This came out in 2005 — or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
From playing with Captain Beefheart to championing Buena Vista Social Club, guitarist Ry Cooder would seem to have done it all. But he’s never done anything like Chávez Ravine.
Easily the most ambitious, dramatic, eclectic and just plain freaky work in Cooder’s vast career, this 70-minute concept disc was inspired by the history of the titular East L.A. barrio, whose residents were forced from their homes in the ’50s to make way for Dodger Stadium.
But this is no dry, dreary civics lesson. Cooder’s cast of colourful characters runs the gamut from zoot-suited pachucos to, um, space aliens (seriously). His stylistic palette grooves and moves seamlessly from rumba and R&B to Cuban sons and sample-laced soundscapes. And his band includes everyone from members of Los Lobos to Angelino artists who were there when it happened.
Working in unison, they make the sprawling and surreal Chávez Ravine a wise, weird and wonderful tale of nostalgia, heartbreak, corruption and celebration. Dig in.
