Fact #127942

 Roots guitar legend Ry Cooder puts on his political activist hat for what is effectively a concept album about Chavez Ravine, a Spanish-Mexican district of Los Angeles which he loved as a young man, but which has since been torn down to make way for the Dodgers baseball stadium. Cooder evokes the spirit of this lost suburb by telling its story in song, using musical styles - conjunto, corrido, RAndB, Latin pop, and jazz – that were typical of its community. The album benefits from contributions by an estimable gang of East L.A. legends including Chicano music patriarch Lalo Guerrero, Pachuco boogie king Don Tosti, and The Midniters front man Little Willie G. To their distinctive sounds Cooder adds his virtuoso playing, of course, but also spoken word samples from the days of the McCarthy Communist witch hunts and the 1950s UFO scares. The music is virtually all acoustic, with a vibrant late-night feel that lovers of the Buena Vista Social Club will find easy to enjoy, even though many of the songs are in Spanish.
Johnny Black (Review originally appeared in Hi Fi News)