaranteed great play and essential for any party.

The best Cooder Album for at least 20 years, 07 Jan 2009
Wey hey hey...at long last Ry Cooder returns to electric slide. After over 20 years of unbelievably eclectic musical wanderings, and in spite of this being labelled a 'concept' album and the final instalment of the California trilogy that began with the brilliant "Chavez Ravine", this is in many senses a follow-up to 1987's "Get Rhythm", and is none the worse for it.

Delving into a variety of musical genres well-trodden by Cooder over the years - such as the rock'n'roll of "Ridin' With The Blues" "Drive Like I Never Been Hurt" and "Pink-O Boogie", the 1940's influenced "Steel Guitar Heaven" "Filipino Dance Hall Girl" and "Spayed Kooley", the world music of "Fernando Sez" and the film noir of "Can I Smoke In Here", not to mention the inspiringly titled ballad "My Dwarf Is Getting Tired", this album touches all Cooder's familiar bases and sounds like it was a real labour of love from start to finish.

As someone who was largely disappointed by his previous "My Name Is Buddy" album, this is a stunning return to form and is probably my favourite album of 2008. Where does he go from here? That'll be interesting.

Intelligent music making at its best, 27 Oct 2008
If you like the recent crop of character fuelled narrative records from Ry, then this is for you.

Paints wonderful images with his lyrics and often profound emotions with his music. A true new world genius.

He left the slide in his pocket, 14 Sep 2008
This is a very good album indeed, a SONG album, Maybe Ry sorta felt he didn't need to whip out his slide this time around, (it makes a brief show on 'PINK 'O BOOGIE') sort of imagine a Beach Boys album without any harmonies and you get the idea. Ry's singing is very strong and confident although a little affected at times, even apeing Mick Jagger on the Stones-like 'WAITIN' FOR A GIRL'. '5,000 COUNTRY MUSIC SONGS' will probably in time be covered by every musician/singer in Nashville. The production is first class and sounds great relaxing in your favourite chair on your own by lamplight. The killer track is 'LITTLE TRONA GIRL' sung by Juliette Commagere with Ry in 'Duane Eddy mode', this is so touching and lovely it could make a stone statue weep...absolutely beautiful and a brilliant closer to a real fine collection of songs...miss this at your peril !.

Worn Vista, 06 Aug 2008
I'm afraid I was sadly disappointed in the latest offering by Mr. Cooder. Perhaps being British, and not in possession of the novella which apparently explains what the album is all about may have something to do with my lack of enthusiasm. Mr. Cooder is not a singer, and someone in his entourage should tell him so. His voice has a very limited range, and his singing appears to be strained. We are given two talking "songs" out of 14 on the album, which is an indication that too much of the Cooder vocals is not a good thing. In Chavez Ravine, he found some fine songs,the best of them written by others, and some fine singers, and assembled a package which was a delight. But since he has decided to do all the composing and all the singing, on Buddy as on Flathead, the magic has,I'm afraid, disappeared. The Johnny Cash song sounds as if it was made up in a bar on a Saturday night -indeed it's almost disrespectful, whilst his obsession with J.Edgar Hoover resurfaces
unnecessarily. And why ration the wonderful accordion player to one song? Arranging new sound combinations, and finding good tales and ,crucially, characterful singers connected to those tales, are what Mr.C. does best,in my opinion.

Keep em' coming Ry !!!, 27 Jun 2008
These days, Ry Cooder is a musical novelist and I happen to believe that his format of album making is quietly revolutionary. Here is another great example of what a concept album should be like. Mysterious, Iconic, Intruiging and totally musical.

In an age where you select a few tracks of an album for a download, it's quite incredible that we have an artist who makes you realise what a lazy musical culture we live in.

It's time to wake up People !!! Music is still alive ...



My favourite Ry Cooder album, 19 Sep 2007
This is the most essential of a list of essential Ry Cooder albums. If you only ever buy one of his CDs, make it this one.

I wore the vinyl out and had to buy it again and then I had to buy the CD. Someone borrowed the CD, they moved and I never got it back so I had to buy it again.

The playing is immaculate, it is simply wonderful music. The Mexican influences are great and really bring an extra dimension. This is the culmination of everything RC did before and overshadows everything he has done since.

Buy this album.

Ry at his best, 31 Mar 2007
Ry Cooder at his best. A superb CD - one of my absolute favourites. 'He'll have to go' - better than the original. 'Yellow Roses' - a wonderful rendition. The best ever Ry Cooder album. Listen and enjoy! It does not disappoint.

Class still shines 30 years on, 27 Nov 2005
I first heard this on tape in 1988 when it was already 14 or so years old. I loved it immediately and still love it today. Cooder is a master of anything with strings and frets, and he has assembled a great bunch of musicians around him for this album of familiar and occasionally less familiar American folk and blues standards. 'Goodnight Irene,' 'He'll have to go,'and 'Stand by me' are probably definitive versions, though 'yellow roses' does not really work for me. Still, you can forgive one slightly poorer track on an album on which most are outstanding. 'Always pick him up' may be a bit maudlin and even sexist by today's standards, but it's still a brilliant song.

I'v heard most of Ry's other albums from this period, and while they are all good, this one remains, for me, the best of the bunch.

Scottish Amazon users might remember that track 2 'I've got mine' was used in Tennents Lager TV promotion in the late eighties. But don't let it put you off - the music is much better than the lager!

Skilful Blend, 05 Jun 2004
The rediscovery of a rich indigenous American musical history didn't begin with O Brother Where Art Thou, though it gave a timely boost to an undervalued genre. Somehow the blues and folk archives of Alan Lomax and Harry Smith, and music handed down through families over generations and kept alive, needed to be woven into a whole that was both true to a tradition and yet contemporary. Among the honourable few who attempted such a synthesis were the Band, Neil Young and Ry Cooder.

