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Chavez Ravine
 
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Chavez Ravine

~ Ry Cooder
4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
Price: £7.98 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
Usually dispatched within 7 to 11 days.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk. Gift-wrap available.

30 new from £7.98 13 used from £4.91
Buy the MP3 album for £7.98 at the Amazon MP3 Downloads store.

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Chavez Ravine + I, Flathead + My Name Is Buddy
Price For All Three: £24.34

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  • This item: Chavez Ravine ~ Ry Cooder

    Usually dispatched within 7 to 11 days.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

  • I, Flathead ~ Ry Cooder

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    Eligible for FREE UK delivery on orders over £5 with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

  • My Name Is Buddy ~ Ry Cooder

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

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Product details

  • Audio CD (13 Jun 2005)
  • Number of Discs: 1
  • Label: Nonesuch
  • ASIN: B0009353IW
  • Other Editions: MP3 Download
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 5,034 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

    Popular in these categories:

    #17 in  Music > Blues > Instruments > Slide Guitar
    #33 in  Music > Jazz > Latin Jazz
    #47 in  Music > World & Folk > Cuban & Latin

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Listen to Samples and Buy MP3s

Songs from this album are available to purchase as MP3s. Click on "Buy MP3" or view the MP3 Album.

Extraits
Song Title Time Price
Listen  1. Poor Man's Shangri-La 5:25£0.69
Listen  2. Onda Callejera 3:50£0.69
Listen  3. Don't Call Me Red 4:58£0.69
Listen  4. Corrido de Boxeo 3:21£0.69
Listen  5. Muy Fifi 4:03£0.69
Listen  6. Los Chucos Suaves 3:08£0.69
Listen  7. Chinito Chinito 4:52£0.69
Listen  8. 3 Cool Cats 2:57£0.69
Listen  9. El U.F.O. Cayo 8:22£0.69
Listen10. It's Just Work for Me 5:54£0.69
Listen11. In My Town 5:40£0.69
Listen12. Ejercito Militar 3:16£0.69
Listen13. Barrio Viejo 4:42£0.69
Listen14. 3rd Base, Dodger Stadium 5:45£0.69
Listen15. Soy Luz y Sombra 3:12£0.69

Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review
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, which is explicitly echoed in the music that tells the story.

Linking his past solo work with his famed Buena Vista Social Club projects, Cooder delivers his story amidst lazy Cuban percussion, rolling piano, mariachi horns and of course, his understated guitar playing. Of course there are still surprises; the schizophrenia of "Don’t Call Me Red"; half ballad, half frenetic percussion and television narration being the biggest and best. With a large cast of vocal talents, including the legendary Little Willie G of The Midniters, and Cooder’s own contributions (which end up sounding not unlike Steely Dan fronted by John Sebastian), the album as a whole is extremely effective and succeeds in every department, evoking the kind of atmosphere aimed for. --Thom Allott

CD Description
After spending time producing various members of the Buena Vista Social Club, Ry Cooder has returned to the United States with 'Chavez Ravine'. Essentially a concept album, Cooderhas taken inspiration from a rundown Mexican part of Los Angeles that was bulldozed in the early 1950's and replaced with the LA Dodgers' baseball stadium. The album sees Cooder resurrect street songs from the era, as well as writing his own compositions with help from singing talent that lived in the 'Chavez Ravine' area.

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Customer Reviews

20 Reviews
5 star:
 (12)
4 star:
 (5)
3 star:
 (2)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (20 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Master Cooder's Latest Gem of American Music, 22 Jun 2005
By Juan Mobili (Valley Cottage, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
I will begin by declaring my enormous respect and love for Cooder's music. Ever since Chicken Skin Music -ironically, another beauty honoring the Mexican influence on American music- Cooder has been one of the "saints of my devotion," as my father used to say.
In Chavez Ravine, an album he's been working on for about three years, Cooder researched the disappearance of an area of Los Angeles, and long-standing Mexican community, that was erased to make way for what would become Dodgers Stadium.
The album that has resulted from his interest is, then, a political statement about the legacy of Joe McCarty, an elegy about old neighborhoods paved over by a twisted sense of progress, and an amazing group of songs showing the deep gift of Mexican-American music.
With the same cool touch and deep affection that Cooder already demonstrated for Malian music (Talkin' Timbuktu) and Cuban grooves (Mambo Sinuendo and Buena Vista Social Club), Ry gathered a host of incredible Mexican-American musicians from the Fifties, to invoke the spirit of this story.
Ersi Arbizu, Lalo Guerrero, Don Tosti and Little Willie G. -all great performers, most of which may be unknowns to most of us- take turns singing songs that conjure up the longings, loves and betrayals from the Chavez Ravine odyssey.
Now, let's be clear, do not think this is ethnographic research for the Smithsonian archives or a dry document of music gone by.
This album grooves ("Poor Man's Shangri-La" or "Onda Callejera") and gets down ("Muy Fifi" and "3 Cool Cats") as well as it will move you with some slow burners ("It's Just Work For Me") and beautiful ballads ("In My Town," "3rd Base, Dodgers Stadium" and "Soy Luz Y Sombra").
In conclusion, this is some of the most soulful music you may come across this year. It proves, too, that you can move your body with abandon and reflect on serious issues at once.
Meaning and grooving, with passion and concern, master Cooder takes us for another ride through the real America, where great and forgotten voices get to sing aloud again.
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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars It's not the Buena Vista Social Club - thankfully, 28 Dec 2005
By MisterKeith (Southgate, London, England) - See all my reviews
  
