Ry Cooder-I, Flathead

Posted by: ewemon on 17 June 2008

New Ry Cooder due on the 24th June called I, Flathead. It is avaiable as a normal cd or a limited edition deluxe.



Here's what Amazon say about it.

Product Description
Ry Cooder’s I, Flathead, is the culmination of his ambitious and fascinating "California Trilogy," the last of three albums in which the singer and guitarist journeys through the real and imagined history of mid-20th century, multi-ethnic California, sampling the sounds of its barrios and byways, its nightclubs and honkytonks. He encounters the disenfranchised, the hopeful, the cheerfully strange and seriously nefarious, along with the occasional alien who races around in a souped-up flying saucer on the desert salt flats. On previous installments, Chávez Ravine (2005) and My Name Is Buddy (2007), learning the facts and stories behind Cooder’s songs made them even more compelling, whether it was the not-quite vanished legacy of the Chávez Ravine neighborhood of Los Angeles, bulldozed to make way for Dodger Stadium, or the allegorical, Bound For Glory-like adventures of Buddy Red Cat in a time of commie-baiting and union-busting. This time, however, no research is necessary: Cooder, a California native, has written a remarkable 104-page novella to accompany this disc, a surreally funny page-turner of a tale about itinerant musician Kash Buk and the various characters he meets in his travels out west, all of whom get to narrate parts of the story. If you mixed John Steinbeck with, say, Thomas Pynchon, and threw in a bit of Popular Mechanics for good measure, it might read something like the I, Flathead narrative.

Samples are up on their US site and sound to my ears really good.
Posted on: 17 June 2008 by nicnaim
Got the last two in this trilogy, so it is unlikely I will not be getting this as well Big Grin

Nic
Posted on: 17 June 2008 by naim_nymph
I think BBC Radio 4 played a bit of his new album in the early hours of the morning a few days ago, they were probably talking about him before playing a track. I missed what they said because I'd only just got in the car to drive home from work, but the track they played sounded a bit cheesy sleazy…
But one track of a Ry Cooder Album isn’t good for judgement.
Personally I find Chávez Ravine to be a brilliant album, and Buddy can be just as brilliant or perhaps slightly less so being more mood dependent.
I like Ry Cooder's music for it's wealth of cultural diversity, and he's a fabulous guy too.
With 10 Cooder albums on the shelve i can always find room for another so will put this I, Flathead on the wish list at least! : )

nymph
Posted on: 18 June 2008 by KTMax
Good tip Ewemon.
Posted on: 18 June 2008 by Blueknowz
Excellent review in the Observer Monthly Music on Sunday!