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Ry Cooder (1970) (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Ry Cooder
  • Artist name: Ry Cooder
  • Year: 1970
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Reprise Records
  • Collection: Friedman
  • Buy it on Amazon: $125.77

Ry Cooder (1970)

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I don’t have any familiarity with Ry Cooder at all, as far as I know.

What I expected

Country rock.

What it was actually like

This was mostly blues, and all the songs except one were covers, but all of them were primarily about Cooder’s guitar skills.

A few low points were Available Space, the only original song, and Dark Is the Night, which were both quick instrumental jams rather than fully thought out songs.

I also was not very impressed by One Meat Ball, which I had to interpret as a novelty song due to its slightly goofily and atonally Oompa Loompa sound, and lyrics about someone who… could only afford one meatball in a restaurant[1].

Cooder’s version of Lead Belly’s song Pigmeat was also not great. I strongly disliked the horns that gave it a very unnecessarily cacophonous and Oompa Loompa sound[2].

A high point, on the other hand, was Do Re Mi, a rock reinterpration of the Woodie Guthrie song that was totally the same song but also totally different (and here is a hilarious Oompa Loompa version). I also loved How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?, another rock version of a folk classic with electric guitar solo.

Police Dog Blues was acoustic, with much more adventurous guitar than one would normally hear in a blues song like that, and Goin’ to Brownsville was similar (though I suspect that it might not have been about the Brownsville near me).

Grade

4/5: would listen again

References

References
↑1 For what it’s worth, Costco sells meatballs in tomato sauce in the refrigerated section, and they’re really good.
↑2 And if you’re only going to cover one Lead Belly song, why not choose Pick a Bale of Cotton?

The Resurrection of Pigboy Crabshaw by the Butterfield Blues Band (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: The Resurrection of Pigboy Crabshaw
  • Group name: the Butterfield Blues Band
  • Year: 1967
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Elektra Records
  • Collection: Friedman
  • Buy it on Amazon: $29.00

The Resurrection of Pigboy Crabshaw by the Butterfield Blues Band

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

Admittedly, when I first picked this record out of the box, it did not look like “the Butterfield Blues Band” to me: I thought that it might have said “Buzzerfield,” or possibly “Buggerfield.” So let that be a warning to the people who design albums that they should use a legible font.

At any rate, I do think I’ve heard of the Butterfield Blues Band, though I’m not familiar with their work. I am familiar with one member of the group, Elvin Bishop, who first came to my attention when I reviewed Let It Flow (1974) last summer, and also played on The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper (1969), which I reviewed two months ago. Both of those were 5/5 records.

What I expected

Blues, electric blues.

What it was actually like

I thought this record was consistently pretty good, with excellent arrangements of some classic songs, but I mostly did not like the excessive use of horns.

Tollin’ Bells was too slow, as was Driftin’ and Driftin’.

One More Heartache, however, was a quite lively cover of a Marvin Gaye song with a great harmonica solo and excellent bass guitar, and Run Out of Time was similarly energetic with strong bass guitar.

Born Under a Bad Sign was a strong version of a blues classic, though Cream did it better: Clapton’s wailing electric guitar stood in for the horns on this version.

Double Trouble was one case where the saxophone solo was not bad per se, and I even thought that it would have been good in a totally different song.

Though this record came from my cousin, I Pity the Fool really made me think of my other cousin, his older brother, as I will always associate that phrase with him. It had great rhythm and I liked it, and thought the horns were fine in it.

Grade

4/5: would listen again

Ravel: Bolero by Eugene Ormandy and The Philadelphia Orchestra (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Ravel: Bolero
  • Composer name: Maurice Ravel
  • Conductor name: Eugene Ormandy
  • Orchestra name: The Philadelphia Orchestra
  • Year: 1960
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Columbia Masterworks
  • Collection: Brenner / Gessner
  • Distinguishing characteristics: “G” written on top left of album, indicating that my father owned it
  • Buy it on Ebay: $25.00

Ravel: Bolero by Eugene Ormandy and The Philadelphia Orchestra

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

Like most people, and especially most people of my generation, Boléro is very familiar to me, but I never gave it a thought or knew its name until I read Allan Bloom’s The Closing of the American Mind around 15 years ago. I’ve probably played it around 100 times since then, and it’s also come up in various popular culture.