Ry Cooder toured his Chicken Skin Music band after making this album and if you saw it you probably will remember a Whistle Test concert for UK television in 1977. Ry Cooder had assembled an extraordinary orchestra, uniquely combining the Tex-Mex accordion mastery of Flaco Jiminez with the Hawaiian slack key guitar maestros Gabby Pahinui and Atta Isaacs to perform traditional minstrel and gospel songs, soul ballads, Leadbelly and Ray Charles covers and standards such as the wonderful He'll Have To Go, and Chloe.

The result is a skilful blend that is not dry or academic but designed for dance and entertainment

Cracking, 22 Apr 2004
Ry Cooder is probably best know to contemporary music buyers as the manbehind the Buena Vista Social Club, which was an unexpected runaway hit afew years back. Well, I say unexpected, but not so if you've been payingattention to his output over the last 30 years. This CD is a simmilar ideato Buena Vista - get a bunch of less-well know but very talented musicians- and play through some old, and somtimes long forgotten tunes. To thisend he has included the fantastic Flaco Jimenez, plus two greats ofHawaiian music: Gabby Pahinui and Atta Isaacs.
The tunes on this album may be familiar to many: Leadbelly's "BourgeoisBlues" and "Goodnight Irene", plus the King/Leiber/Stoller classic "StandBy Me". There are some that will be less familiar, with "Always Lift HimUp" first recorded by the wonderful Blind Alfred Reed standing out. Thisis an accomplised, ecclectic and hugely enjoyable CD.

It ain't what ya think....., 10 Oct 2007
....it's going to be. That is ....it isn't Buena Vista Social Club, it isn't Ibrahim Ferrer, it isn't Ali Farka Toure, it isn't Flaco Jimenez. But then again it's all of these and more. In particular it's more of Ry and in a bigger sense its more altogether. A commanding view with all Ry Cooder's talents of bringing together disparate elements into a musical whole. Every play pays off and the record gets better and better with each hearing. In some ways it reminds me of early spring backs to folk melodies on "Into the Purple Valley" but with everything that he has done since coming together over a long and fruitful career and adding to the disc. Quite possibly the best thing that he has out together for a long time and worth persisting with

A colourful addition to a varied career, 09 Jun 2007

In 2005, Cooder released Chavez Ravine, his first solo album since 1987's Get Rhythm.

Although Ryland Cooder has made a career of bringing bygone days back to life on a global scale, Chavez Ravine is a high-water mark for him.

Part history, part fantasy, the CD tells the story of Los Angeles' Chavez Ravine--an old Mexican barrio (slum) torn down by the city, allegedly to make room for a low-income housing project but in fact to build Dodger Stadium on.

The record is sung in Spanish and English and Cooder has sought out musicians from the era and the place. It is the last recording (and a great one at that) for both "the father of Chicano music," Lalo Guerrero, and Pachuco legend Don Tosti.

On this concept album, one is musically transported to the days of the Pachucos (Zoot-Suiters) and hears the voices of residents, bulldozer drivers, city thugs who tried to paint caring people as commies, and folks nostalgically looking back at the place they called home.

Ry Cooder never ceases to amaze by the quality of his work and vision.


A good one, 05 Mar 2007
Mention 'concept album' and rock'n roll and you'd be forgiven for running a mile. Being a Cooder fan, there was no way I'd not buy it, especially as I like the cojunto texmex sound (Flaco Jimenez etc), but I admit I was apprehensive. And you know what, right from the first track (Poor man's Shangri-La)Ry and co , put me right at ease. As concepts go, this sought to illuminate a place and an era and the music that emanated from it, before a whole community was cleared away by greedy property developers (a breed that has growm in rapacity since then). Ry reminds you of a simple fact that too often is forgotten sometimes- in musical terms, a place can often create the genre. All great music was local once. Amazingly Ry was able to colloborate with many of the musicians that were once on the scene, 50 years ago, when Chavez Ravine was cleared away to make way for a stadium! And by the way, its all great fun to listen to, and immensely enjoyable and variable too! So get over your 'concept album' prejudice right now. I did, and I want to testify!

Historical documnt, 16 Aug 2006
I loved the opening track and as I have listened to the album more it grows on me. There are a few echoes of Bueno Vista Social Club where elderly singers croak through their songs. Take the time to read the translations of the Spanish songs and it will become more meaningful, likewise the sleeve notes.

It is haunting and would make a great soundtrack to a short film about the building of Chavez avine some day?



You can't dance to it., 23 Jul 2006
I am disappointed at having bought this cd, and finding an album that is unlike any other of Ry's works. For me, it is hard going and quirky. I can understand the artist's motives for making it, and I have got most of his previous stuff, but this cd will gather dust in my collection.

For all the laudatory work he's done in rediscovering a panoply of artists from roots-based musical genres, Cooder's attempt to pay homage to influences closer to home, namely 1950s rock and R&B, on Bop Till You Drop produced spotty results. While Arthur Alexander's "Go Home, Girl" and Cooder's own composition, "Down in Hollywood", are notable exceptions, most of the album suffers from languor stemming from a real lack of drive or direction. Cooder's failed attempt to place Elvis Presley's "Little Sister" in a broader musical context underscores the gap between intent and achievement which plagues the majority of songs on this well-meaning but unsatisfying effort. --Wayne Pernu

RY COODER....a national treasure to be heard again and again, 17 Nov 2008
Ry Cooder is one of the most wonderful guitarists on the planet.Anyone looking to play guitar should listen to him,because when it comes to tone,to texture and beautiful playing he's among the very best there is.The rave over Stevie Ray's,Hendrix,et all as great as they are no question of that RC is a master of his art.This anthology has a wonderful range of varying styles from a whole range of his albums right upto his 2008 release I Flathead,and it's all fabulous stuff,no fillers here at all.listen to the texture in his film scores like Paris Texas,or his take on Johnny Cash's Get Rhythm to the wonderful unreleased track Let's Get Together.You get 34 tracks for your money,all put together by his son Joachim,plus notes by the man himself.This is surely among the best releases of the year,certainly the best anthology.You've no Ry Cooder ? then this is one truly great place to begin.TOTALLY FABULOUS SET.

