This weekend was a double hitter as far as finding great music. The newly released Ry Cooder & Manuel Galban: Mambo Sinuendo is absolutely beautiful. Though it's Cuban music, it's very different from Buena Vista Social Club. The melodies are already haunting me since yesterday. Surely there will be a lost of praise in the media, and it's most deserved. That's it, can't resist any longer: gotta go to Cuba next year and check out the music joints.
A 2001 release I just discovered is: Blind Boys of Alabama: The Spirit of the Century. David Lindley plays most tracks, and on some he's replaced with John Hammond, and there's Charlie Musselwhite on harp. All these backing band members are band leaders with their own. Also a splendid Danny Thompson on bass. Don't know much about him except his famed duo albums with John Martyn. The Boys themselves, have been together since 1939, the notes say, but their singing is very fresh. In fact, in addition to traditional gospels, they also cover songs by Ben Harper, Tom Waits and Jagger/Richards. Magnificent album, drenched in feelings and emotions, as good as Ry's IMHO. Honorable mention to Chris Robinson, an american who recorded his 1st album in France. Like a modern Nick Drake/Lennon/Ryan Adams. Van Morrison: I love most of his albums. I think Astral Weeks is great but in a way I agree with SC Bob that perhaps it's not a masterpiece in the true sense of the word. For me, Van's masterpiece is the 90's double CD: Hymns To The Silence. Laurent
