Ry Cooder -> S&D

My favorite of his solo records is Boomer's Story. With a lovely version of "Maria Elena."

Cooder as sideman: search the Everly's Stories We Could Tell, Randy Newman's 12 Songs, Cap'n Beefheart Safe As Milk, Little Feat s/t, Let It Bleed of course.

Search also his collaborations with Gabby Pahinui, the great Haiwaiian guitarist.

Also, does the new album have some kind of mambo revival theme?

V.M. Bhatt (A Meeting by the River), and
Ali Farka Toure (Talking Timbuktu).

Ry's also noted for his participation in the Buena Vista Social Club, but i'd recommend that you proceed with the above noted titles before moving onto that.

Talking Timbuktu seconded, though.

I'll second the Bhatt and Toure discs as well. Last year I picked up that cd by the Rising Sons, the early band he was in with Taj Mahal, and was pretty underwhelmed; it wasn't too interesting (or as interesting as such a lineup might suggest).

"Cooder as sideman: search the Everly's Stories We Could Tell, Randy Newman's 12 Songs, Cap'n Beefheart Safe As Milk, Little Feat s/t, Let It Bleed of course."

And Paul Revere & the Raiders' Revolution! and Hard & Heavy With Marshmallow

I can take or leave him, myself - his influences are better than his own records - but I am impressed with "Tattler" and "He'll Have To Go," both of which he performed on a 1976 episode of Saturday Night Live (hosted by Dick Cavett). I've lately found myself popping this ep in the DVD player just to see/hear him do these two songs. They're on the recently-released second-season SNL DVD box.

i like that rising sons album, his band with taj mahal. garage-rock blues or whatever you'd call it.

Been listening to the The UFO Has Landed anthology lately. Worth pulling the trigger on if you see it used.

Also this article is kinda cool:
http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/11/23/travel/23Cooder.html

Is he on that Hot Spot soundtrack with Miles, Tim Drummond and John Lee Hooker? If so, search that!

Mr. Cooder’s own collection includes “The Best of Merle Travis: Sweet Temptation (1946-1953),” “Stratosphere Boogie: The Flaming Guitars of Speedy West and Jimmy Bryant (both at www.musicspace.com) and “Speedy West Featuring Jimmy Bryant: There’s Gonna Be a Party” (www.jasmine-records.co.uk).Mr. Cooder’s own collection includes “The Best of Merle Travis: Sweet Temptation (1946-1953),” “Stratosphere Boogie: The Flaming Guitars of Speedy West and Jimmy Bryant (both at www.musicspace.com) and “Speedy West Featuring Jimmy Bryant: There’s Gonna Be a Party” (www.jasmine-records.co.uk).

Was he in Kaleidoscope with David Lindley? No, I guess not. I guess that's the problem- Lindley has more of a weird original quality to him, whereas Cooder is more of a scholar of the various styles, like John Hammond, Jr. singing the Delta Blues. Although maybe I should sift through more of his discography to be fair.

dunno, some of his stuff might lean in that scholarly direction, but a couple of the early 70s records -- especially Boomer's Story -- are fantastic, country funk kinda things, in the mode of the Band or Dr. John or Allen Toussaint. Just fun records with great playing.

Seek Ceyleib People's Tanyet and Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band's Safe As Milk.

Is 'I flathead' any good?

I've long been a fan of Cooder's work soundtrack work (mostly for director Walter Hill), and many of the choice nuggets are compiled on the 1995 Music by Ry Cooder compilation. The two soundtracks that really belong in the library of any fan of slide guitar/pedal steel ambiance are:

Paris, Texas (1985)

Trespass Original Motion Picture Score (1992) Don't get the hip-hop soundtrack from the movie, they're quite different.

The Trespass score is not well known, but its an improvisational collaboration between Cooder on unusual slide instruments, including a 12 foot long floor pedal steel, and mutatrumpeter Jon Hassell (well known for his 80s 4th World work). It perfectly matches the feeling of entering a darkened warehouse on the bad side of town, and is probably the darkest thing in Cooder's discography.

Xgau gives it an honorable mention, xp

Was he in Kaleidoscope with David Lindley? No, I guess not.

