Out Of Step With The Critics

Critical received wisdom seems to place Chicken Skin Music at the top of the list of the first wave of Ry Cooder albums. Perhaps typically, it is my least favourite. Not to say that it is a bad album or that I don't enjoy it but there are a few duff tracks with I Got Mine, Smack Dab In The Middle and Stand By Me not working particularly well. Otherwise, it is a disk that shows how Cooder is not afraid of sentimentality and an old fashioned vintage feel, such as pervades Always Lift Him Up, Yellow Roses, He'll Have To Go and the chirpy instrumental Chloe. Sentimentality doesn't preclude genuine emotional weight in these songs. Musically, the disk marked the first inclusion of the Mexican accordion maestro Flaco Jimenez who helps give the album a Tex Mex feel even if the material isn't specifically from that region. The other ethnic influence here is from Hawaii with slack key and steel guitars featuring from Cooder himself and guests Gabby Pahinui and Atta Isaacs. I can see why the album is highly rated, put it down to personal taste that it doesn't quite take off as far as I am concerned.