The Ry Cooder Anthology, 30 Oct 2008
For someone who has been making music for over 40 years it's very hard to encapsulate their career into even two CDs as we have here. This compilation was put together by Ry and his son Joachim and contains a good selection of Ry's solo records from his 1970 eponymous debut to 2008's "I, Flathead" and also his film soundtracks. It also contains one unreleased track the old Wilbert Harrison number "Let's work together" featuring Ry playing with accordionist Buckwheat Zydeco.

The two CDs present a good variety across his work from the acoustic worksong "Tamp 'Em Up Solid" to the electric R&B of "The Very Thing That Makes You Rich (Makes Me Poor)" to the evocative soundtrack instrumental "Paris, Texas". Inevitably with a record like this there are some missing tracks which you wish had been included (although my all time favourite Cooder track "Teardrops Will Fall" made the cut) but overall this is a very good overview of his entire career and will allow people to sample and then buy the individual albums if they like particular sounds/styles.

So why haven't I given it five stars? Well I would have preferred less of the soundtrack themes - which did get their own compilation in 'Music by Ry Cooder' - and 12 of these tracks appeared on the 90s compilation 'River Rescue'. I would also have liked a few more obscure tracks, Ry's session work and collaborations with other artists, but perhaps I'm being a bit picky. Overall this is an excellent sampler of a wonderful artist who has produced marvellous music throughout his career.



Buy This and Weep!!, 08 Oct 2008
When the lights came up in the cinema where we saw Wim Wenders' movie of the same name, we saw grown adults weeping. This is more than a band, it is a musical phenomenon. Such a synergy is rare in this day and age, and the vibe on this album is just fantastic.

Buy it and weep, because you have missed your chance to ever see or hear Ruben Gonzales, Compay Segundo or Ibrahim Ferrer playing live with the band again, but the remaining members still tour and the band is organic, progressing through the years with younger, equally talented musicians, so if you see a gig advertised and can get to it, don't miss it! This album has changed many lives...

Over rated, 11 Sep 2008
I think there is alittle bit of hysteria about this album. I think the importance of the album lies in the fact that it opened the flood gates for Cuban music in general rather than to the individual merits of the album itself. Since its release there has been renewed interest in Cuban music and it has revitalised the careers of many of those involved in the project. But the album itself? Well, it's good, but not great! The album is pedestrian. I can't help thinking that Ry Cooder was at the mercy of time and just couldn't get the album to sound the way he wanted it to. Compared to other Cuban albums I have heard, and own, this one ranks lower.

Buena Vista Social Club, 06 Jul 2008
'Buena Vista Social Club' is the Ry Cooder produced album of such melodic, harmonious, relaxed Cuban beauty. Each track transports you to another time and place and you honestly feel your cares drifting away as you listen to each song. From the wonderful album opener 'Chan Chan' to the infectious 'El Cuarto de Tula' and the delightfully mournful 'Dos Gardenias' and more, this album throws up delight after delight. Ry Cooder may have brought this amazing music to a wider audience, but it is the talent and passion of the musicians that shines through. A beautiful album that deserves a place in any music collection. Well worth a try.

This is simply amazing..., 16 Dec 2007
Just take a listen, it doesn't matter what you're in to, just listen.

It's relaxing and melodic while being completely passionate and beautiful. How anyone could ban this stuff is beyond me. Damn politics!

Gorgeous classic - Party starter, 27 Apr 2007
This is such a gifted compilation, Ry Cooder gave music lovers everywhere a rare gift by being the inspiration and the driving force behind exposing these great musicians to the world. It's one of those cd's that always somehow seems to be close to the top of your collection, a guaranteed great play and essential for any party.

The best Cooder Album for at least 20 years, 07 Jan 2009
Wey hey hey...at long last Ry Cooder returns to electric slide. After over 20 years of unbelievably eclectic musical wanderings, and in spite of this being labelled a 'concept' album and the final instalment of the California trilogy that began with the brilliant "Chavez Ravine", this is in many senses a follow-up to 1987's "Get Rhythm", and is none the worse for it.

Delving into a variety of musical genres well-trodden by Cooder over the years - such as the rock'n'roll of "Ridin' With The Blues" "Drive Like I Never Been Hurt" and "Pink-O Boogie", the 1940's influenced "Steel Guitar Heaven" "Filipino Dance Hall Girl" and "Spayed Kooley", the world music of "Fernando Sez" and the film noir of "Can I Smoke In Here", not to mention the inspiringly titled ballad "My Dwarf Is Getting Tired", this album touches all Cooder's familiar bases and sounds like it was a real labour of love from start to finish.

As someone who was largely disappointed by his previous "My Name Is Buddy" album, this is a stunning return to form and is probably my favourite album of 2008. Where does he go from here? That'll be interesting.

Intelligent music making at its best, 27 Oct 2008
If you like the recent crop of character fuelled narrative records from Ry, then this is for you.

Paints wonderful images with his lyrics and often profound emotions with his music. A true new world genius.

He left the slide in his pocket, 14 Sep 2008
This is a very good album indeed, a SONG album, Maybe Ry sorta felt he didn't need to whip out his slide this time around, (it makes a brief show on 'PINK 'O BOOGIE') sort of imagine a Beach Boys album without any harmonies and you get the idea. Ry's singing is very strong and confident although a little affected at times, even apeing Mick Jagger on the Stones-like 'WAITIN' FOR A GIRL'. '5,000 COUNTRY MUSIC SONGS' will probably in time be covered by every musician/singer in Nashville. The production is first class and sounds great relaxing in your favourite chair on your own by lamplight. The killer track is 'LITTLE TRONA GIRL' sung by Juliette Commagere with Ry in 'Duane Eddy mode', this is so touching and lovely it could make a stone statue weep...absolutely beautiful and a brilliant closer to a real fine collection of songs...miss this at your peril !.

