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| I, Flathead Limited Deluxe Edition | 
| List Price: $25.98
Buy New: $16.99
You Save: $8.99 (35%)
Buy New/Used from $16.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  (based on 14 reviews)
Sales Rank: 4649
Category: Music
Artist: Ry Cooder
Publisher: Nonesuch
Studio: Nonesuch
Manufacturer: Nonesuch
Label: Nonesuch
Format: Limited Edition
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.7 x 0.5
UPC: 075597993431
EAN: 0075597993431
ASIN: B0017PCXQG
Release Date: June 24, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Drive Like I Never Been Hurt | | • | Waitin' for Some Girl | | • | Johnny Cash | | • | Can I Smoke I Here? | | • | Steel Guitar Heaven | | • | Ridin' with the Blues | | • | Pink-O Boogie | | • | Fernando Sez | | • | Spayed Kooley | | • | Filipino Dancehall Girl | | • | My Dwarf Is Getting Tired | | • | Flathead One More Time | | • | 5000 Country Music Songs | | • | Little Trona Girl |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Album Description
Deluxe limited edition includes book. Ry Cooder's I, Flathead is the culmination of his ambitious and fascinating "California Trilogy," the last of three albums in which the singer and guitarist journeys through the real and imagined history of mid-20th century, multi-ethnic California, sampling the sounds of its barrios and byways, its nightclubs and honkytonks. The CD functions beautifully on its own, but also serves as a sort of soundtrack to the book equivalent. Abetting Cooder in his story telling is a veritable repertory of players who've appeared in the previous discs in the trilogy, among them drummer Joachim Cooder, Jim Keltner, Flaco Jimenez, Jon Hassell, Juliette Commagere and Gil Bernal.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 9 more reviews...
 If you like this, get Tom Russell's "Hot Walker" January 6, 2009
Ok, I don't actually have this Ry Cooder album yet, but once around with the samples and
I'm comfortable giving it five stars. But I'm biased, still digesting "Chavez Ravine,"
which just continually reveals itself in new ways to me, after dozens and dozens of listens.
I could spend some time reading any given article about Chavez Ravine
and say "Wow, how sad..." and then it's gone, maybe to bring up again while watching
Jeopardy sometime. But now I feel it, hear it, see it, even sympathize with the bulldozer driver
laying waste to a vibrant community as people are dragged from their homes...he wasn't
the one that railroaded a new baseball stadium through City Hall to be built there,
it was just his job to level what they told him to. The whole thing has come alive in my head and
won't leave easily--few albums do that. And as sad as the story is, the album (CR) is upbeat,
almost hopeful, in strange ways. I think you listen to Chavez Ravine a few times or a
hundred times, but probably not a lot in between. So I quickly breezed through all the
samples in "I, Flathead" and get a similar feeling about it, that it will be big in my head for quite
some time--so I'm holding off for awhile, until I put away CR. One Ry Cooder concept album
at a time. Anyway, I'm immediately reminded of another album that has to go with this group,
and that's Tom Russell's "Hot Walker," which also feels like a movie playing in your head that
you don't want to stop watching. Check it out.
 So-so December 23, 2008
I was disappointed in this album, especially after reading so many glowing reviews. Musically it covers almost no new ground for Cooder, and the old ground he has covered better before.
What really weighs the songs down is the hokey singing style and less-than-genius lyrics. I'd have been happy with the music alone. The only set of words that penetrated even slightly, for me, was Can I Smoke In Here, which encapsulates Cooder's quasi-dadaist side well. I would suppose he's shooting for that in some of the other songs in this concept album, but always falls short of the target.
Those who have been with Ry since the beginning (I first saw you perform as a solo opening act for Beefhart in 69) would to hear something that really breaks it open again for us and for Ry again, the way Chicken Skin Music and Paradise & Lunch once did.
Just my opinion, based on my tastes, of course. I'm glad so many folks enjoy this album, wish I could but there are other musicians out there doing this better, some of them without even resorting to (bad) lyrics, ie Calexico.
And if this is as good as it's gonna get, Ry, hey you had a great run anyway. Seriously, hats off. But I think you still have it in you to get wild with it again.
Great storybook, great music! November 22, 2008
Ry Cooder has been a favorite of mine since the early days. I bought this limited edition thang not knowing what to expect, but pretty sure that I'd like the music. Well, I decided to read the book first to frame the songs when I got to them. I got really wrapped up in the book and looked forward to reading a little bit of it each night, savoring the experience of time traveling back to the era described with its odd scenarios. After a week of reading after work, I almost forgot about the CD that came with the book. I was disappointed when the book ended, I wanted to read more, but then gave the CD a listen. It dovetailed nicely with the book and it now allows me to revisit the parts of the book in grittier detail and atmosphere. This is a cool combo. Definitely get the book/CD combo if you are a Cooder-head!
Wow October 23, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Ry Cooder at his best. All the best descriptives - creativity, sound, rock & roll at it's best, etc. Simply music at its best.
tom wolf of trona September 3, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
if you don't know california in the '50's and '60's, don't read this book.. the music will be enough.. then read the book. through sheer persistence and love, cooder has become the grand historian for cali in the day.. every referrence rings true and resonates through the reality of the ground level history of so cal.. he nails it.. every time.. and the music ain't too shabby neither.. except for the guitar.. kidding
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