Track listing
Show track credits
- A1 How Can You Keep On Moving 2:25
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piano
-
adaption
-
drums
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bass
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songwriter
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- A2 Billy the Kid 3:45
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adaption
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songwriter
-
- A3 Money Honey 3:28
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piano
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drums
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bass
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songwriter
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- A4 F.D.R. in Trinidad 3:01
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washtub bass
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percussion
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Fritz MacLeansongwriter
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- A5 Teardrops Will Fall 3:03
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piano
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drums
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bass
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percussion
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Dicky Doosongwriter
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Marion Smithsongwriter
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- A6 Denomination Blues 3:58
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celeste
-
horns
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horns
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horns
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Ike Williamshorns
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songwriter
-
- B1 On a Monday 2:52
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washtub bass
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drums
-
songwriter
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- B2 Hey Porter 4:34
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piano
-
washtub bass
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songwriter
-
- B3 Great Dream From Heaven 1:53
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songwriter
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- B4 Taxes on the Farmer Feeds Us All 3:52
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adaption
-
drums
-
bass
-
piano
-
songwriter
-
- B5 Vigilante Man 4:15
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harmonium
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songwriter
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- Total length: 37:06
23 Reviews
I'm new to Ry Cooder. In fact if that is not him on the album cover there, I do not even know what he looks like. I bought Into the Purple Valley on vinyl, second hand, and yes, I bought it for the album cover.
If you do not know already, this cat can play. With an obvious love and respect for traditional blues, Into the Purple Valley is just a wonderful listen.
The difference between levels of talent is hard to deconstruct. I have no idea what makes Cooder's music sound so much more better than somebody else's. But it does. Your grandma's chocolate chip cookies may have the exact same ingredients in them as mine, but nobody is reaching for the plate that I made.
This album of covers is excellent music for those who like their tunes with some roots, talent and vitality.
If you do not know already, this cat can play. With an obvious love and respect for traditional blues, Into the Purple Valley is just a wonderful listen.
The difference between levels of talent is hard to deconstruct. I have no idea what makes Cooder's music sound so much more better than somebody else's. But it does. Your grandma's chocolate chip cookies may have the exact same ingredients in them as mine, but nobody is reaching for the plate that I made.
This album of covers is excellent music for those who like their tunes with some roots, talent and vitality.
Published
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Ry Cooder is a supremely talented musician and possibly just behind Little Feat's Lowell George as the Slide Guitarist par excellence, he's also an extremely tasteful and honest interpretor of other peoples songs however his main failing has always been his rather dull and lacklustre voice which has continued to hamper much of his recorded output, that said this is my favourite of all Cooder's works, a truly great anthology of American music, if only he could sing.
Published
Very good album.Lots of good tracks. No weak songs on this album.
The ones I love the best are: Teardrops will fall, Denomination blues, On a Monday and the very best: Taxes on the farmer feeds us all.
The ones I love the best are: Teardrops will fall, Denomination blues, On a Monday and the very best: Taxes on the farmer feeds us all.
Published
Since there is no definitive Ry Cooder album (since there is no definitive Ry Cooder) it's impossible to pick his best work. If there was a definitive Ry Cooder album (and a definitive Ry Cooder) this would be it!
Published
_Into the Purple Valley_ is one of Ry Cooder's strongest albums from the 1970s, showing the guitarist in good form on a number of traditional folk numbers and dust-bowl ballads, with an R&B tune thrown in for good measure. As the little known songs on this album can attest, Cooder has an encyclopedic knowledge of American music. Sometimes, as on his later albums, that muscial knowledge can prove to be overwhelming to the average listener, especially when Cooder layers it with exotic instruments. By keeping much of the arrangements straight forward on _Into the Purple Valley_, Cooder is able to keep the listeners' interest. It is also one of his tightest sets because the focus of the album does not waver from the down-on-his-luck working man tales.
As if to empahsize the Depression era, the album opens with the plaintive appeal "How Can You Keep Moving (Unless You Migrate Too)," a song that barely conceals the singer's bitterness from being forced out of work and off his land by a cold, indifferent corporate bank. The bitterness builds up throughout the album until it closes with a cover of Woody Guthrie's "Vigilante Man," which serves as a chilling portrait of an enforcer who works for the best interest of said financial institutions.