Worn Vista, 06 Aug 2008
I'm afraid I was sadly disappointed in the latest offering by Mr. Cooder. Perhaps being British, and not in possession of the novella which apparently explains what the album is all about may have something to do with my lack of enthusiasm. Mr. Cooder is not a singer, and someone in his entourage should tell him so. His voice has a very limited range, and his singing appears to be strained. We are given two talking "songs" out of 14 on the album, which is an indication that too much of the Cooder vocals is not a good thing. In Chavez Ravine, he found some fine songs,the best of them written by others, and some fine singers, and assembled a package which was a delight. But since he has decided to do all the composing and all the singing, on Buddy as on Flathead, the magic has,I'm afraid, disappeared. The Johnny Cash song sounds as if it was made up in a bar on a Saturday night -indeed it's almost disrespectful, whilst his obsession with J.Edgar Hoover resurfaces
unnecessarily. And why ration the wonderful accordion player to one song? Arranging new sound combinations, and finding good tales and ,crucially, characterful singers connected to those tales, are what Mr.C. does best,in my opinion.

Keep em' coming Ry !!!, 27 Jun 2008
These days, Ry Cooder is a musical novelist and I happen to believe that his format of album making is quietly revolutionary. Here is another great example of what a concept album should be like. Mysterious, Iconic, Intruiging and totally musical.

In an age where you select a few tracks of an album for a download, it's quite incredible that we have an artist who makes you realise what a lazy musical culture we live in.

It's time to wake up People !!! Music is still alive ...



My favourite Ry Cooder album, 19 Sep 2007
This is the most essential of a list of essential Ry Cooder albums. If you only ever buy one of his CDs, make it this one.

I wore the vinyl out and had to buy it again and then I had to buy the CD. Someone borrowed the CD, they moved and I never got it back so I had to buy it again.

The playing is immaculate, it is simply wonderful music. The Mexican influences are great and really bring an extra dimension. This is the culmination of everything RC did before and overshadows everything he has done since.

Buy this album.

Ry at his best, 31 Mar 2007
Ry Cooder at his best. A superb CD - one of my absolute favourites. 'He'll have to go' - better than the original. 'Yellow Roses' - a wonderful rendition. The best ever Ry Cooder album. Listen and enjoy! It does not disappoint.

Class still shines 30 years on, 27 Nov 2005
I first heard this on tape in 1988 when it was already 14 or so years old. I loved it immediately and still love it today. Cooder is a master of anything with strings and frets, and he has assembled a great bunch of musicians around him for this album of familiar and occasionally less familiar American folk and blues standards. 'Goodnight Irene,' 'He'll have to go,'and 'Stand by me' are probably definitive versions, though 'yellow roses' does not really work for me. Still, you can forgive one slightly poorer track on an album on which most are outstanding. 'Always pick him up' may be a bit maudlin and even sexist by today's standards, but it's still a brilliant song.

I'v heard most of Ry's other albums from this period, and while they are all good, this one remains, for me, the best of the bunch.

Scottish Amazon users might remember that track 2 'I've got mine' was used in Tennents Lager TV promotion in the late eighties. But don't let it put you off - the music is much better than the lager!

Skilful Blend, 05 Jun 2004
The rediscovery of a rich indigenous American musical history didn't begin with O Brother Where Art Thou, though it gave a timely boost to an undervalued genre. Somehow the blues and folk archives of Alan Lomax and Harry Smith, and music handed down through families over generations and kept alive, needed to be woven into a whole that was both true to a tradition and yet contemporary. Among the honourable few who attempted such a synthesis were the Band, Neil Young and Ry Cooder.

Ry Cooder toured his Chicken Skin Music band after making this album and if you saw it you probably will remember a Whistle Test concert for UK television in 1977. Ry Cooder had assembled an extraordinary orchestra, uniquely combining the Tex-Mex accordion mastery of Flaco Jiminez with the Hawaiian slack key guitar maestros Gabby Pahinui and Atta Isaacs to perform traditional minstrel and gospel songs, soul ballads, Leadbelly and Ray Charles covers and standards such as the wonderful He'll Have To Go, and Chloe.

The result is a skilful blend that is not dry or academic but designed for dance and entertainment

Cracking, 22 Apr 2004
Ry Cooder is probably best know to contemporary music buyers as the manbehind the Buena Vista Social Club, which was an unexpected runaway hit afew years back. Well, I say unexpected, but not so if you've been payingattention to his output over the last 30 years. This CD is a simmilar ideato Buena Vista - get a bunch of less-well know but very talented musicians- and play through some old, and somtimes long forgotten tunes. To thisend he has included the fantastic Flaco Jimenez, plus two greats ofHawaiian music: Gabby Pahinui and Atta Isaacs.
The tunes on this album may be familiar to many: Leadbelly's "BourgeoisBlues" and "Goodnight Irene", plus the King/Leiber/Stoller classic "StandBy Me". There are some that will be less familiar, with "Always Lift HimUp" first recorded by the wonderful Blind Alfred Reed standing out. Thisis an accomplised, ecclectic and hugely enjoyable CD.

It ain't what ya think....., 10 Oct 2007
....it's going to be. That is ....it isn't Buena Vista Social Club, it isn't Ibrahim Ferrer, it isn't Ali Farka Toure, it isn't Flaco Jimenez. But then again it's all of these and more. In particular it's more of Ry and in a bigger sense its more altogether. A commanding view with all Ry Cooder's talents of bringing together disparate elements into a musical whole. Every play pays off and the record gets better and better with each hearing. In some ways it reminds me of early spring backs to folk melodies on "Into the Purple Valley" but with everything that he has done since coming together over a long and fruitful career and adding to the disc. Quite possibly the best thing that he has out together for a long time and worth persisting with

A colourful addition to a varied career, 09 Jun 2007

In 2005, Cooder released Chavez Ravine, his first solo album since 1987's Get Rhythm.

