[.ca] Ry Cooder

good slide, good arrangements, bad vocals:
Very warm, friendly, personable music. It's too bad that Cooder had to ruin it by trying to sing. He seems to think that mumbling out of the side of his mouth constitutes soulfulness. Good album if you like, relaxed, folky, shambolic music.

What a debut!:
If there is a complaint I have with Cooder's debut album it is that it is too short. Containing a great batch of tunes that are all worth hearing at least once (it must be noted that the lumbering cover of Woody Guthrie's One Meatball might be worth only one listen) and some several times (Alimony, France Chance and Available Space) Ry Cooder delivers a great album that shows that not only is he a far better guitarist than Eric Clapton, his taste and knowledge in music is much better and mature than Clapton's. If you must begin your Cooder collection somewhere, you can't go wrong here.

My favorite from the slide king.:
I have nearly all of Ry Cooder's 30 or so albums, and this is still my favorite. It's a museum of very old blues songs, with a few more modern ones thrown in. You'll find yourself learning all the lyrics, and singing them to yourself later on. I also strongly recommend Bop 'Til You Drop, Into The Purple Valley, and Rush. The soundtrack from The Long Riders is also very nice, but it's done in an old-timey style from the late 1860's.

Most Auspicious Debut Ever?:
When I saw Ry Cooder live in the early seventies, he was wearing baggy blue silk pants, pink satin pumps, a bandana, and a Hawaiian shirt. Eclectic garb? You bet. But somehow it all went together, a perfect sartorial analogue to his musical eclectism. As far as the best debut ever, it's gotta be either this or Little Feet's. Nobody was doing this roots stuff back then, and nobody's ever done it better. The opening bars of "Alimony" are perfect. "How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live" and "Available Space" are transcendent. One marvels at the clarity of musical vision from one so young. Everything here's absolutely top drawer: overall concept, arrangements, production values, musicianship. It all continues with Into the Purple Valley (probably Cooder's best) and Boomer's Story, but to my ears he slips up with Boarderline. Wait a minute. As great as Into the Purple Valley is, Paradise and Lunch gets the nod as his best ever, because it's his most eclectic and has soooo many killer tunes on it. Chicken Skin Music is also great (if you can get by the obnoxious cover art, thankfully much smaller in the CD format)--check out especially "Stand by Me." "Mexican Divorce" from Paradise and Lunch is my all-time favorite Cooder cut; it always puts me in mind of my all-time favorite Byrds song, "Tulsa County Blue" (from their somewhat neglected masterpiece, Ballad of Easy Rider). Of course, Buena Vista Social Club is also essential Cooder, as is Meeting by the River, with Indian maestro Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, and Talking Timbuktu, with Malian bluesman Ali Farka Toure. Also worth checking out: Fascinoma (with the unlikely but brilliant combination of Jacky Terrasson and John Hassell) and Hollow Bamboo. I'm not wild about all of his film music, but all in all, he's had quite a remarkable career. And I guess that's why Cooder gets the nod over Little Feet for the best ever debut--his subsequent career outshines Little Feet's, although they went on to produce some great stuff. Who knows where they might've gone but for Lowell George's untimely death.

Good:
I'm not sure this is the best debut ever...I like "6 & 12 String Guitar" a lot more, and didn't Charlie Parker record "Koko" on his first studio date? But as for whether or not you should buy this album - yes, of course you should. I suggest that you buy as many Ry Cooder albums as you can. Ry Cooder has almost flawless musical taste, on par with Bill Evans and George Harrison. Anyone who has listened to those guys appreciates the integrity and ingenuity they bring to any musical situation; that's why Ry Cooder is as legitimate playing Cuban Son music in 1997 as he was way back then playing traditional American music.

• Alimony
• France Chance
• One Meatball
• Do Re Mi
• My Old Kentucky Home (Turpentine and Dandelion Wine)
• How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?
• Available Space
• Pigmeat
• Police Dog Blues
• Goin' to Brownsville
• Dark Is the Night