Track Listing

1. Boomer's Story
2. Cherry Ball Blues
3. Crow Black Chicken
4. Axe Sweet Mama
5. Maria Elena
6. Dark End Of The Street
7. Rally Round The Flag
8. Coming In On A Wing And A Prayer
9. President Kennedy
10. Good Morning Mr Railway Man

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9367 in Music
• Released on: 1992-08-31
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

CD Description
Ry Cooder spent the 1970s making a small pile of extremely cool records. One of them was BOOMER'S STORY. In 1972 Cooderwas one of the hippest slide guitarists around. His singing, like his rhythm chops and arranging skills, has always been funky and distinctive. His taste for all things groovy andAmerican and his breadth of knowledge (and/or willingness to seek out the missing details when necessary) led him to arrange his albums around themes. BOOMER'S STORY leans on the music of the 1930s and 40s for its text, yet avoids becominga mere period piece.
Lopsided backbeats, horn parts, barrelhouse piano, and blues mandolin licks all go into the gumbo, and come out sounding just right. Skip James' "Cherry Ball Blues", the soul classic "Dark End of the Street" and theballad "Maria Elena" all get instrumental treatment, with textures that range from the aching to the raucous. Cooder covers Sleepy John Estes' "Ax Sweet Mama", then gets Estes himself to guest on "President Kennedy". The sideman situation throughout is in excellent hands, with Randy Newman sitting in on piano and longtime Cooder associate Jim Keltner on drums.

Customer Reviews

get your wallet out
quite simply sublime. i searched high and low for this album in belfast in pre-Amazon days, and it remains a shrewd purchase. from the gentle, lulling maria elena and dark end of the street to the more uplifting, boomer's story, this album weaves together all of mr cooder's eclectic musical background into one smooth piece. rally round the flag casts a nostalgic glance back into american history and gives an insight into the life of the war weary patriot. this album must be in your collection - buy it now.

Feel good blues
One of his earlier albums when he was still the folk/blues name to drop, this is an early Cooder dip into the rich American cultural archive that would keep him going for years to come. Play it late at night with friends and some good Scotch and sing 'bury my body by the railroad, so I can watch the trains go by', then get your air guitar out and try to keep up with Ry's fingering.

Never bettered..
I "borrowed" this LP off my father when I was in my late teens, he coming from the perspective of being a big Jazz fan, whilst I was worshipping at the altar of NWOBHM and Angus and his family/mates. I loved this record from the first time I heard it, and as ageing has spread my musical tastes as fast as my belly, I have a reasonable collection of blues music. Somehow though Ry Cooder is missing, and mostly because everything I listen to never quite sets me off the way this record did, and still does. Whilst BB and John Lee ploughed a pretty straight furrow over the years, Cooder seems to have followed every hedge and every tree in the field; and this album is the farmhouse: big, homely, and brings a smile every time you pull up the driveway.