Ry Cooder is a musician’s musician. That’s the first thing you
\nhave to say about a guy whose talents are respected and diverse
\nenough to earn him studio time over the years with acts ranging
\nfrom Little Feat to Taj Mahal, not to mention stints supporting the
\nRolling Stones, John Hiatt and Gordon Lightfoot, and more
\nsoundtrack work than you can shake a stick at.<\/p>\n
What you can’t do is pin him down in one specific category of
\nmusic. Depending on his tastes and mood, previous solo albums might
\nfind him laying down some sweet slide on an R&B tune,
\nrearranging traditional Hawaiian folk songs, or reaching back to
\ncover the roots of rock and roll.<\/p>\n
This particular album grew out of Cooder’s work with the Buena
\nVista Social Club, an all-star group of Cuban musicians whose 1997
\nalbum captured the imagination of world music fans who have rarely
\ncaught a glimpse of that isolated country’s prodigious musical
\ntalent at work. His partner in this outing, recorded primarily in
\nHavana, is Cuban guitarist Manuel Galban, whose twangy, gently
\nswinging stylings meld Dick Dale, Don Ho and Herb Alpert into music
\nthat’s both otherworldly and joyous.<\/p>\n
There’s a uniquely exotic tone to this almost exclusively
\ninstrumental album; the music manages to be tropical and dusky at
\nthe same time. The pace is generally languid, but the rhythms are
\nsteady and intricate, with two drummers (session superstar Jim
\nKeltner and Cooder’s son Joachim) and multiple percussionists
\nsupporting Galban, Cooder and acoustic bass player Orlando
\n“Coachito” Lopez on most cuts.<\/p>\n
As with most instrumental albums, it’s all about atmospherics,
\nand this music, while it often swings and sometimes shimmies,
\ncarries undercurrents of both celebration and lamentation. The
\nisland vibe is thick in the tropical rhythms of tracks like “Drume
\nNegrita” and “Maria La O.” What’s fascinating is to hear them
\nblending beautifully with Latin rhythms as in “Caballo Viejo,”
\n“Bolero Sonambulo” and especially the foot-tapping title track,
\nwhich plays Cooder’s organ off against guest Herb Alpert’s trumpet
\nand some especially twangy lead work from Galban.<\/p>\n
A collision of styles makes other tracks especially memorable,
\nsuch as the frothy Latin-surf fusion of “Monte Adentro” and
\n“Patricia.” “Los Twangueros” features plenty of twang but also a
\nsinuous, polyrhythmic, almost psychedelic melody. That dreamy
\nquality is the true unifying element of the album, which is rich
\nwith island atmosphere and utterly devoid of flash.<\/p>\n
On the whole, this effort comes off as a loving homage in which
\ntwo veteran musicians sit down in a room and pretty much play
\nwhatever they feel like. The results, while not what you’d call
\nrousing, never fail to engage and entertain. This is mature,
\ndensely textured music, to be digested slowly over a long period of
\ntime.<\/p>\n
And yes, a straw hat, a cold drink and\/or a cigar might go
\nnicely\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":26341,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6827],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-37570","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-ry-cooder-manuel-galban","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37570\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37570"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37570"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}