Cooder is is the finest, most precise bottleneck guitar player alive today, as well as reviver of the lost art of blues mandolin, which he plays almost as well as Hammy Nixon used to. The album is not all as successful as it might be, however, and that is a shame. Whoever chose the material could have given it a bit more thought "One Meat Ball" is' an utter disaster (Cooder's voice is certainly not suited for such material) and "Do-Re-Mi" is given the full (i.e. ghastly) L.A.-country treatment which pretty much obscures its impact.

But the masterpieces on the album make it all worthwhile. They include pretty much all of side two, especially the bottleneck tour de force "Dark Was the Night" and the incredible "Pig Meat," which sounds like it might have been scored by Max Ernst by way of Louis Armstrong. Other standouts are "How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live," "Alimony, and "Goin' To Brownsville," which makes me hope he includes Sleepy John Estes' "Expressman Blues" on his next album.

And while we're waiting for it let me say that if you've ever played guitar, you'll go for this album in a big way, and if you've never played one, maybe Ryland'll inspire you. (RS 75)

ED WARD