I, Flathead Limited Deluxe Edition [Limited Edition]

Ry Cooder | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 24, 2008)
• Original Release Date: 2008
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Limited Edition
• Label: Nonesuch
• ASIN: B0017PCXQG
• Also Available in: Hardcover
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #89,979 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Deluxe limited edition includes book. Ry Cooder's I, Flathead is the culmination of his ambitious and fascinating "California Trilogy," the last of three albums in which the singer and guitarist journeys through the real and imagined history of mid-20th century, multi-ethnic California, sampling the sounds of its barrios and byways, its nightclubs and honkytonks. The CD functions beautifully on its own, but also serves as a sort of soundtrack to the book equivalent. Abetting Cooder in his story telling is a veritable repertory of players who've appeared in the previous discs in the trilogy, among them drummer Joachim Cooder, Jim Keltner, Flaco Jimenez, Jon Hassell, Juliette Commagere and Gil Bernal.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fine end piece to his trilogy., June 24, 2008

By 

South End - See all my reviews

This review is from: I, Flathead Limited Deluxe Edition (Audio CD)

It takes courage to release a concept album, and something close to mad faith in one's art to release three in succession, as Ry Cooder has.
The concept album is usually an accident waiting to happen, so Ry Cooder is pushing his luck making three in a row.
"I, Flathead" is the concluding part of his 'California Trilogy', following 2005's "Chavez Ravine" and last year's "My Name Is Buddy", and it's a tribute to Cooder's talents that it's a match for either.
More than four decades since he emerged as an electric blues guitarist so highly rated that he turned down an offer to join the Rolling Stones when they looked for a replacement for Brian Jones in the Sixties, Cooder has ploughed a less commercial but hugely rewarding furrow as possibly America's most important rock musician.
A set of linked songs supposedly performed by one Kash Buk and his 'Klowns', a circle of 'petrolheads': drag racers and automotive junkies who wander the salt flats of California in the early 60s.
This third album in the guitarist's recent Californian collection is the most essential, with the former Captain Beefheart and Randy Newman sideman mining a rich southern Cafifornia seam.
Kash's story is nostalgic for a time when weird was commonplace. There are a couple of awkward narrative moments but they're soon forgotten in a project that affirms Cooder's acute sense of place and musical history, and his fiery ambition to make 'vernacular American music'.
The music is sharp and enjoyably coherent throughout. The playing is sublime, the drama captivating - check out "Can I Smoke In Here" for authentic atmosphere and "Pink O Boogie" for jangly In Here' for authentic atmosphere and 'Pink O Boogie' for jangly paranoia.
Pick of the album: "Waitin' For Some Girl", "Ridin' With the Blues", "Can I Smoke In Here" , "Pink-O Boogie", "5,000 Country Music Songs".

Chavez Ravine
My Name Is Buddy

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ry!, July 7, 2008

By 

Frank Matheis "FM" (New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: I, Flathead Limited Deluxe Edition (Audio CD)

OK, you don't need a whole history.
Most people don't end up here cold.
Read the other reviews or the label PR to give you the basics about this trilogy.
This record continues the eclectic journey that is the essence of Ry's music. He really goes back to the music he would have heard on the radio and in the streets of LA as a kid. Amalgam of 50's Mex-pop, big-band, jazz, blues, rock and all that. Like his recent series, he is very reserved with the guitar solos that so defined his early work. With age he's become even more subtle, as if that was possible. But, when he puts it out it is as sweet as it gets. The best way to define this is adventurous (as always), fun, retro and still progressive.
Personally, my own view,I am a major Ry fan, and have been since the 70s. Of the recent works, Mambo Sinuendo was one of my favorites, but I found Chavez Ravine a bit of a push. The heavy Mexican pop undercurrent was not up my alley, although it had its moments. My name is Buddy took me back a little closer to home and I, Flathead took me back to the glory days.
Makes sense? I think this is en par with the best of Ry's work- Paradise & Lunch, Boomer's Story, and Chicken Skin Music.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars tom wolf of trona, September 3, 2008

By 

Michael J. Merline "hume" (long beach, ca) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: I, Flathead Limited Deluxe Edition (Audio CD)

if you don't know california in the '50's and '60's, don't read this book.. the music will be enough.. then read the book. through sheer persistence and love, cooder has become the grand historian for cali in the day.. every referrence rings true and resonates through the reality of the ground level history of so cal.. he nails it.. every time.. and the music ain't too shabby neither.. except for the guitar.. kidding