Along the way, Cooder sings of legendary heroes like "Billy the Kid" and the guarded optimism of witnessing "F.D.R. in Trinidad," which features a lovely calypso sound.
The R&B number on the album, a cover of The Drifters' 1950s hit "Money Honey," is played straight up and it sounds like how The Band might have covered it. Though the social commentary on this Jesse Stone song is subtle, it reminds one that money woes carry over through all eras, whether in the throes of the Great Depression, or in Eisenhower's booming post-World War II years.
Cooder goes for bigger game on "Denomination Blues," a diatribe and critique of the various Christian sects, arguing in the end that "You gotta have Jesus/I'll tell you that's all." An angelic sounding celeste and a Salvation Army-like brass section are prominent in this song as if to emphasize the point.
"Taxes on the Farmer Feeds Us All" is an indictment of how farmers are treated in society--last on the economic totem pole and first to have their land taken away from them. The music here is as intense as it gets on the album, where Cooder issues this warning:
Well, the banker says he's broke
And the merchant stops and smokes
But they forget that it's the farmer that feeds them all
It would put them to the test
If the farmer took a rest
And they'd know that it's the farmer that feeds them all
Other numbers like Lead Belly's down and out "On a Monday" or the weary train traveler in Johnny Cash's "Hey Porter" serve to showcase Cooder on slide guitar and mandolin, respectively.
Cooder's playing is strong through each of the songs. A highly sought session guitarist (he was almost tabbed to replace Brian Jones in The Rolling Stones), there are no flashy solos to be found here. Rather, think of it as electric folk with Cooder paying particular respect to the tradition of story-telling and accompaniment.
By including songs that appeal to human emotion, and playing in a challenging but not intimidating manner, Cooder's journey into that purple valley is a fruitful one.
As if to empahsize the Depression era, the album opens with the plaintive appeal "How Can You Keep Moving (Unless You Migrate Too)," a song that barely conceals the singer's bitterness from being forced out of work and off his land by a cold, indifferent corporate bank. The bitterness builds up throughout the album until it closes with a cover of Woody Guthrie's "Vigilante Man," which serves as a chilling portrait of an enforcer who works for the best interest of said financial institutions.
Along the way, Cooder sings of legendary heroes like "Billy the Kid" and the guarded optimism of witnessing "F.D.R. in Trinidad," which features a lovely calypso sound.
The R&B number on the album, a cover of The Drifters' 1950s hit "Money Honey," is played straight up and it sounds like how The Band might have covered it. Though the social commentary on this Jesse Stone song is subtle, it reminds one that money woes carry over through all eras, whether in the throes of the Great Depression, or in Eisenhower's booming post-World War II years.
Cooder goes for bigger game on "Denomination Blues," a diatribe and critique of the various Christian sects, arguing in the end that "You gotta have Jesus/I'll tell you that's all." An angelic sounding celeste and a Salvation Army-like brass section are prominent in this song as if to emphasize the point.
"Taxes on the Farmer Feeds Us All" is an indictment of how farmers are treated in society--last on the economic totem pole and first to have their land taken away from them. The music here is as intense as it gets on the album, where Cooder issues this warning:
Well, the banker says he's broke
And the merchant stops and smokes
But they forget that it's the farmer that feeds them all
It would put them to the test
If the farmer took a rest
And they'd know that it's the farmer that feeds them all
Other numbers like Lead Belly's down and out "On a Monday" or the weary train traveler in Johnny Cash's "Hey Porter" serve to showcase Cooder on slide guitar and mandolin, respectively.
Cooder's playing is strong through each of the songs. A highly sought session guitarist (he was almost tabbed to replace Brian Jones in The Rolling Stones), there are no flashy solos to be found here. Rather, think of it as electric folk with Cooder paying particular respect to the tradition of story-telling and accompaniment.
By including songs that appeal to human emotion, and playing in a challenging but not intimidating manner, Cooder's journey into that purple valley is a fruitful one.
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Maybe his best but wait you never know what he comes up with next
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The album is not as good as the album cover. But it has it's moments: "FDR In Trinidad" and "Vigilante Man."
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