Into the Purple Valley

Ry Cooder

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Original Release Date: 1971
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Reprise / Wea
• ASIN: B000002KBW
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #7,742 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential recording

Ry Cooder may have been an in-demand session guitarist in the late '60s, but what set him apart in his early solo career was his extraordinary, if eccentric, taste in songs. Here he explores the repertoires of everyone from Johnny Cash to Bahaman folk master Joseph Spence to Leadbelly with enchanting results. While Cooder's vocal skills are no match for his slide guitar and mandolin talents (the latter showcased splendidly in "Hey Porter" and "Billy the Kid"), he's an amiable singer who resists the temptation to camp it up, even when essaying such antiquated oddities as "FDR in Trinidad" and "Taxes on the Farmer Feeds Us All." --Steve Stolder

Product Description

Limited Edition Japanese pressing of this album comes housed in a miniature LP sleeve. 2007. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Bringing History to Life, October 1, 2000

By	dev1 (Baltimore) - See all my reviews

Leave it to guitar virtuoso Ry Cooder to tackle the Dust Bowl Era, the Great Depression, and the plight of sharecroppers in America. Into The Purple Valley is Cooder's musical take on John Steinbeck's The Grapes Of Wrath: impoverished farmers traveling to the Land Of Opportunity (I'm assuming that `purple' means `grape,' or the Napa Valley of California). Sounds pretty depressing? Not exactly. Into The Purple Valley is honest: musically and historically. The majority of the eleven songs are pre-fifties standards, but instead of updating the songs, Cooder captures the music (or perhaps the desperation) of the time. Outdated by contemporary standards (whether seventy-two or today), Into The Purple Valley is an inspired reworking of thirties and forties American music.

Desperation and misery are at the center of `How Can You Keep Moving,' `Hey Porter,' and `Vigilante Man.' What picks these numbers out of the melancholy doldrums and lifts then into the blissful clouds is Cooder's mesmerizing guitar work: his technique is majestic. The bass-thumping R&B song, `Money Honey,' reminds me of the "High Maintenance" ladies whom I have met, but couldn't afford. `Teardrops Will Fall' shines with a heavenly angelic choir. Cooder makes the `Denomination Blues' sparkle with (I don't believe it myself) a xylophone! His finger-sliding technique on "Vigilante Man' is breathtaking. Studying this period of history in school is often dry and boring. Into The Purple Valley brings history to life.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Better that the first..., August 10, 2000

By	Patrick Crain (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma United States) - See all my reviews

Running a little longer than the first album and ditching some of the bugs that slightly marred it (the strings being one), "Into the Purple Valley" shows Ry Cooder coming into his own. While tackling most of the same issues and types of songs from his debut, "Into the Purple Valley" takes a more direct and stripped down approach to the music. He also takes on a few more musical styles with the gospel influenced Teardrops Will Fall and the calypso flavored FDR in Trinidad. While people claim that "Paradise and Lunch" was his greatest album, this one, his first true masterpiece, should not be ignored and was certainly a springboard for his more delicious mix of musical variations.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Return to the Purple Valley., December 29, 2002

By	mark harbinson (Taylorsville, NC USA) - See all my reviews

Ry Cooder has shown us a wide variety and diversification of musical influences since this 1972 release, but to me, this is his best effort. I love the broad range of musical influences that he has taken over the years, including the commercially successful Buena Vista Social Club, however, Into the Purple Valley is where he is at home. From beginning to end, this album carries such a magical feel, particularly the struggles of the poor and oppressed from a long ago era, however, seems to give us an indication that maybe our own "blues" maybe waiting around the corner for us all. ( You must remember that Nixon was in office when this was released...need I say more?). My personal favorites are "FDR in Trinidad", " How Can a Man Stand Such Times and Live", and the ever amazing rendition of "Vigilante Man". I love Mr. Cooder's travels into the realms of other cultures and rhythems. Through these venture, he has broadened our knowledge and appreciation for the sounds and rhythems of our world through the eyes and ears of those who we would have otherwise never known or heard. However, I feel that there is more for him to explore and interpret from The Heart of America and to give his own special stamp of originality. To those of you who have never heard "Into the Purple Valley" have no hesitation in going out immediately and purchasing. It will become one of your very favorites. And To Mr. Cooder, when you grow weary of world travels, come on back to the Purple Valley. We will all be waiting for you.