Chavez Ravine

So I did get out this afternoon, and picked up Chavez Ravine. I listened through once (with lots of interruptions), and my first impressions are very positive. It's a Concept Album (I thought they were an endangered species), and Cooder's basic idea is to present a musical collage of the culture and history of the Chavez Ravine section of LA in the 1950's when the existing neighborhood was razed as part of an Urban Removal project to make way for a stadium pending the arrival of the Brooklyn Dodgers and that traitor, O'Malley. I haven't followed it concentratedly yet, but he takes several different musical tacks - lots of Latin beats with some songs sung by the originator/authors, a cut about the Red Scare with voice quotes, and so on. One song that jumped out at me is a cover of Leiber & Stoller's Three Cool Cats. I grew up on their songs, particularly the many Coasters hits they wrote (Charley Brown, Poison Ivy, Along Came Jones, etc.), and give a plus to anyone who covers them - not that Cooder needs it.

More to come when I dig into it; meanwhile, if you're a Ry Cooder fan at all - or like the concept - get this record (his word - see cover!).