16. Ry Cooder- Chavez Ravine


History is much more than facts and figures neatly arranged in chronological order; it is also sights, sounds and impressions from the people living in that period. This album proves that as Chavez Ravine is an aural snapshot of the Latin area Chavez Ravine in Los Angeles during the late 40s and 50s. Ry Cooder is producer and director of this album; not only does he tell the story of a predominantly Mexican community on the verge of being wiped out because of council wanting to erect the new Dodgers stadium in the barrio they inhabit, but he also shows how they lived there during that period. You can almost smell the streets, the music wafting in and out of the clubs, see the people, old and young scratching a living there. What makes the album so great is the wide variety of musical styles used to tell the story- there's traditional Mexican and other Latin rhythms but also rock, folk, jazz, new age and blues. Like Springsteen's album there's a multifold of storied being told varying from personal memories of loss, boxers, baseball and UFOs, about conspiracy theories ('Don't Call me Red', with the spoken word vocals of Raymond Burr) and of course love. Recorded with great artists who lived and worked during that era, including the late great Lalo Guerrero it is a masterpiece. Like a well researched book with sights, sounds and even smells, Ry Cooder presents an almost Alan Lomax-type part of Mexican/American musical history with true grit and passion.