Although Ryland Cooder has made a career of bringing bygone days back to life on a global scale, Chavez Ravine is a high-water mark for him.

Part history, part fantasy, the CD tells the story of Los Angeles' Chavez Ravine--an old Mexican barrio (slum) torn down by the city, allegedly to make room for a low-income housing project but in fact to build Dodger Stadium on.

The record is sung in Spanish and English and Cooder has sought out musicians from the era and the place. It is the last recording (and a great one at that) for both "the father of Chicano music," Lalo Guerrero, and Pachuco legend Don Tosti.

On this concept album, one is musically transported to the days of the Pachucos (Zoot-Suiters) and hears the voices of residents, bulldozer drivers, city thugs who tried to paint caring people as commies, and folks nostalgically looking back at the place they called home.

Ry Cooder never ceases to amaze by the quality of his work and vision.


A good one, 05 Mar 2007
Mention 'concept album' and rock'n roll and you'd be forgiven for running a mile. Being a Cooder fan, there was no way I'd not buy it, especially as I like the cojunto texmex sound (Flaco Jimenez etc), but I admit I was apprehensive. And you know what, right from the first track (Poor man's Shangri-La)Ry and co , put me right at ease. As concepts go, this sought to illuminate a place and an era and the music that emanated from it, before a whole community was cleared away by greedy property developers (a breed that has growm in rapacity since then). Ry reminds you of a simple fact that too often is forgotten sometimes- in musical terms, a place can often create the genre. All great music was local once. Amazingly Ry was able to colloborate with many of the musicians that were once on the scene, 50 years ago, when Chavez Ravine was cleared away to make way for a stadium! And by the way, its all great fun to listen to, and immensely enjoyable and variable too! So get over your 'concept album' prejudice right now. I did, and I want to testify!

Historical documnt, 16 Aug 2006
I loved the opening track and as I have listened to the album more it grows on me. There are a few echoes of Bueno Vista Social Club where elderly singers croak through their songs. Take the time to read the translations of the Spanish songs and it will become more meaningful, likewise the sleeve notes.

It is haunting and would make a great soundtrack to a short film about the building of Chavez avine some day?



You can't dance to it., 23 Jul 2006
I am disappointed at having bought this cd, and finding an album that is unlike any other of Ry's works. For me, it is hard going and quirky. I can understand the artist's motives for making it, and I have got most of his previous stuff, but this cd will gather dust in my collection.

Very Cool, 12 Jul 2006
This is a great album with great musicianship and a great vibe. If you like this genre of music you will not be disappointed.

Smooth with bite., 12 Mar 2006
Ry Cooder is primarily a blues musician. This album is probably the nearest he gets to a commercial offering. The album was superbly produced on a digital format, unusual in it's day and the recording is exceptional. The music on the album ranges from light gospel to straight blues. I have not tired of it yet and I'm not strictly a blues fan.

An exceptional album that stands the test of time, 13 Feb 2002
Bop 'til You Drop, like any good record, never ages. It's one of those albums that sounds as fresh and new today as it did when first released some 20 years ago. Little Sister is the ultimate pop single; Down In Hollywood has a killer bass riff and a wicked sense of humour; Don't You Mess Up A Good Thing sees Chaka Khan at her best and if you want to chill out and get sentimental, there's nothing better than I Can't Win or the instrumental I Think It's Gonna Work Out Fine. Every song is a winner, and it will be in another 20 years!

It is . . . very good, 12 Dec 2000
With all due respect, Mr Wayne Pernu don't know what he's saying. "Hollywood" is (kinda funky, but) painfully embarassing. The rest is excellent, and I've never noticed 'languid'. "Work out fine", "Trouble" and "I can't win" are outstanding.

Think of Ry Cooder as a musicologist who makes learning fun. A particularly nifty collection from 1974, Paradise & Lunch is solo Cooder at his best. The song selection is inspired and unpredictable: numbers by Burt Bacharach, Mississippi Fred McDowell, and Bobby Womack mingle with ease. "Tattler" is a rare Ry original that happens to be one of the collection's highlights. Jazz legend Earl Hines guests on the dapper "Ditty Wa Ditty". --Steven Stolder

RY COODER....a national treasure to be heard again and again, 17 Nov 2008
Ry Cooder is one of the most wonderful guitarists on the planet.Anyone looking to play guitar should listen to him,because when it comes to tone,to texture and beautiful playing he's among the very best there is.The rave over Stevie Ray's,Hendrix,et all as great as they are no question of that RC is a master of his art.This anthology has a wonderful range of varying styles from a whole range of his albums right upto his 2008 release I Flathead,and it's all fabulous stuff,no fillers here at all.listen to the texture in his film scores like Paris Texas,or his take on Johnny Cash's Get Rhythm to the wonderful unreleased track Let's Get Together.You get 34 tracks for your money,all put together by his son Joachim,plus notes by the man himself.This is surely among the best releases of the year,certainly the best anthology.You've no Ry Cooder ? then this is one truly great place to begin.TOTALLY FABULOUS SET.

The Ry Cooder Anthology, 30 Oct 2008
For someone who has been making music for over 40 years it's very hard to encapsulate their career into even two CDs as we have here. This compilation was put together by Ry and his son Joachim and contains a good selection of Ry's solo records from his 1970 eponymous debut to 2008's "I, Flathead" and also his film soundtracks. It also contains one unreleased track the old Wilbert Harrison number "Let's work together" featuring Ry playing with accordionist Buckwheat Zydeco.

The two CDs present a good variety across his work from the acoustic worksong "Tamp 'Em Up Solid" to the electric R&B of "The Very Thing That Makes You Rich (Makes Me Poor)" to the evocative soundtrack instrumental "Paris, Texas". Inevitably with a record like this there are some missing tracks which you wish had been included (although my all time favourite Cooder track "Teardrops Will Fall" made the cut) but overall this is a very good overview of his entire career and will allow people to sample and then buy the individual albums if they like particular sounds/styles.

