Ry Cooder - Transmission Impossible (3 CD, 2017/FLAC)

Three discs of live recordings of Ry Cooder, taped throughout his impressive career.

Disc 1: live fm broadcast recorded at the Radio Ranch, Cleveland, OH, 12th December 1972

Disc 2: live fm broadcast recorded at the Record Plant, Sausalito, CA, 7th July 1974

Disc 3: live fm broadcast recorded at the Montreux Jazz Festival, Switzerland, 9th July 1990

Ray Cooder - Boomer's Story (1972/2017) [FLAC-HD]

Boomer’s Story is the third studio album by American roots rock musician Ry Cooder, released in 1972.

The title track was previously recorded as “The Railroad Boomer” by Bud Billings (aka Frank Luther) and Carson Robison in a performance recorded at the studio at Liederkranz Hall in New York on September 9, 1929 (Victor V-40139). Although it is credited on Cooder’s album as “traditional,” Robison was awarded a copyright and the song “can’t be shown to have circulated in oral tradition.” Gene Autry recorded it in December of the same year. In the 1930s the song was recorded for Decca Records by the Rice Brothers’ Gang, in 1939 by Roy Acuff & His Smoky Mountain Boys, in 1941 by Riley Puckett for RCA, and in the 1950s by Cisco Houston (as “The Rambler”) and by The New Lost City Ramblers, who included Cooder’s guitar teacher, Tom Paley.

 

Ry Cooder - 1970 - 1987 (11 CD, 2013/FLAC)

 Whether serving as a session musician, solo artist, or soundtrack composer, Ry Cooder's songwriting and chameleon-like fretted instrument expertise have led to a career spanning over nearly five decades. His work incorporates an incredibly eclectic range of musical styles, including Rock & Roll, Blues, Folk, Tex-Mex and R&B.

Famous for his slide guitar work, Ry Cooder has been highly ranked in both Rolling Stone magazine and Gibson s Greatest Guitarists of All Time polls. His talent has seen him collaborate with many noted musicians including Eric Clapton, The Rolling Stones, Van Morrison and Neil Young.

This neatly packaged box consists of 11 of Ry Cooder s albums from 1970 1987 in a compact boxset, including the first pop album digitally recorded for a major-label, Bop Till You Drop. 

1970 - Ry Cooder

1972 - Into The Purple Valley

1972 - Boomer's Story

1974 - Paradise & Lunch

1976 - Chicken Skin Music

1977 - Show Time

1978 - Jazz

1979 - Bop Till You Drop

1980 - Borderline

1982 - The Slide Area

1987 - Get Rhythm

 

Nicky Hopkins, Ry Cooder, Mick Jagger, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts - Jamming With Edward [1961,FLAC]

 

Jamming with Edward! is an album recorded by three members of The Rolling Stones with Nicky Hopkins and Ry Cooder at London's Olympic Studio during the Let It Bleed sessions of 1969, and released on Rolling Stones Records in 1972. Keith Richards had stormed out of the sessions for a few days in protest of producer Jimmy Miller's decision to bring Cooder in to beef up the guitars as Dave Mason did during the Beggars Banquet sessions.

On the strength of The Rolling Stones' association with the album, Jamming With Edward! reached #33 on the U.S charts, although it failed to reach the UK listings.
The eponymous Edward was pianist Nicky Hopkins, as in Edward the Mad Shirt Grinder, Hopkins' star turn on Quicksilver Messenger Service's album Shady Grove.

• Ry Cooder – guitar
• Mick Jagger – harmonica, vocals
• Charlie Watts – drums
• Nicky Hopkins – keyboards, piano
• Bill Wyman – bass guitar

Ry Cooder- Soundtracks [7 CD, 2014]

Seven-CD Ry Cooder box set , focusing on the guitarist’s soundtrack work from 1980s and early ’90s.

• The Long Riders, 
• Alamo Bay, 
• Paris, Texas, 
• Blue City, 
• Crossroads, 
• Johnny Handsome
• Trespass.

The set contains a number of soundtracks for director Walter Hill (1980′s The Long Riders being one) and a handful produced in a productive two year period with Alamo Bay, Blue City, Crossroads and Paris, Texas all issued in 1985-6.

When Harry Dean Stanton wanders across the bleached southwestern wasteland in the opening to Wim Winders' masterful film Paris, Texas, this laconic and haunting scene is set to the perfect music: Ry Cooder's bottleneck guitar adaptation of a Blind Willie Johnson blues song.

Wenders later said that he had the feeling the film was shot with a camera and a guitar, and that Cooder had created "sacred music".

The Paris, Texas album from 1985 is one of the finest film soundtracks, and is one of seven scores included in a new box set collection Ry Cooder: Soundtracks that also includes The Long Riders’ (1980), Music From Alamo Bay (1985), Blue City (1986), Crossroads (1986), Johnny Handsome (1989) and Trespass (1993).

