Paradise & Lunch

All of Ry Cooder's music is exceptional. All of it. So picking his "best" record is a bit like picking Beethoven's best string quartet. Or Bob Dylan's best song. But this album is special. It's the kind of record that you mention to that new friend you discover whose taste is broad, deep and solid, who would recommend a record to you and you would just buy it unquestioningly because of the respect you have for the person's discriminating taste, and that person will look you in the eye with a knowing respect and say, "You know about 'Paradise and Lunch'?" And it will turn out to be on both your top 10 lists. Most people don't know about this record, but every time I meet that rare new person who really knows music but whose taste is not focused on just one area (you know, the guy who has every album Cecil Taylor made, but who has never heard of the Kronos Quartet), this one is on their short list of all-time favorites.

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I first encountered Ry Cooder in 1979 when I bought the first edition of The Rolling Stone Record Guide and despite my near poverty level pay as a high school teacher, proceeded to buy every 5-star album in the book. When I reached the C's and read about music archivist Ry Cooder and his masterpiece "Paradise and Lunch," I rushed out and bought it. It was everything they said it was. Stylistically, it may be all over the map, but every song is a classic. While I have since purchased all of Cooder's music, "Paradise" was the one that I went out and repurchased on CD. If I could only take ten albums to a desert island, this would definitely be one of them.

I wore out my original record of this long ago. It's my favorite Ry Cooder album, and I've got most of 'em. Why? Top notch, soulful playing and singing, and quirky songs that'll make you laugh! ("I got thrown out of church, for talkin' 'bout Diddy Wah Diddy too much...")It's not commercial stuff, but in a perfect world it would be. Great slide work and fine gospel backup singing. Guaranteed to make you feel good and put a smile on your face! A musician's choice!