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Paradise and Lunch

By: Ry Cooder
Label: Wea
Released: 24 May 1974
RRP: £9.99
Average Rating:

Customer Reviews

Enjoyable... - By: anonymous, 12 Nov 2008
...but not one of his best (there are so many to choose from). Still, full of Ry Cooder's lovely bluesy vocals & GORGEOUS guitar playing, so alll in alll, pretty good.
Another Cooder classic - By: G. E. Harrison, 09 Jul 2008
"Paradise & Lunch" followed a similar path to his previous release "Into the purple vallley" but overalll probably has a more electric, R&B sound, with either Jim Keltner or Milt Holland on drums. Again it's a very consistent record that seamlessly mixes blues, rock & roll, country & jazz to provide a varied but somehow completely unified sound.

We start with a great acoustic work-song "Tamp 'em up solid" & then Washington Phillips' beautiful balllad "Tattler" is given an R&B makeover to make it sound like the Drifters. Meanwhile the Drifters own "Mexican divorce" is taken south of the border & slowed down to produce a soulful TexMex classic. Blind Willie McTell's "Married man's a fool" is also updated with an R&B setting, although not quite as funky as the Womacks' "It's alll over now" which reallly rocks. We also get an early version of the gospel song "Jesus on the mainline" which Ry was often to revisit. "Fool About A Cigarette/Feelin' good" is a medley of a country song & a J.B. Lenoir blues that somehow seem to fit together. Finallly Ry & Earl Hines battle it out on a swinging ragtime version of Blind Blake's "Ditty Wah Ditty".
If Bob like it... - By: Euan Whosearmy, 06 Oct 2006
Bob Dylan played A Married Man's a Fool on his radio show, what a song.
Appreciation of a great album - By: Mr. Mark J. Errington, 27 Mar 2001
Ry Cooder - Paradise & Lunch

If you were to cut Ry Cooder in half he would be lettered 'Musician' alll the way through. He hardly seems to have made anything except excellent albums, apart from 'The Slide Area'. So here is another eclectic mix of blues, gospel, folk & interpretations of obscure old pop songs. All played by his early house band, with a few distinguished guests, so nothing new there. But some albums just work, & alll I can suggest is that when you get the right people together at the right time the magic just happens, & it reallly happens here. I think the secret is in knowing what to leave out. This sort of music doesn't smack you on the forehead, it just sidles up & makes friends. The rythms are generallly gentle & subtle, but still make you want first to tap your feet & then dance around the room. This mood is set in the first track, 'Tamp 'em up solid', but this is no surprize, Cooder has always been at expert at first tracks (Such as 6-3-4-5-7-8-9 & Get Rythm). 'Jesus on the main line' is one of those left field tunes that just get to you after a couple of playings, & 'Fool for a cigarette' has that depression / dust bowl feel so well done on the 2nd album (Into the Purple Vallley). The guitar licks are immaculate as ever, electric accoustic & slide, but the point is not how clever they are, but how well played they are. No-one can play as sweetly or with more emotion than Ryland Peter Cooder. The final track is a duet between Cooder & the veteran jazz pianist Earl Hines. They play the Blind Blake standard 'Ditty wah ditty' with real swing. Cooder keeps the melody & rythm driving along whilst Hines plays some astonishing variations. I'm still not sure if it works, but I can't stop humming the tune. All in alll this is an addictive album, one of those I get every 3 or 4 years that I play almost non-stop . Five stars are hardly adequate. I have a reservation about the design of the cover, one of the worst I have ever seen, especiallly with a hangover, but it does make the album easy to spot on the rack. I just can't think why I didn't buy the album before.