So why haven't I given it five stars? Well I would have preferred less of the soundtrack themes - which did get their own compilation in 'Music by Ry Cooder' - and 12 of these tracks appeared on the 90s compilation 'River Rescue'. I would also have liked a few more obscure tracks, Ry's session work and collaborations with other artists, but perhaps I'm being a bit picky. Overall this is an excellent sampler of a wonderful artist who has produced marvellous music throughout his career.



Buy This and Weep!!, 08 Oct 2008
When the lights came up in the cinema where we saw Wim Wenders' movie of the same name, we saw grown adults weeping. This is more than a band, it is a musical phenomenon. Such a synergy is rare in this day and age, and the vibe on this album is just fantastic.

Buy it and weep, because you have missed your chance to ever see or hear Ruben Gonzales, Compay Segundo or Ibrahim Ferrer playing live with the band again, but the remaining members still tour and the band is organic, progressing through the years with younger, equally talented musicians, so if you see a gig advertised and can get to it, don't miss it! This album has changed many lives...

Over rated, 11 Sep 2008
I think there is alittle bit of hysteria about this album. I think the importance of the album lies in the fact that it opened the flood gates for Cuban music in general rather than to the individual merits of the album itself. Since its release there has been renewed interest in Cuban music and it has revitalised the careers of many of those involved in the project. But the album itself? Well, it's good, but not great! The album is pedestrian. I can't help thinking that Ry Cooder was at the mercy of time and just couldn't get the album to sound the way he wanted it to. Compared to other Cuban albums I have heard, and own, this one ranks lower.

Buena Vista Social Club, 06 Jul 2008
'Buena Vista Social Club' is the Ry Cooder produced album of such melodic, harmonious, relaxed Cuban beauty. Each track transports you to another time and place and you honestly feel your cares drifting away as you listen to each song. From the wonderful album opener 'Chan Chan' to the infectious 'El Cuarto de Tula' and the delightfully mournful 'Dos Gardenias' and more, this album throws up delight after delight. Ry Cooder may have brought this amazing music to a wider audience, but it is the talent and passion of the musicians that shines through. A beautiful album that deserves a place in any music collection. Well worth a try.

This is simply amazing..., 16 Dec 2007
Just take a listen, it doesn't matter what you're in to, just listen.

It's relaxing and melodic while being completely passionate and beautiful. How anyone could ban this stuff is beyond me. Damn politics!

Gorgeous classic - Party starter, 27 Apr 2007
This is such a gifted compilation, Ry Cooder gave music lovers everywhere a rare gift by being the inspiration and the driving force behind exposing these great musicians to the world. It's one of those cd's that always somehow seems to be close to the top of your collection, a guaranteed great play and essential for any party.

The best Cooder Album for at least 20 years, 07 Jan 2009
Wey hey hey...at long last Ry Cooder returns to electric slide. After over 20 years of unbelievably eclectic musical wanderings, and in spite of this being labelled a 'concept' album and the final instalment of the California trilogy that began with the brilliant "Chavez Ravine", this is in many senses a follow-up to 1987's "Get Rhythm", and is none the worse for it.

Delving into a variety of musical genres well-trodden by Cooder over the years - such as the rock'n'roll of "Ridin' With The Blues" "Drive Like I Never Been Hurt" and "Pink-O Boogie", the 1940's influenced "Steel Guitar Heaven" "Filipino Dance Hall Girl" and "Spayed Kooley", the world music of "Fernando Sez" and the film noir of "Can I Smoke In Here", not to mention the inspiringly titled ballad "My Dwarf Is Getting Tired", this album touches all Cooder's familiar bases and sounds like it was a real labour of love from start to finish.

As someone who was largely disappointed by his previous "My Name Is Buddy" album, this is a stunning return to form and is probably my favourite album of 2008. Where does he go from here? That'll be interesting.

Intelligent music making at its best, 27 Oct 2008
If you like the recent crop of character fuelled narrative records from Ry, then this is for you.

Paints wonderful images with his lyrics and often profound emotions with his music. A true new world genius.

He left the slide in his pocket, 14 Sep 2008
This is a very good album indeed, a SONG album, Maybe Ry sorta felt he didn't need to whip out his slide this time around, (it makes a brief show on 'PINK 'O BOOGIE') sort of imagine a Beach Boys album without any harmonies and you get the idea. Ry's singing is very strong and confident although a little affected at times, even apeing Mick Jagger on the Stones-like 'WAITIN' FOR A GIRL'. '5,000 COUNTRY MUSIC SONGS' will probably in time be covered by every musician/singer in Nashville. The production is first class and sounds great relaxing in your favourite chair on your own by lamplight. The killer track is 'LITTLE TRONA GIRL' sung by Juliette Commagere with Ry in 'Duane Eddy mode', this is so touching and lovely it could make a stone statue weep...absolutely beautiful and a brilliant closer to a real fine collection of songs...miss this at your peril !.

Worn Vista, 06 Aug 2008
I'm afraid I was sadly disappointed in the latest offering by Mr. Cooder. Perhaps being British, and not in possession of the novella which apparently explains what the album is all about may have something to do with my lack of enthusiasm. Mr. Cooder is not a singer, and someone in his entourage should tell him so. His voice has a very limited range, and his singing appears to be strained. We are given two talking "songs" out of 14 on the album, which is an indication that too much of the Cooder vocals is not a good thing. In Chavez Ravine, he found some fine songs,the best of them written by others, and some fine singers, and assembled a package which was a delight. But since he has decided to do all the composing and all the singing, on Buddy as on Flathead, the magic has,I'm afraid, disappeared. The Johnny Cash song sounds as if it was made up in a bar on a Saturday night -indeed it's almost disrespectful, whilst his obsession with J.Edgar Hoover resurfaces
unnecessarily. And why ration the wonderful accordion player to one song? Arranging new sound combinations, and finding good tales and ,crucially, characterful singers connected to those tales, are what Mr.C. does best,in my opinion.