The pairing with Wenders worked so well. There is a terrific version of Johnson's Dark Was The Night (Cold Was The Ground), and a memorable six-minute instrumental called She's Leaving the Bank, co-written by Cooder with Jim Dickinson. Cooder's incredibly atmospheric music helps make the film special but is also a treat to listen to just as an album of music.

Much of Cooder's best film score work has been done with director Walter Hill, especially on Hill’s re-invention of the Jesse James legend. Cooder said musician and director simply "understood one another", and it shows in the way Cooder provided a historically authentic score – using polkas, square dances, waltzes and other traditional tunes played by a small band that includes the peerless David Lindley on guitars and violin – to move away from the bombastic style that sometimes accompanies westerns. The soundtrack to The Long Riders is brief (36 minutes) but contains one of the most joyful tunes in Cooder's vast and distinguished repertoire: Seneca Square Dance.

Cooder's career has been incredibly varied and has included playing with rock bands such as The Rolling Stones as well as revitalising Thirties folk, adapting Tex Mex and celebrating Cuban music. One of his finest blues albums came when he worked again with Hill on Crossroads, which is a musical tribute to Robert Johnson, and includes a contribution from the great Sonny Terry. There are fine guests, too, on Alamo Bay, including John Hiatt, David Hidalgo and Cesar Rosas.

Of course, some of the individual tracks on the various albums seem incongruous separated from the original film but there is plenty to enjoy on all seven records, whether with gentle instrumental tracks such as Billie and Annie from Blue City, or in the offbeat music of tracks such as Goose and Lucky from Trespass. It is a shame that Southern Comfort and The Border are not included in the choice of album.

Cooder has done 18 soundtracks in all but the 67-year-old said recently that he won't be doing any more film work. "Films make me sick now and if something makes me sick I back off," he said.

This set is a fine reminder of his magnificent legacy of film work.


CD1 The Long Riders:

01 - The Long Riders
02 - I'm a Good Old Rebel
03 - Seneca Square Dance
04 - Archie's Funeral (Hold to God's Unchanging Hand)
05 - I Always Knew That You Were the One
06 - Rally 'Round The Flag
07 - Wildwood Boys
08 - Better Things to Think About
09 - Jesse James
10 - Cole Younger Polka
11 - Escape From Northfield
12 - Leaving Missouri
13 - Jesse James

CD2 Paris, Texas:

01 - Paris, Texas
02 - Brothers
03 - Nothing Out There
04 - Canci¢n Mixteca
05 - No Safety Zone
06 - Houston in Two Seconds
07 - She's Leaving the Bank
08 - On the Couch
09 - I Knew These People
10 - Dark Was the Night

CD3 Alamo Bay:

01 - Theme From Alamo Bay
02 - Gooks On Main Street
03 - Too Close
04 - Klan Meeting
05 - Sailfish Evening
06 - The Last Stand
07 - Quatro vicios
08 - Search & Destroy
09 - Glory

CD4 Crossroads:

01 - Crossroads
02 - Down In Mississippi
03 - Cotton Needs Pickin'
04 - Viola Lee Blues
05 - See You In Hell, Blind Boy
06 - Nitty Gritty Mississippi
07 - He Made A Woman Out Of Me
08 - Feelin' Bad Blues
09 - Somebody's Callin' My Name
10 - Willie Brown Blues
11 - Walkin' Away Blues

CD5 Blue City:

01 - Blue City Down
02 - Elevation 13 ft.
03 - True Believers (Marianne)
04 - Nice Bike
05 - Greenhouse
06 - Billy and Annie
07 - Pops and Timer (Tell Me Something Slick)
08 - Blue City
09 - Dont Take Your Guns to Town
10 - A Leader of Men
11 - Not Even Key West

CD6 Johnny Handsome:

01 - Main Theme
02 - I Can't Walk This Time
03 - Angola
04 - Clip Joint Rhumba
05 - Sad Story
06 - Fountain Walk
07 - Cajun Metal
08 - First Week At Work
09 - Greasy Oysters
10 - Smells Like Money
11 - Sunny's Tune
12 - I Like Your Eyes
13 - Adios Donna
14 - Cruising With Rafe
15 - How's My Face
16 - End Theme

CD7 Trespass:

01 - Video Drive-By
02 - Trespass (Main Title)
03 - East St. Louis
04 - Orgill Bros.
05 - Goose And Lucky
06 - You Think It's On Now
07 - Solid Gold
08 - Heroin
09 - Totally Boxed In
10 - Give 'Em Cops
11 - Lucy In The Trunk
12 - We're Rich
13 - King Of The Street
14 - Party Lights