Customer Reviews

Chicken Skin Music

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For the uninformed, "chicken skin" is the Hawaiian equivalent of "goose bumps". In other words, this is the kind of music that is meant to send chills down your spine, whether it's the blues, folk, tejano, or Hawaiian music. This album, for me, is highlighted by Gabby Pahinui. Cooder played on a number of Pahinui's albums, and Pops felt it was important to return the favor. Anyone who enjoys the guitar, especially ki ho'alu (slack key) will enjoy hearing Gabby play along with Ry Cooder. But despite the title, it's not an all-Hawaiian album. Celebrate it for its diversity, and come out of it with chicken skin. Auwe!

Ry Cooder is one of my all-time favorite artists. [One of my first amazon.com reviews back in 1999 was for Cooder's classic PARADISE AND LUNCH.] And CHICKEN SKIN MUSIC is right there at the top of my list of favoirte Cooder albums. While he's spent the better part of the last two decades doing soundtrack work, this album displays his encylopedic knowledge of musical styles. He's also a gifted mulit-instrumentalist (bajo sexto, mandola, mandolin, even accordion, in addition to being a superb guitarist. Also, Cooder relies on a wealth of talented session musicians, including Jim Keltner, drums; Flaco Jimenez, accordion; and Chris Ethridge, bass.

The album opens and closes with a couple classic Leadbelly songs, "The Bourgeois Blues" and "Good Night Irene." In between he covers gospel ("I Got Mine"), Tex-Mex ("He'll Have to Go," "Stand By Me"), Hawaiian ("Yellow Roses, "Chloe"--both actually recorded in Hawaii, with native musicians Gabby Pahinui and Atta Isaacs), and all of it filtered though Cooder's vision of what constitutes the roots of American music.

In his liner notes, Cooder states, "For me, this album reaches a level of real understanding and mutuality in music." It is one of Cooder's most satisfying albums. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

To be honest I had never heard of Ry Cooder before his Buena Vista Social Club fame. After seeing the movie and falling in love with the music of BVSC, I thought I should check into this Ry Cooder guy who had gotten all of these wonderful Cuban musicians together. Wow! What I had been missing! If you love blues you'll love this album. Even if you don't love blues, just get it! It's very good!

This is a CD that no one can afford to miss (IMHO). The fun they had recording it, the expert musicianship, the 'belly piano' playing by Flaco Jimenez, the singing, the songs... It's just a great CD and I love it. Stand By Me gets done here in a way that makes it worth every dollar - not a dry eye in the house. But there's more. I knew the song Goodnight Irene from The Inkspots (waaaaaaay back when), but this version is the best I have ever heard. Brilliant album, earning every star I give, giving me chicken skin every time I play it. Buy it, you won't regret it.

The best musicians attract the best musicians (and the best film people attract ...). In this Cooder CD listen to the accordion of Flaco Jimenez, particularly on Goodnight Irene and He'll Have to Go. This is not genius?

Ry Cooder should get some kind of U.N. award for 'world music' just for his efforts to record with treasured 'world' musicians over the years. This session includes Flaco Jiminez cutting up on the conertina and Gabby Pahinui (who's since passed) playing Hawaiian slack key guitar. Oh...you don't know what slack key sounds like? Pilgrim, here's your chance to get hep, it's not too late. Great backup vocals, and guitarplaying that would the angels weep. Great album.

Man, I'm'a say it again: this is ROOTS music. This is folksy-bluesy-inspirational-Gospelesque music. An' it's still good for drankin' some beers on a warm n' windy Saturday afternoon after puttin' in yet another weeks worth of hard labor. I discovered this by accident, y'all. I accidentally listened to it from front 'ta back an' I accidentally loved it.

This was the first piece'a music I'd ever heard by Ry Cooder that wasn't 'Buena Vista Social Club' or the 'Crossroads' soundtrack, an' I'm lovin' it, lovin' it, LOVIN' IT. That slide guitar an' that Southern bluesman's voice coupled with great back-up from Gabby Pahinui, Flaco Jimenez, an' company, all of whose names I didn't know when I first bought this CD, but that I will now remember forever. Stuff like 'The Bourgeois Blues' is reminiscent of a time when musicians weren't "celebrities" to be in awe of, but regular people spinning tales of life, love an' loss on front porches with acoustic guitars. 'I Got Mine' is the rebel workin' man's Gospel, an' the melancholy 'Yellow Roses' burns my eyes an' heart every time I hear it, an' makes me yearn for the simple things in life. That ol' cawntry-fried number 'Goodnight Irene' is done to perfection here; stripped down to the core an' with an accordian sangin' along with Cooder's voice that seems wrought with a life's worth of hard livin'. But my favorite is definitely 'Always Lift Him Up', this number is sumpin' special, fa'real; one fa' the church an' the TRUE gentile heart.

Like I said before, this really is "roots music" in every sense of the word. An' I don't care who's singin', white or black. I have no prejudices here as long as those sangin' it an' makin' it understand it. An' I think Cooder definitely understands it better than most. As hard as I'm tryin', I think a reviewer below me said PERFECTLY in one sentence what I'm strugglin' to say in a few long-winded paragraphs (that prob'ly no one's gonna read): it sounds like Cooder got together with a couple'a his buddies to "make" not "sell" music. An' that's that.

A very nice effort from one of the most respected guitar players around. I'd say this resembles hawaiian folk music with strong US blues/rock influences, allthough the voice and guitar-playing of Ry Cooder and his companions really takes it all to another level. There's nothing new, nothing exceptional to be found here - it's this record's spirit that really drives it forward.
Oh, and just a comment to the previous reviewer; I think the cover art of this album fits the music quite nicely. It's a picture of a skeleton having a go with what seems to be a hawaiian woman - giving the record an edge while still justifying some of the more strange fusion stuff going on here.
Just my 2 cents off course.

Ry Cooder is always very good. This album doesn't touch "Paradise and Lunch," Ry's previous offering, but then, there are only a handful of albums in the history of American music that do. Ry's delivery on the payoff line of "Always Lift Him Up" ("just remember, he's some mother's precious darlin'...") though is one of my favorite moments on record. What a gift the man has for phrasing, with his voice as well as instrumentally.

This is on par with the other albums of the period, and this is the last one that I really love). All told, Ry's 70s output is an incredible body of work, and I'll listen to all those albums as long as I live. So if you like the other albums of the period - and I sure hope you do - check this out. The stupid cover art and leftfield instrumentation disguise some great music.

With Buena vista, his new album, and the slick cameo on James Taylor's "October Road," it's great to see that Ry Cooder is still going strong.

I had "chicken skin" listening to this album.... save up, walk a mile to your nearest keyboard and order one from amazon.com!