I, Flathead Limited Deluxe Edition

Comment: I have loved Ry Cooder for decades, but his wanderings all over the globe and back have not improved his music. He is a wonderful, entertaining, joyous musician. I once saw him in Glasgow, in 1995, playing with David Lindley plus Ry's son and David's daughter. Truly a moment which will jump out in my memory forever. If Elvis could have heard Ry play All Shook Up, I believe he would have been jealous.

Comment: Ok, I don't actually have this Ry Cooder album yet, but once around with the samples and
I'm comfortable giving it five stars. But I'm biased, still digesting "Chavez Ravine,"
which just continually reveals itself in new ways to me, after dozens and dozens of listens.
I could spend some time reading any given article about Chavez Ravine
and say "Wow, how sad..." and then it's gone, maybe to bring up again while watching
Jeopardy sometime. But now I feel it, hear it, see it, even sympathize with the bulldozer driver
laying waste to a vibrant community as people are dragged from their homes...he wasn't
the one that railroaded a new baseball stadium through City Hall to be built there,
it was just his job to level what they told him to. The whole thing has come alive in my head and
won't leave easily--few albums do that. And as sad as the story is, the album (CR) is upbeat,
almost hopeful, in strange ways. I think you listen to Chavez Ravine a few times or a
hundred times, but probably not a lot in between. So I quickly breezed through all the
samples in "I, Flathead" and get a similar feeling about it, that it will be big in my head for quite
some time--so I'm holding off for awhile, until I put away CR. One Ry Cooder concept album
at a time. Anyway, I'm immediately reminded of another album that has to go with this group,
and that's Tom Russell's "Hot Walker," which also feels like a movie playing in your head that
you don't want to stop watching. Check it out.

Comment: I was disappointed in this album, especially after reading so many glowing reviews. Musically it covers almost no new ground for Cooder, and the old ground he has covered better before.

What really weighs the songs down is the hokey singing style and less-than-genius lyrics. I'd have been happy with the music alone. The only set of words that penetrated even slightly, for me, was Can I Smoke In Here, which encapsulates Cooder's quasi-dadaist side well. I would suppose he's shooting for that in some of the other songs in this concept album, but always falls short of the target.

Those who have been with Ry since the beginning (I first saw you perform as a solo opening act for Beefhart in 69) would to hear something that really breaks it open again for us and for Ry again, the way Chicken Skin Music and Paradise & Lunch once did.

Just my opinion, based on my tastes, of course. I'm glad so many folks enjoy this album, wish I could but there are other musicians out there doing this better, some of them without even resorting to (bad) lyrics, ie Calexico.

And if this is as good as it's gonna get, Ry, hey you had a great run anyway. Seriously, hats off. But I think you still have it in you to get wild with it again.

Comment: Ry Cooder has been a favorite of mine since the early days. I bought this limited edition thang not knowing what to expect, but pretty sure that I'd like the music. Well, I decided to read the book first to frame the songs when I got to them. I got really wrapped up in the book and looked forward to reading a little bit of it each night, savoring the experience of time traveling back to the era described with its odd scenarios. After a week of reading after work, I almost forgot about the CD that came with the book. I was disappointed when the book ended, I wanted to read more, but then gave the CD a listen. It dovetailed nicely with the book and it now allows me to revisit the parts of the book in grittier detail and atmosphere. This is a cool combo. Definitely get the book/CD combo if you are a Cooder-head!

Comment: Ry Cooder at his best. All the best descriptives - creativity, sound, rock & roll at it's best, etc. Simply music at its best.