Paradise and Lunch

Paradise and Lunch, Ry Cooder

Ry Cooder was on a roll throughout the Seventies; releasing critically acclaimed albums such as Into the Purple Valley, Boomer's Story, Chicken Skin Music and the very first digitally recorded LP, 1979's Bop Till You Drop. My favorite record of this fertile period, however, is Paradise and Lunch, which appeared in 1974. Cooder's choice of material at this stage of his career was already quite eclectic, but perhaps not so exotic sounding to his primary audience as the Norteno, Hawaiian slack-keyed guitar, or Bix Beiderbecke selections which would characterize later works. With the exception of "Tattler", a gem, co-authored by Cooder, all songs on PaL are covers and all are redolent of an imaginary American past where R&B, Pop, Jazz, Blues, Gospel and Traditional styles had coalesced into a single quirky idiom. Throughout the disc, the utterly distinctive drumming of "Snakey" Jim Keltner is a constant and is the perfect compliment to Cooder's scraggly vocals. As always, RC's guitar playing is a miracle of concise soulfulness.
-David