What I expected

Boléro, plus a couple of other pieces that I don’t know by name and doubt that I’ll recognize.

What it was actually like

I love every part of Boléro, but how can I review it? It’s a pretty piece of music and there’s a woman in a daze with a lit match in her mouth on the album cover.

I had never heard Toscanini’s infamous fast version before tonight, and I think I’m fine with how Ravel intended it. Here’s another version with just two cellos, which is extremely cool. Here’s a Frank Zappa version, because of course Frank Zappa would be all over anything that Allan Bloom disliked, and here’s a trippy cartoon rock version.

The two pieces on the second side, Alborada del gracioso and Le Tombeau de Couperin, were not very interesting.

Grade

4/5: would listen again

Blind Faith (1969) (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Blind Faith
  • Group name: Blind Faith
  • Year: 1969
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: ATCO Records
  • Collection: Brenner / Gessner
  • Who owned it: my father
  • Buy it on Amazon: $19.99

Blind Faith (1969)

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I have listened to this record at least once, but not recently.

What I expected

Hard rock, electric blues.

What it was actually like

This was quite good, despite its sometimes questionable vocals.

Had to Cry Today had the most beautiful guitar riff, and I think I could listen to it all day.

A high point was Well All Right, a 100% perfect song that I somehow managed to reach 2023 without realizing was actually a Buddy Holly cover (!). And now that I know, here is Santana’s version.

A low point was Do What You Like, which definitely had strong parts, but at 15:20 minutes long could easily have made space for two or three more songs. Ginger Baker is certainly the greatest rock dummer of all time[1], but did he really need to be given that much time, almost an entire side on an LP, for this extended jam? I don’t think so.

Grade

4/5: would listen again

References

References
↑1 In a multi-way tie with Ringo Starr, John Bonham and Keith Moon.

Flowers by the Rolling Stones (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Flowers
  • Group name: the Rolling Stones
  • Year: 1967
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: London Records
  • Collection: Brenner / Gessner
  • Who owned it: my father
  • Buy it on Amazon: $99.99

Flowers by the Rolling Stones

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I don’t know that I’ve ever listened to this compilation, but I’ve heard all of the songs on it, and Ruby Tuesday is one of my favorites. Here are the eight Rolling Stones records that I’ve already reviewed:

What I expected

Mid 1960s blues-driven pop rock.

What it was actually like

When I reviewed Between the Buttons, I wrote:

One of my big questions when I put this record on was whether it was going to be a case of two world class singles (that both weren’t even on the UK album release) and a bunch of filler crap, or whether Let’s Spend the Night Together and Ruby Tuesday would be representative of the whole record.

Unfortunately, they weren’t, and my hunch was right.

Let’s Spend the Night Together, which was still great, and Ruby Tuesday, still a favorite, were both on this record, so was this another case of those two specific good songs surrounded by a bunch of others that were useless?

Fortunately not.

I didn’t know Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow? and didn’t like it very much, either, mainly because its horns made it seem a bit corny, and I thought that if you were going to invoke “flower power” and all that in 1967, then you should not have been able to get away with some throwaway pop shit.

Lady Jane was another one that I’ve heard all the time, but never really liked. I found it too slow and not rock enough, though I did enjoy the harpsichord, and Back Street Girl was another that was boring to me.

Please Go Home was more of a rock song, however, with a Bo Diddley beat that was great, and I liked it better, and Out of Time was great and very anachronistically early 1960s (so to speak) and quite fun.

My Girl, one of my favorite Motown songs (and which appeared on 25 #1 Hits From 25 Years and Come And Get These Memories: The Motown Story), was a curious choice in my view for the Rolling Stones to take on, and I thought their version was fine, but I couldn’t see why they would have released a recording that didn’t add anything to what the Temptations accomplished. Also, here is a great rendition from one of the most delicious and filling corners in New York City.

I loved Mother’s Little Helper, but there must have been some kind of invisible scratch on the LP because I could not get it to play without skipping, and the same was the case for the rest of the second side. Bummer.