best Ry Cooder....

[randy_mc]

hi guys,

what's the best Ry Cooder album to check out his slide playing?

thanks,

randy

[Durtdog]

"Bop 'til You Drop" is one of my favorites. About 1978 or so. Just about any of them are good. Also check out Little Village. It was a band of Ry, John Hiatt, Jim Keltner and Nick Lowe.

[Echorec]

Any Cooder album would be great. My favorites are:

Boomer's Story
Into the Purple Valley
Paradise and Lunch
Ry Cooder (eponymous)

[Monster Mike Welch]

All of those are good - also, check out Hiatt's "Bring the Family" which has tons of great Ry all over it - in fact, it's got more of his electric bottleneck than most if not all of his own records.

M

[FMA]

Ry's playing on this record is incredible. Also check out Terry Evan's Blues for Thought. Ry's all over that record and plays some monster stuff.
Also, Mambo Sinuendo with Manuel Galban is terrific record.

[chipl]

are Into the Purple Valley
and
Bop Till You Drop.

But all his early Warner Brothers recordings are good, IMO.

[Charlie Bernstein]

honestly. you can't miss.

hm. now that i think about it, the soundtrack for "paris, texas" is about as good as a slide album can get. you might check out some of his other movie soundtracks, too - i like "blue city" and "crossroads" a lot.

and now i'm gonna truck on over to amazon and see if they have a used "paris, texas" on the block...

[yegbert]

Find a copy of the movie Southern Comfort. He has a few tunes on there with slide that are excellent, and set the mysterious tone for the movie. It's a classic of a movie and you get to hear some authentic Cajun music as well.

The only recording other than the movie that I've found with those slide tunes from that movie, is his 2-disc collection, music by Ry Cooder. I have it too and it's all good.

Chicken Skin Music is probably my favorite Cooder album. Nice songs.

He played slide on a couple of songs on Crazy Horse's debut album.

[Jim W]

I agree Ry Cooder's playing is excellent on all of Terry Evan's CDs except the "live" which is not on - Jesse Samsel is and is very good. Ry also is on the Bobby King and Terry Evans CD "live and let live".

Jim

[Jean-Baptiste]

My favorite Ry album is the one he likes the least; "Jazz". Tho' not exclusively slide playing, every tune is great. Essentially a collection of music from the 1920s written by luminaries such as Bix Biederbeck, it was apparently very difficult to play. After one show at Carnegie Hall, he has never performed any of these tunes since. He's supported on this disc by some of the greatest jazz musicians, such as Earl 'Fatha' Hines, and it's truly a 'desert island' record.

[Davey265]

Great electric slide on the title track, "I can tell by the way you smell" and "Gonna Ball". Virtuoso acoustic slide on "13 question method".

All that plus "Across the Borderline" . . . now where did I put that tape?

Dave

[Paul in Colorado]

Besides the stuff with John Hyatt, I like Slide Area and Get Rhythm a lot. Bop 'til You Drop is excellent too. Ry Cooder AND David Lindley!
The Paris, Texas and Long Riders soundtracks are worth seeking out as well.

The solo on Lipstick Sunset on Bring the Family is worth the price of admission.

[DAK]

Agree with Davey265 on "Get Rhythm," but check out the "Paris, Texas" soundtrack, too. Better yet, get his double-disc compilation from a few years ago.

LA Times Calendar section ran a great story on Ry and his new project last Sunday.

[randy_mc]

Thanks for the replies!
I guess I'll start with the Bring the Family cd. Isn't he playing a lot of world music type things nowadays? Is that any good?

Randy

[Iain]

Fabulous live album, great band, utterly brilliant version of "Dark End of the Street", which features a terrific extended slide solo.

Not so keen on his recent stuff - wish he'd stand up in front of an electric band and sing again, really!

[Joel Terry]

I've always been partial to Paradise And Lunch and The Crossroads Soundtrack (for Ry's slide tune, "Feelin' Bad Blues"--it's worth the price of admission alone).

Joel

[Bob Mc]

Feelin Bad Blues is a Ry Primer!

And don't fear the World Music tag, Meeting By the River and teh Ali Farke (sp??) albums are awe inspiring.

[Twin Reiver]

My favorite is the Paris, Texas soundtrack that he did with Jim Dickinson. It is all acoustic and based around the musical theme in "Dark Was the Night" by Blind Willie Johnson, which to me is one of the most beautiful and powerful slide guitar pieces ever recorded. It is all acoustic, though, so it's not really that hot "Memo from Turner" style Stones electric slide (which he is also great on). Every time I listen to that Paris, Texas though, I'm just floored.

[chipl]

I've been enjoying Mambo Sinuendo by Ry and the Cuban (?) guitarist Manuel Galban a lot lately. At first i resisted getting the CD thinking that it would be too exotic for my limited tastes, but I was pleasantly surprised to find it lovely, lilting music that's perfect for a sunny spring or summer afternoon. There are a couple of cuts that actually sound like slow sultry surf music, with a Cuban/Caribbean flavor.

Looks like Ry Cooder has a new one coming next month called Chavez Ravine.

[jkats]

I'll second "Showtime" as one of the best Ry Cooder recordings -- it mixes blues, R&B, soul, country and norteno music in one live recording. All of the early Warner Bros. recordings also are stellar.

[DAK]

should be out this summer. He's been working on it a long time. It's a mix of the Latino and R&B music that was prevalent in some L.A. neighborhoods during the forties and fifties. Guests on the album include Lalo Guerrera, who was regarded as the father of Chicano music and who passed away recently.

I'm looking forward to hearing it.

[muddy888]

Taj Mahal's self titled debut has Ry all over it.
Plus 'Sister Morphine" by the Stones

My favorite is Viglante Man on Purple Valley

[heavysetrecords]

Some of my favorite Ry Cooder playing was on the soundtrack to Mick Jagger's movie Performance. The one track that really stands out is Memo From Turner, it is some of my favorite slide on record. The Stones released their own version on the album Metamorphosis later, but it doesn't hold a candle to the version on Performance.

[TG]

Originally Posted by Davey265

Great electric slide on the title track, "I can tell by the way you smell" and "Gonna Ball". Virtuoso acoustic slide on "13 question method".

All that plus "Across the Borderline" . . . now where did I put that tape?

Dave

Get Rhythm is my favorite Ry Cooder CD too.

BTW...the song 'Get Rhythm' was written by Johnny Cash back in the Sun Records days. One of his first songs. He wrote it for Elvis but ended up doing it himself.