Ry Cooder "River Rescue" The Very Best Of Ry Cooder 1994

Ry Cooder has many influences - from the early days as part of Taj Mahal's backing group (Ryland P Cooder, Rhythm Guitar) to the global success of Buena Vista Social Club. This collection pre-dates the latter and post-dates the former.
Guitarist Ry Cooder is probably best known for his moody film soundtracks and his collaborations with world musicians V.M. Bhatt and Ali Farka Toure, which get frequent airplay on National Public Radio, or perhaps his performance and production work with Cuba's Buena Vista Social Club. But between these higher-profile gigs and his debut as a teenage guitar whiz alongside the eccentric Captain Beefheart, Cooder recorded a series of solo albums for Warner Bros.. Some were better than others, owing to their star's reedy voice and spotty writing talents, but all had their share of good moments. A European import, River Rescue: The Very Best of Ry Cooder is a generous collection of highlights from those albums, with one new tune, "River Come Down (PKA Bamboo)," that reflects his interests in cross-cultural collaboration. The older album tunes tend to fall into one of two categories: R&B ("Dark End of the Street" and "Money Honey") or weird experiments, such as George Clinton-inspired funk ("UFO Has Landed in the Ghetto") and Hawaiian swing ("Chloe"). Sometimes Cooder sounds as if he would give anything to be Little Feat's Lowell George; sometimes he sounds as if he might disappear with his guitar into the song he's playing. An interesting introduction to an earnest musician whose chameleon-like qualities work against him just about as often as they work. ~ Brian Beatty, All Music Guide

trax:
01 River Come Down (PKA Bamboo) 02 UFO Has Landed In The Ghetto 03 Low-Commotion 04 Smack Dab In The Middle 05 Tattler 06 Dark End Of The Street 07 The Very Thing That Makes You Rich (Makes Me Poor) 08 Going Back To Okinawa 09 Money Honey 10 Why Don't You Try Me 11 Paris, Texas 12 Chloe 13 The Pearls_Tia Juana 14 I Think It's Going To Work Out Fine 15 Down In Hollywood 16 Which Came First 17 Crazy 'bout An Automobile (Every Woman I Know) 18 Get Rhythm 19 Little Sister