SACD Ry Cooder – Paradise And Lunch

Paradise And Lunch as a hybrid stereo SACD from Analogue Productions’ Acoustic Sounds 40th Anniversary Series, mastered to DSD from the original master tape. All nine selections play in one sequence – from “Tamp ’Em Up Solid” to the piano duet “Ditty Wa Ditty”.

Tradition as open material

On Paradise And Lunch, Ry Cooder treats musical tradition as material that stays open to new possibilities. His fourth studio album, released in 1974, brings gospel, blues and rhythm and blues together without turning the programme into a history lesson: “Tamp ’Em Up Solid”, “Jesus On The Mainline” and “Mexican Divorce” come from very different places, and Cooder sets them side by side to hear what a new group of musicians can make of them.

Russ Titelman and Lenny Waronker produced the album, recorded at Warner Brothers in North Hollywood and at Burbank Studios with Lee Herschberg engineering. Cooder sings and plays guitar and mandolin – and his signature lies not only in his playing, but in choosing, adapting and creating relationships within an ensemble.

Familiar songs in new company

“It’s All Over Now” sits between “Jesus On The Mainline” and the medley “Fool For A Cigarette / Feelin’ Good” – and those changes of context are part of the album’s design. A song takes on new associations from what comes before and after it, so the whole sequence becomes a listening experience of its own.

The personnel include Jim Keltner and Milt Holland on drums and percussion, Ronnie Barron on piano and organ, plus bass and horn players; Plas Johnson adds alto saxophone and Oscar Brashear cornet. It’s a wide range of ways to accompany the material – which doesn’t mean everyone plays on every track.

Ending with a piano conversation

The album’s most special guest appears on the final number: Earl “Fatha” Hines plays piano in a duet with Cooder on “Ditty Wa Ditty” – two musical biographies meeting face to face. Instead of ending with more players, the album closes with a concentrated encounter between two.

That last change of scale is a wonderful reason to follow all nine selections in order. Listen to the dialogue between guitar and piano: where does one instrument lead, and where does the other answer?

The hybrid stereo SACD from Analogue Productions

CAPR 020 SA is a hybrid stereo SACD from Analogue Productions’ Acoustic Sounds 40th Anniversary Series. According to the publisher, it was mastered to DSD from the original master tape. The SACD layer plays on SACD-capable players, the CD layer on any conventional CD player. The disc contains the nine selections of the original album, including the medley “Fool For A Cigarette / Feelin’ Good”.

You order from Michael 45 in Germany. We arrange the US import and ship from Hilden.

More from the series: Acoustic Sounds 40th Anniversary Series

Also in another edition: Paradise And Lunch

More SACDs by Ry Cooder: Chicken Skin Music · Paris, Texas

Customer question: Buying Analogue Productions records in Europe

Musicians

Documented selection of participating musicians. Personnel may vary by track; this list does not claim to be complete.