Keep em' coming Ry !!!, 27 Jun 2008
These days, Ry Cooder is a musical novelist and I happen to believe that his format of album making is quietly revolutionary. Here is another great example of what a concept album should be like. Mysterious, Iconic, Intruiging and totally musical.

In an age where you select a few tracks of an album for a download, it's quite incredible that we have an artist who makes you realise what a lazy musical culture we live in.

It's time to wake up People !!! Music is still alive ...



My favourite Ry Cooder album, 19 Sep 2007
This is the most essential of a list of essential Ry Cooder albums. If you only ever buy one of his CDs, make it this one.

I wore the vinyl out and had to buy it again and then I had to buy the CD. Someone borrowed the CD, they moved and I never got it back so I had to buy it again.

The playing is immaculate, it is simply wonderful music. The Mexican influences are great and really bring an extra dimension. This is the culmination of everything RC did before and overshadows everything he has done since.

Buy this album.

Ry at his best, 31 Mar 2007
Ry Cooder at his best. A superb CD - one of my absolute favourites. 'He'll have to go' - better than the original. 'Yellow Roses' - a wonderful rendition. The best ever Ry Cooder album. Listen and enjoy! It does not disappoint.

Class still shines 30 years on, 27 Nov 2005
I first heard this on tape in 1988 when it was already 14 or so years old. I loved it immediately and still love it today. Cooder is a master of anything with strings and frets, and he has assembled a great bunch of musicians around him for this album of familiar and occasionally less familiar American folk and blues standards. 'Goodnight Irene,' 'He'll have to go,'and 'Stand by me' are probably definitive versions, though 'yellow roses' does not really work for me. Still, you can forgive one slightly poorer track on an album on which most are outstanding. 'Always pick him up' may be a bit maudlin and even sexist by today's standards, but it's still a brilliant song.

I'v heard most of Ry's other albums from this period, and while they are all good, this one remains, for me, the best of the bunch.

Scottish Amazon users might remember that track 2 'I've got mine' was used in Tennents Lager TV promotion in the late eighties. But don't let it put you off - the music is much better than the lager!

Skilful Blend, 05 Jun 2004
The rediscovery of a rich indigenous American musical history didn't begin with O Brother Where Art Thou, though it gave a timely boost to an undervalued genre. Somehow the blues and folk archives of Alan Lomax and Harry Smith, and music handed down through families over generations and kept alive, needed to be woven into a whole that was both true to a tradition and yet contemporary. Among the honourable few who attempted such a synthesis were the Band, Neil Young and Ry Cooder.

Ry Cooder toured his Chicken Skin Music band after making this album and if you saw it you probably will remember a Whistle Test concert for UK television in 1977. Ry Cooder had assembled an extraordinary orchestra, uniquely combining the Tex-Mex accordion mastery of Flaco Jiminez with the Hawaiian slack key guitar maestros Gabby Pahinui and Atta Isaacs to perform traditional minstrel and gospel songs, soul ballads, Leadbelly and Ray Charles covers and standards such as the wonderful He'll Have To Go, and Chloe.

The result is a skilful blend that is not dry or academic but designed for dance and entertainment

Cracking, 22 Apr 2004
Ry Cooder is probably best know to contemporary music buyers as the manbehind the Buena Vista Social Club, which was an unexpected runaway hit afew years back. Well, I say unexpected, but not so if you've been payingattention to his output over the last 30 years. This CD is a simmilar ideato Buena Vista - get a bunch of less-well know but very talented musicians- and play through some old, and somtimes long forgotten tunes. To thisend he has included the fantastic Flaco Jimenez, plus two greats ofHawaiian music: Gabby Pahinui and Atta Isaacs.
The tunes on this album may be familiar to many: Leadbelly's "BourgeoisBlues" and "Goodnight Irene", plus the King/Leiber/Stoller classic "StandBy Me". There are some that will be less familiar, with "Always Lift HimUp" first recorded by the wonderful Blind Alfred Reed standing out. Thisis an accomplised, ecclectic and hugely enjoyable CD.

It ain't what ya think....., 10 Oct 2007
....it's going to be. That is ....it isn't Buena Vista Social Club, it isn't Ibrahim Ferrer, it isn't Ali Farka Toure, it isn't Flaco Jimenez. But then again it's all of these and more. In particular it's more of Ry and in a bigger sense its more altogether. A commanding view with all Ry Cooder's talents of bringing together disparate elements into a musical whole. Every play pays off and the record gets better and better with each hearing. In some ways it reminds me of early spring backs to folk melodies on "Into the Purple Valley" but with everything that he has done since coming together over a long and fruitful career and adding to the disc. Quite possibly the best thing that he has out together for a long time and worth persisting with

A colourful addition to a varied career, 09 Jun 2007

In 2005, Cooder released Chavez Ravine, his first solo album since 1987's Get Rhythm.

Although Ryland Cooder has made a career of bringing bygone days back to life on a global scale, Chavez Ravine is a high-water mark for him.

Part history, part fantasy, the CD tells the story of Los Angeles' Chavez Ravine--an old Mexican barrio (slum) torn down by the city, allegedly to make room for a low-income housing project but in fact to build Dodger Stadium on.

The record is sung in Spanish and English and Cooder has sought out musicians from the era and the place. It is the last recording (and a great one at that) for both "the father of Chicano music," Lalo Guerrero, and Pachuco legend Don Tosti.

On this concept album, one is musically transported to the days of the Pachucos (Zoot-Suiters) and hears the voices of residents, bulldozer drivers, city thugs who tried to paint caring people as commies, and folks nostalgically looking back at the place they called home.

Ry Cooder never ceases to amaze by the quality of his work and vision.


