This mid-'60s curio would have served as an introduction to two remarkable musicians had it not been buried in the vaults at Columbia Records from 1966 until 1992. Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder were two of the unfortunate Sons, who were briefly an L.A. club phenomenon. Neither man was in full possession of his talent, and the album (produced by Terry Melcher of Byrds fame) is more rewarding as an ...
For all the laudatory work he's done in rediscovering a panoply of artists from roots-based musical genres, Cooder's attempt to pay homage to influences closer to home, namely 1950s rock and R&B, on Bop Till You Drop produced spotty results. While Arthur Alexander's "Go Home, Girl" and Cooder's own composition, "Down in Hollywood", are notable exceptions, most of the album suffers from ...
A rare solo outing from Ry Cooder, but don't expect the conventional `twelve unrelated songs' schtick that constitutes an album these days. For "Chavez Ravine" is a concept album about the eponymous area near Los Angeles that was torn down in the 1950's by developers to make way for the Dodgers Stadium. The attraction of this neighbourhood for Cooder is obviously its largely Hispanic population, ...