fri 22/11/2024

CD: Ry Cooder - Election Special | reviews, news & interviews

CD: Ry Cooder - Election Special

CD: Ry Cooder - Election Special

Ornery old coot nails his colours to the mast in election year

Righteous liberal-left anger: Ry Cooder places his vote

Ry Cooder is an unpredictable quantity. He’s a prickly, opinionated old coot who doesn’t seem the type to pass a night in the pub with. He’d probably not get your jokes and moan about the Rolling Stones nicking his songs. His musical output is equally tricksy.

For every fab film soundtrack (Paris, Texas, Southern Comfort, The Long Riders) or Buena Vista Social Club, there’s some less loveable tangential whim, such as his Buddy concept album, about a cat and a toad.

However, there’s little doubt Keith Richards did find a golden seam of new songwriting via Cooder in the early Seventies, or that Cooder is an extraordinary guitarist with a broad musical vision. Even better, his latest album protests directly and angrily at the state of US politics. In tone it’s a sequel to Neil Young’s anti-Bush Living with War album. Cooder, over raw blues, lays out his righteous liberal-left anger in songs such as the self-explanatory “Mutt Romney Blues” and the excellent anti-Tea Party sneer of “Going to Tampa”. It’s less riveting when he amps up the blues-rock aspect, as on “The Wall Street Part of Town”, but wins out when he pares back to raw blues, such as the Spartan, spooked “Cold Cold Feeling”, which imagines a beleaguered Obama pacing the Oval Office at night. Woody Guthrie is also a reference pount – the anti-war “The 90 and the 9” is full of folky ire.

The album closes with a direct plea to “get your hands off my Bill of Rights” which has something of Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World” about it. Musically it’s not brilliant but, by the time the listener reaches it, Cooder’s well-directed fury, observational smarts and passionate upset at the state of his country have done their work. It would be a great thing if more and younger artists were making music like this.

It would be a great thing if more and younger artists were making music like this

rating

Editor Rating: 
4
Average: 4 (1 vote)

Share this article

Add comment

The future of Arts Journalism

 

You can stop theartsdesk.com closing!

We urgently need financing to survive. Our fundraising drive has thus far raised £33,000 but we need to reach £100,000 or we will be forced to close. Please contribute here: https://gofund.me/c3f6033d

And if you can forward this information to anyone who might assist, we’d be grateful.

Subscribe to theartsdesk.com

Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.

To take a subscription now simply click here.

And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?

newsletter

Get a weekly digest of our critical highlights in your inbox each Thursday!

Simply enter your email address in the box below

View previous newsletters