A good one, 05 Mar 2007
Mention 'concept album' and rock'n roll and you'd be forgiven for running a mile. Being a Cooder fan, there was no way I'd not buy it, especially as I like the cojunto texmex sound (Flaco Jimenez etc), but I admit I was apprehensive. And you know what, right from the first track (Poor man's Shangri-La)Ry and co , put me right at ease. As concepts go, this sought to illuminate a place and an era and the music that emanated from it, before a whole community was cleared away by greedy property developers (a breed that has growm in rapacity since then). Ry reminds you of a simple fact that too often is forgotten sometimes- in musical terms, a place can often create the genre. All great music was local once. Amazingly Ry was able to colloborate with many of the musicians that were once on the scene, 50 years ago, when Chavez Ravine was cleared away to make way for a stadium! And by the way, its all great fun to listen to, and immensely enjoyable and variable too! So get over your 'concept album' prejudice right now. I did, and I want to testify!

Historical documnt, 16 Aug 2006
I loved the opening track and as I have listened to the album more it grows on me. There are a few echoes of Bueno Vista Social Club where elderly singers croak through their songs. Take the time to read the translations of the Spanish songs and it will become more meaningful, likewise the sleeve notes.

It is haunting and would make a great soundtrack to a short film about the building of Chavez avine some day?



You can't dance to it., 23 Jul 2006
I am disappointed at having bought this cd, and finding an album that is unlike any other of Ry's works. For me, it is hard going and quirky. I can understand the artist's motives for making it, and I have got most of his previous stuff, but this cd will gather dust in my collection.

Very Cool, 12 Jul 2006
This is a great album with great musicianship and a great vibe. If you like this genre of music you will not be disappointed.

Smooth with bite., 12 Mar 2006
Ry Cooder is primarily a blues musician. This album is probably the nearest he gets to a commercial offering. The album was superbly produced on a digital format, unusual in it's day and the recording is exceptional. The music on the album ranges from light gospel to straight blues. I have not tired of it yet and I'm not strictly a blues fan.

An exceptional album that stands the test of time, 13 Feb 2002
Bop 'til You Drop, like any good record, never ages. It's one of those albums that sounds as fresh and new today as it did when first released some 20 years ago. Little Sister is the ultimate pop single; Down In Hollywood has a killer bass riff and a wicked sense of humour; Don't You Mess Up A Good Thing sees Chaka Khan at her best and if you want to chill out and get sentimental, there's nothing better than I Can't Win or the instrumental I Think It's Gonna Work Out Fine. Every song is a winner, and it will be in another 20 years!

It is . . . very good, 12 Dec 2000
With all due respect, Mr Wayne Pernu don't know what he's saying. "Hollywood" is (kinda funky, but) painfully embarassing. The rest is excellent, and I've never noticed 'languid'. "Work out fine", "Trouble" and "I can't win" are outstanding.

Enjoyable..., 12 Nov 2008
...but not one of his best (there are so many to choose from). Still, full of Ry Cooder's lovely bluesy vocals and GORGEOUS guitar playing, so all in all, pretty good.

Another Cooder classic, 09 Jul 2008
"Paradise and Lunch" followed a similar path to his previous release "Into the purple valley" but overall probably has a more electric, R&B sound, with either Jim Keltner or Milt Holland on drums. Again it's a very consistent record that seamlessly mixes blues, rock and roll, country and jazz to provide a varied but somehow completely unified sound.

We start with a great acoustic work-song "Tamp 'em up solid" and then Washington Phillips' beautiful ballad "Tattler" is given an R&B makeover to make it sound like the Drifters. Meanwhile the Drifters own "Mexican divorce" is taken south of the border and slowed down to produce a soulful TexMex classic. Blind Willie McTell's "Married man's a fool" is also updated with an R&B setting, although not quite as funky as the Womacks' "It's all over now" which really rocks. We also get an early version of the gospel song "Jesus on the mainline" which Ry was often to revisit. "Fool About A Cigarette/Feelin' good" is a medley of a country song and a J.B. Lenoir blues that somehow seem to fit together. Finally Ry and Earl Hines battle it out on a swinging ragtime version of Blind Blake's "Ditty Wah Ditty".

If Bob like it..., 06 Oct 2006
Bob Dylan played A Married Man's a Fool on his radio show, what a song.

Appreciation of a great album, 27 Mar 2001
Ry Cooder - Paradise and Lunch

If you were to cut Ry Cooder in half he would be lettered 'Musician' all the way through. He hardly seems to have made anything except excellent albums, apart from 'The Slide Area'. So here is another eclectic mix of blues, gospel, folk and interpretations of obscure old pop songs. All played by his early house band, with a few distinguished guests, so nothing new there. But some albums just work, and all I can suggest is that when you get the right people together at the right time the magic just happens, and it really happens here. I think the secret is in knowing what to leave out. This sort of music doesn't smack you on the forehead, it just sidles up and makes friends. The rythms are generally gentle and subtle, but still make you want first to tap your feet and then dance around the room. This mood is set in the first track, 'Tamp 'em up solid', but this is no surprize, Cooder has always been at expert at first tracks (Such as 6-3-4-5-7-8-9 and Get Rythm). 'Jesus on the main line' is one of those left field tunes that just get to you after a couple of playings, and 'Fool for a cigarette' has that depression / dust bowl feel so well done on the 2nd album (Into the Purple Valley). The guitar licks are immaculate as ever, electric accoustic and slide, but the point is not how clever they are, but how well played they are. No-one can play as sweetly or with more emotion than Ryland Peter Cooder. The final track is a duet between Cooder and the veteran jazz pianist Earl Hines. They play the Blind Blake standard 'Ditty wah ditty' with real swing. Cooder keeps the melody and rythm driving along whilst Hines plays some astonishing variations. I'm still not sure if it works, but I can't stop humming the tune. All in all this is an addictive album, one of those I get every 3 or 4 years that I play almost non-stop . Five stars are hardly adequate. I have a reservation about the design of the cover, one of the worst I have ever seen, especially with a hangover, but it does make the album easy to spot on the rack. I just can't think why I didn't buy the album before.