A Great Return To His Earlier Form
5
By kerund
I've pretty much enjoyed everything Ry Cooder has released but his earlier albums remain my favorites, so it's wonderful to have a new one that recalls the mix of blues, gospel and Tex-Mex that jumped off the vinyl of those Warner/Reprise records. Lyrically these songs are direct descendents of many of the numbers Ry covered way back when, (songs like Taxes on the Farmer, Do-Re-Me, One Meat Ball, etc., etc). It's great to have a new crop of songs, with great grooves and wonderful melodies, full of poignancy and outrage, that reflect our current condition.
Ry Cooder + Loudon Wainwright III
4
By Grung_e_Gene
Ry Cooder's work along with Loudon's Songs for the New Depression show the spirit of Folk America will always be with us. Sadly it takes rampant theft and greed of Wall Street and the Super Rich to bring Americans back around to listening 'bout the Struggle.
Disappointing
1
By Lloyd Herndon
Ry is one of my favorite "out there" artists. There have always been a few gems emerging from his eclectic wanderings, which is why I was disappointed as there were none to found in this effort for me. Perhaps you will? I'm still a fan he has produced some great music!
Ry might be smarter than you think....
5
By Twangboy4
So, how is it exactly that Ry can be your favorite musician, and yet you can discount his politics...? that seems incongruous to me. Go ahead, look it up.
BRILLIANT, TOPICAL, TRUTH
5
By mattal1958
This is an album that should be required listening...and not just among us old fogies who grew up with Cooder and his contemporaries.
What Neil Young tried to do a few years back with "Living With War," Cooder pulls off with even more powerful sentiment, and artistic vision. Cooder shines a light on the darkness that has overcome us, and that has been in the process of overcoming us for the last decade or so. Sunshine is the best antiseptic, and Cooder exposes the hypocrisy of our current leadership, values, and money obsessed society. He speaks for those who have no voice, but he does so in a way that isn't overly preachy, or obvious. We've been waiting for music to matter since the 1960's came to an end. Cooder is doing his part here. It would be nice if other artists-- especially those that reach a younger audience (are you listening, Lady GaGa, and Justin Bieber, and Justin Timberlake, and Lil' Wayne, and Beyonce, and countless others?)-- picked up the torch and spread the word.
Woody Guthrie Lives
5
By jimkerrjr
Who better than Ry Cooder to document this generation's Great Depression, with its "Dust Bowl" of joblessness, foreclosures, dishonest bankers and a decade of seemingly endless and pointless war. With "Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down," Cooder, a master of authentic Americana, continues in the Woody Guthrie-esque vein he began so ably with 2007's "My Name is Buddy." Once again, he explores the soul of America's disenfranchised, but this time his commentary cuts deeper and holds an urgency that was sometimes lacking in "Buddy." Cooder pulls no punches in his criticism of the financial system with "No Banker Left Behind," or the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which have seemed to accomplish nothing more than to maim a generation of young soldiers ("Christmas Time This Year"). Forty years on from his first album, Cooder remains one of music's vital voices and one of its greatest blues players. This is a protest record for our time, and one that would make Woody proud.
Music + Politics + Social Commentary
4
By KPSox
It takes guts to combine these 3. Heck - it worked for Dylan. Ry Cooder has certainly earned the right to speak his mind. I am still digesting this album. So far - thumbs up for "Humpty Dumpty World" and "If There's a God".
