Ry Cooder - Crazy About An Acoustic Guitar '2014

Tracks list

Tracklist

01. Too Tight Blues No. 2
02. FDR In Trinidad
03. The Tattler
04. Crazy About An Automobile
05. I Can Tell By The Way You Smell
06. Kentucky Blues
07. One Meatball
08. How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live
09. Preacher
10. Vigilante Man
11. Police Dog Blues
12. Comin' In On A Wing And A Prayer
13. Tuning - Song Intro
14. Great Dream From Heaven
15. Tuning - Song Intro
16. Floating Bridge
17. Tuning - Song Intro
18. Floating Bridge
19. Billy The Kid
20. Diddy Wah Diddy
21. Jesus Is On The Mainline
22. Going To Brownsville

The Bottom Line, New York City, NY – May 16, 1974 – Too Tight
Blues No.2, FDR In Trinidad, The Tattler, Crazy About An Automobile, I Can Tell
By The Way You Smell, Kentucky Blues, One Meatball, How Can A Poor Man Stand
Such Times And Live, Preacher, Vigilante Man

WMMS FM Broadcast, “Radio Ranch”, Cleveland, OH – December
12, 1972 – Police Dog Blues, Comin’ In On A Wing And A Prayer,
Tuning/Song Intro, Great Dream From Heaven, Tuning/Song Intro, Clean Up At Home,
Tuning/Song Intro, Folding Bridge, Billy The Kid, Diddy Wah Diddy, Jesus Is On
The Mainline, Going To Brownsville

Ry Cooder’s multi-genre style mostly spans blues, country, gospel, folk,
and calypso but ultimately knows no boundries. The late 60’s saw Ry as a
session man and collaborator to many talents such as The Rolling Stones, Randy
Newman, and Lowell George to name just a few. He is even rumored to have shown
Keith Richards his 5-string open G tuning that Keith lives by now during these
late 60’s sessions.

The main portion of the disc was recorded at The Bottom Line in New York and
features a solo performance that comes from an excellent crystal clear
soundboard recording. A master of fingerstyle and downright dangerous with a
slide, only his vocal lacks a bit but is good enough to accomplish exactly what
he was after. What Ry delivers is no less than an amazing acoustic performance
touching upon many acoustic styles. The show borders on what would now be
considered a “Storytellers” type of concept. He shares an intimate
rapport with the crowd and certainly captures the attention of those in his
presence. He was releasing his forth LP, Paradise And Lunch, this month but only
includes “Tattler” in this particular performance. A good portion of
his material always included interpretations of traditional folk and
“roots music”.

His mandolin playing on “Kentucky Blues” is incredible and other
highlights from the show include “TooTight Blues No. 2”,
“Crazy About An Automobile”, “I Can Tell By The Way You
Smell”, a humorous “One Meatball”, and an eight minute
“How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live”.

This show was previously featured on the bootleg Travelin’ Man (Gold
Standard) but this particular stereo version is reported to be superior to any
previous release but slightly less complete missing “Billy The Kid”,
“Diddy Wah Diddy”, and “Going To Brownsville”.

The second half of the disc is taken from the WMMS FM Broadcast “Radio
Ranch” from Cleveland, Ohio on December 12th, 1972. The sound quality is
very good soundboard, although inferior to The Bottom Line gig. This broadcast
is used to fill out the disc and doesn’t contain the complete tape. It is
missing “Tattler”, “You’re Gonna Need Somebody On Your
Bond”, “FDR In Trinidad”, and “Dark Was The
Night”.

This performance is similar in format to The Bottom Line where Ry tells a few
stories during his song introductions. This again comes from a nice solo
acoustic performance and Cooder is featured on mandolin for “Clean Up At
Home”, “Folding Bridge”, “Billy The Kid”, and
“Going To Brownsville”. There is a small drop-out at 2:09 in
“Comin’ In On A Wing And A Prayer” that appears to be the
only minor flaw in what is included from the broadcast.

Godfather’s choice of artists never ceases to amaze me and has catered to
the well rounded collector. These are both great recordings that definitely
deserve the Godfather treatment, especially The Bottom Line performance. This
comes packaged in the labels usual tri-fold cardboard sleeve with several
pictures of Cooder throughout and includes a short essay. This along with the
superb sound quality makes this a set definitely worth owning.

All publication of the user fantastik - IsraBox

Related artists