I make no claim to be a Ry Cooder fan. I don't know much about him or his work. I bought this album having read an interview with Mr Cooder somewhere, and I thought it sounded vaguely interesting.

"Vaguely interesting" does not do this justice. This could easily have been an historical document that I'd listen to once, nod, stroke my beard, and put away, never to be heard again.

That ain't gonna be happening.

This is a living, breathing record, full of soul, vitality, and great tunes. I put it on, listened, then it put it straight back on again. Hell, if it can make me get up and dance around my living room, it's doing something right.

The Buena Vista Social Club was awesome - this is Cooder using regional music in a vastly different way, and it works perfectly.

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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Anti-Pop, 20 Jul 2005
By R. Kirkpatrick "raymondliz" (Edinburgh) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
If you are looking for a nice safe pop album, then avoid this like the plague.Cooders style has never been mainstream, and his new album an eclectic hybrid mix of different styles held together by a narative about an area of LA bulldozed in the name of progress.Cooders style has never been safe, but it has always been authentic, in a world where any idiot with a hit album is hailed as a "genius" he just might be the real deal.His new album is both angry and nostalgic, it is a difficult listen but worthwhile, it is a work by an artist that cares about his craft, it is totally unique.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars It ain't what ya think.....
....it's going to be. That is ....it isn't Buena Vista Social Club, it isn't Ibrahim Ferrer, it isn't Ali Farka Toure, it isn't Flaco Jimenez. Read more
Published 21 months ago by K. N. Tole

5.0 out of 5 stars A colourful addition to a varied career

In 2005, Cooder released Chavez Ravine, his first solo album since 1987's Get Rhythm.

Although Ryland Cooder has made a career of bringing bygone days back to... Read more
Published on 9 Jun 2007 by jayhikkss

5.0 out of 5 stars A good one
Mention 'concept album' and rock'n roll and you'd be forgiven for running a mile. Being a Cooder fan, there was no way I'd not buy it, especially as I like the cojunto texmex... Read more
Published on 5 Mar 2007 by G. V. Cherian

3.0 out of 5 stars Historical documnt
I loved the opening track and as I have listened to the album more it grows on me. There are a few echoes of Bueno Vista Social Club where elderly singers croak through their... Read more
Published on 16 Aug 2006 by S. Holt

1.0 out of 5 stars You can't dance to it.
I am disappointed at having bought this cd, and finding an album that is unlike any other of Ry's works. For me, it is hard going and quirky. Read more
Published on 23 Jul 2006 by Peter A. Woodford

4.0 out of 5 stars A fresh breath of Ry
It's good to hear the mans voice again, Get Rhythm was a long time ago. He's used some of the same people from as far back as "Showtime" and that unique sound of slow beats,... Read more
Published on 3 April 2006 by Mixin' rice n peas-

5.0 out of 5 stars A masterpiece!
This is the best album I've ever heard in my life. I literally can't stop listening to it. Read more
Published on 21 Jan 2006 by yousrekh

3.0 out of 5 stars Similar approach to Paul Simon
I am not a real fan of Ry Cooder but I do like most of his work, I still think Paris Texas is one of the great movies of the last decades and his music surely helped the movie in... Read more
Published on 21 Oct 2005 by Jack DeBokx

4.0 out of 5 stars Ry Cooder, le révélateur
Ry Cooder, après nous avoir fait découvrir, entre autres, les trésors de la musique cubaine, s'investit dans ce disque pour nous reveler les talents de la musique "Chicano", des... Read more
Published on 19 Oct 2005 by Hatem Mahbouli

5.0 out of 5 stars Chavez Ravine
Ry Cooder has always had a love of "tex mex" style music and on this album he recounts the story of how hispanics were moved out of their homes to make way for the new Dodgers... Read more
Published on 7 Oct 2005 by Alan Gent

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