Search - Ry Cooder :: I, Flathead

I, Flathead
Ry Cooder
I, Flathead
Genres: Country, Pop, Rock
 
  •  Track Listings (14) - Disc #1

Ry Cooder?s I, Flathead, is the culmination of his ambitious and fascinating "California Trilogy," the last of three albums in which the singer and guitarist journeys through the real and imagined history of mid-20th centu...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: Ry Cooder
Title: I, Flathead
Members Wishing: 4
Total Copies: 0
Label: Nonesuch
Original Release Date: 1/1/2008
Re-Release Date: 6/24/2008
Genres: Country, Pop, Rock
Styles: Roadhouse Country, Western Swing, Country Rock, Roots Rock
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 075597990058

Synopsis

Amazon.com
Ry Cooder?s I, Flathead, is the culmination of his ambitious and fascinating "California Trilogy," the last of three albums in which the singer and guitarist journeys through the real and imagined history of mid-20th century, multi-ethnic California, sampling the sounds of its barrios and byways, its nightclubs and honkytonks. He encounters the disenfranchised, the hopeful, the cheerfully strange and seriously nefarious, along with the occasional alien who races around in a souped-up flying saucer on the desert salt flats. On previous installments, Chávez Ravine (2005) and My Name Is Buddy (2007), learning the facts and stories behind Cooder?s songs made them even more compelling, whether it was the not-quite vanished legacy of the Chávez Ravine neighborhood of Los Angeles, bulldozed to make way for Dodger Stadium, or the allegorical, Bound For Glory-like adventures of Buddy Red Cat in a time of commie-baiting and union-busting. This time, however, no research is necessary: Cooder, a California native, has written a remarkable 104-page novella to accompany this disc, a surreally funny page-turner of a tale about itinerant musician Kash Buk and the various characters he meets in his travels out west, all of whom get to narrate parts of the story. If you mixed John Steinbeck with, say, Thomas Pynchon, and threw in a bit of Popular Mechanics for good measure, it might read something like the I, Flathead narrative.

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CD Reviews

5 Star Slide phenom
Tahoe Turk | Birmingham, Al | 08/16/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you aren't well versed with Ry Cooder's music, you can be fairly certain that you'll get great music no matter which album of his you buy. This is the final of a trilogy about Los Angeles in the first half of the 20th century. Each has tells the story of the city and it's people. First was the album 'Chavez Ravine', the family oriented hispanic neighborhood cleared out to build Dodger Stadium. The second, 'My name is Buddy', is a fabulous ride through depression era migration and American socialism. If allegory leaves you cold, just enjoy the music. This album, 'I Flathead' is the final of the trio. If you really want a treat, the CD versions of Buddy and Flathead each include a very cool, small graphic novel within the CD case to accompany the album. Ry is one of our finest Musicologist and maybe the best slide player alive. (though Sonny Landreth is fabulous)."