Ry Cooder's latest Nonesuch release, I, Flathead, receives four stars from The Independent (UK). The Philadelphia Daily News gives the album an A, with reviewer Jonathan Takiff finding Ry "really in his element," and the Hartford Courant's rock critic Eric R. Danton says Ry's "outdone himself." Pasadena Weekly sums up the new album and the accompanying novella as "a juicy celebration of hot rods, desert rats, sci-fi, and So Cal culture."
Ry Cooder's latest Nonesuch release, I, Flathead, receives four stars from The Independent (UK). The third in a trilogy of California-focused albums that includes Cooder's previous album, My Name Is Buddy, and what reviewer Andy Gill calls "the superb Chavez Ravine," the new album tells the tale of a in mid-century car culture in the Golden State. He describes it this way:
Accompanied by a 95-page novella, the result is a diversely detailed portrait of outlaw spirits in a land of shrinking opportunities, where lives are built on dreamy foundations, and broken by disillusion. The trilogy offers an alternative history of a state which prizes myths and fanciful lies over stark reality.
To read the full review, visit independent.co.uk.
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The Philadelphia Daily News gives the album an A. Reviewer Jonathan Takiff says that with I, Flathead, Ry "is really in his element." Takiff finds much to like in the project's "deliciously twisted tales ... Better yet," he continues, "this killer guitarist is rocking his box like we haven't heard him do in eons." He also praises the album's "glorious tributes to country greats, including the most-amazing '5000 Country Music Songs' ..." For the complete review, visit philly.com.
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The Hartford Courant's rock critic Eric R. Danton says Ry's "outdone himself" with the new CD and accompanying novella. Danton sees the project as "an elegy for that unique American do-it-yourself weirdness increasingly crowded out by interconnectivity and cultural homogenization." All is not lost though, he concludes: "Fortunately, a hint of that old America lingers on, and Ry Cooder is one of those rare individualists who helps keep it going." To read the review, visit courant.com.
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Pasadena Weekly counts Ry among "a threatened species: a bona fide Los Angeleno," something reflected in his California trilogy. The paper sums up I, Flathead as "a juicy celebration of hot rods, desert rats, sci-fi, and So Cal culture," and goes on to say:
The real value of Flathead is in how its often playfully amusing content thrives on truthful context; Cooder’s an avid historian of California’s constantly rewritten past, and few peers exhibit surer grasp of the myriad musical forms ... that have recorded its cultural evolution. As he did so masterfully in the more Latin-sounding Chavez Ravine, in the sounds and scenarios of Flathead he gets it right: Bakersfield-style twang, dirty blues guitar, lighthearted Western swing, mariachi’s romantic harmonies (courtesy of Mariachi Los Camperos), the lovable kitschiness of midcentury rock ’n’ roll style ...
Having explored North American music ... over four-plus decades, and with numerous awards and accolades under his belt for boundary-crossing collaborations with global legends like the late Ali Farka Toure and Cuba’s Buena Vista Social Club, Cooder’s ideally situated to comment on how those musical traditions have been distilled within our dynamic culture. The world he recreates in his trilogy is California.
For more, visit pasadenaweekly.com.
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