Cooder, along with Taj Mahal, were in the Rising Sons. They were pretty darn good, even though their recordings weren't officially released until the early '90s, I believe. The Rising Sons were working on a fusion of Americana/British Invasion/garage that predated the whole roots rock movement of the late '60s by several years.

dunno, some of his stuff might lean in that scholarly direction, but a couple of the early 70s records -- especially Boomer's Story -- are fantastic, country funk kinda things, in the mode of the Band or Dr. John or Allen Toussaint. Just fun records with great playing.

I see Cooder as the rootsy brother to Randy Newman and Van Dyke Parks. All their records share a love for composition; it's just that Cooder loves Delta blues and old time more than the other two.

And yes, his early records are super good.

Taj Majal was on the back page of Time Out last week. He said even he had been criticized for Delta Blues purists because he was from the North. But, he said, "I was raised South."

yeah, i'd agree re: van dyke parks and randy newman -- and some of their collabs are great on Cooder's records. Parks' wacky string arrangement on "One Meatball" is a good one, and Newman's piano on "Rally Round the Flag" (I think) is another nice one. also worth anyone's time -- cooder's amazing instrumental version of "Dark End of the Street". yow!

OK, Ry C is not on the Hot Spot soundtrack, but Taj Majal is. Please search it anyway.

that's the jack nitzsche produced thing with john lee hooker and miles davis? only heard one track from that ... it sounds exactly like John Lee Hooker and Miles Davis playing together. another interesting one is the instrumental album with an Indian (?) musician named VM Bhatt, "Meeting By The River". I actually don't know much about it (or even what instrument Bhatt is playing!) but it's very nice, winding eastern-tinged stuff.

Yeah, that's it. Earl Palmer is on it too. There is a story that when they were doing that Miles went up to John Lee and said "You're the funkiest man alive! You're up to your neck in the mud"

Parks' wacky string arrangement on "One Meatball" is a good one

Agreed. And that's exactly what I was getting at. Cooder is into the blues, but on his early records he went for that kind of zany, Van Dyke thing as well. That version of "Pigmeat," also off his debut, is just so drunken and stumbling about.

Cooder, Parks and Newman all worked on the Everly Brothers' Roots album. The Beau Brummels should be mentioned here, too.

tell me about this ceyleib people LP, folks. should i buy it if i get the chance?

search A Meeting by the River, if you like spiritual guitar jams anyway

americana ragas

it's just really good

much better than it has any right to be

ry cooder is kinda underrated, isn't he?

can someone point me towards more great albums with tabla all over?

yeah I like that one.
Mahima album by Debashish Bhattacharya And Bob Brozman is similar, though not quite as languid.

alright, thanks!

Aside (because not much tabla as I recall): Debashish Bhattacharya's Calcutta Slide Guitar is great, too!

you had me at Calcutta Slide Guitar

Picked up "Rock's First All-Digital Recording", Bop Till You Drop, $4aud

ABOUT THIS DIGITAL RECORDING. This album was recorded on 3-M multi-track digital equipment which, rather than "modeling" sound into magnetism in the mode of conventional analog machines, samples sound at the rate of 50,000 times a second and records its characteristics numerically. Digital equipment can encode and play back from 20 cycles to over 20,000 cycles without noise and harmonic distortion produced by analog recordings. No generation loss, noise build-up, or loss of presence occurs with this form of recording through mixdown and tape transfers. The result is that music sounds cleaner, brighter and more dimensional. This record is essentially an exact copy of the master tape and was not treated with any equalizing or limiting during final transfer to disc.

The beginning and the end. Some stellar R&B covers. Cooder's sincere tongue permanently in cheek hits me exactly right

He was later prosecuted and fined $25,000 by U.S. authorities for his work on the Buena Vista Social Club, having broken the Trading with the Enemy Act, a clause that forms part of the ongoing United States embargo.[22]

never knew this!

I didn't know that either.

trading with the enemy, an erotic thriller starring tiffani amber thiessen

i must listen to more cooder btw. i played bop till you drop a fair bit last year after hearing the little sister cover in a pub. have always liked the paris texas soundtrack, gonna try some of the others recommended itt.

A Meeting by the River and Mambo Sinuendo both rule imo

Grew up with my dad playing his S/T debut a lot, that's a good one too.

lotta great stuff over the years but Rising Sons and Performance soundtrack are what i keep listening to

Hadn't heard A Meeting By The River before the last few days, loving it.

A Meeting by the River used to be my study music c. whenever that was. '95?