Customer Reviews

Border & Alamo Bay - O.S.T.

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These were two of my favorite records back in the mid-80's, Americana before Americana even existed. "The Border" evokes beautifully the feel of the southwest, of a hot night with the radio playing some station from Mexico where legend Freddy Fender sings achingly, plaintively, about the dreams of thousands who long for "the broken promised land" of America. "Across the Borderline," written by Cooder, Jim Dickenson, and John Hiatt, is one of the most gorgeous songs you'll ever hear, covered in concert by Bruce Springsteen and rerecorded--with a vocal by Harry Dean Stanton--on Cooder's "Borderline" album. But Freddy Fender's version is the definitive. The music for the rest of "The Border" keeps that southwestern, Mexican-American, feel and vibe, with one more standout track, "Skin Game", an slinky, ominous growl of a song featuring a great vocal by Hiatt and trademark Cooder slide guitar. (By the way, the film, starring Jack Nicholson, is a must-see) "Alamo Bay" is something stranger, for me, not quite as successful, but still worthwhile. The movie (a failure with all the talent involved, Louis Malle directing, and Ed Harris and Amy Madigan starring) is about the clash between exiled Vietnamese fisherman and American fishermen on the Gulf Coast during the late 70s. Cooder's music finds a way to echo this culture clash, particularly in "Theme from Alamo Bay", by combining western instruments and his slide guitar with traditional Asian instruments. The result is truly gorgeous. Also of note is the crunching rocker "Gooks on Main Street" with a vocal by LA punker Lee Ving. Cooder's sountracks, for me, have always been much more interesting than his solo records, whether it be the traditional Appalachian sounds of "The Long Riders" or the Cajun influences on "Southern Comfort". "The Border/Alamo Bay" show him at his best: "The Border", along with "The Long Riders", is in my opinion his best soundtrack, and "Alamo Bay" is not all that far behind. As far as I know, other than the inclusion of certain tracks on the compilation of Cooder's film music released several years ago, this is the first time these have been on CD. They are very much worth owning.

Thank you to those nice folks from Raven Records for making these two soundtracks available on one CD. Amongst some fine instrumentals, several of which appeared on "Music by Ry Cooder" there are two superb vocal tracks that didn't ... "Building Fires" from The Border, and "Too Close" from Alamo Bay (Amy Madigan can sing, too?) ... and even on their own, they make this a great buy.

Ry's music, be it for the stage or cinema score doesn't get much better then what accompanied the films 'The Border' and 'Alamo Bay'.
This collection of Tex-Mex ballads, accompanied by such luminaries as Flaco Jimenez and David Lindley, is priceless.
Of exceptional note is the raw, anguished, almost heavy metal rendering of a racist outburst 'Gooks on Main Street'. Which, for obvious reasons, never received much air play.
This is a wonderful re-released classic for Ry Cooder fans.