You can hear the Santa Ana winds sweeping through “The Way We Make a Broken Heart,” one of the many delights on Ry Cooder’s “Borderline” (1980). Doo-wop, Dixieland, Salsa and (snarling) slide guitar make for a rich gumbo. Pretty danceable stuff following a string of albums in which the inimitable Cooder deftly mined the blues (“Boomer’s Story”), evoked Dust Bowl America (“Into the Purple Valley”) and reworked vintage ragtime numbers (“Jazz”). Food-for-the-masses “Buena Vista Social Club,” which Cooder produced, is all well and good (and rather sleepy). But “Borderline” et al. are vintage Cooder; timeless material from my favorite Angeleno. Cooder has also scored several films, from the gripping (“Paris, Texas”) to the gooey (“Crossroads”).
2 comments:
Am always meaning to check out his early stuff. Love all that Buena Vista biz, would say it's sleepy in a lovely tropical kind of way. The Cachaito one is my fave.
I got Paris, Texas soundtrack on vinyl for $1.00 at a stoop sale one time, and it has gotten a lot of rotation over the yeras. Good late night chill out music.
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