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Zero 7
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
Chavez Ravine
Universal acclaim
Based on 18 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 33 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Nonesuch
Release Date: 14 June 2005
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Rock, Singer-Songwriter, World
Summary
The guitarist's latest is a concept album about the residents of 1940's Chavez Ravine, a Mexican-American community near downtown Los Angeles that was famously bulldozed to make way for Dodger Stadium.
Also By This Artist: My Name Is Buddy
Also On The Web: Official Artist Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Neumu.net
Chávez Ravine works because, ultimately, it isn't a history lesson or museum piece. It's the sound of musicians, now on the periphery, playing and singing the music they love.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly
A ghostly meditation on the culture of forgetting. [8 Jul 2005, p.68]
Paste Magazine
What makes the album so amazing is its ability to balance poignancy and fun.
Read Full Review >All Music Guide
Chavez Ravine is easily the most ambitious thing in Cooder's catalog, and it just may be the grand opus of his career.
Read Full Review >Tiny Mix Tapes
It hits very close to musical documentary with very few of the abstraction perils that usually haunt artists in converting ideas to their medium.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times
Cooder manages to make his work both cynical and idealistic. But most importantly, it's authentic. [12 Jun 2005]
musicOMH.com
Though it might not be as rewarding a listening experience as Cooder's Cuban albums, this is still a set that demands repeated hearing, and I doubt there'll be another record as lovingly crafted as this all year.
Read Full Review >The Guardian
It's a very clever album, and at times easier to admire than to simply enjoy because there is so much going on.
Read Full Review >Uncut
With Chavez Ravine he has performed another ethnomusicological miracle, opening a can of worms while drawing us deep into the musical heart of a lost community. [Jul 2005, p.90]
Mojo
Conjunto, corrido and jazz emerge from and mingle with R&B and pop as the band follow the story from innocent beginnings to the tragic, bitter end. [Jul 2005, p.98]
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Chávez Ravine never romanticizes its subject. It simply makes it seem unnatural that any place where people lived, dreamed, died, and formed a neighborhood could be made to disappear.
Read Full Review >Q Magazine
A self-contained gem. [Jul 2005, p.112]
The New York Times
Its seriousness never makes it earthbound. Mr. Cooder brings to it all he has learned from a career delving into odd corners of American and world music. [13 Jun 2005]
ShakingThrough.net
Chávez Ravine suffers from an uneven flow due to the varying quality of the material.
Read Full Review >Stylus Magazine
Chavez Ravine drags occasionally, the result of too many serious narratives, but the stories that do work are jaw-droppingly simple and painfully familiar.
Read Full Review >Amazon.com
The result is an CD that sounds like it's aspiring to be something far more ambitious: a DVD, a theatrical production, even a time machine.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone
Cooder has delivered a remarkable song cycle that tells the story -- a sort of brilliant and flavorful film-noir history lesson that samples the past freely.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 8.9 (out of 10) based on 33 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Bill W gave it a10:
Cooder does not disappoint.....great music and a great story.....one of the best "unknown" guitar composer and picker going
Hein gave it a10:
Masterpiece great concept-album!
Daniel G gave it a4:
I'm interested to know what this sudden interest in Chavez Ravine (the place) came from, not that this story doesn't deserve the attention it's getting. First the photo book published by Chronicle Books, then the play by Culture Clash and now, the album by Ry Cooder. I was impressed with the collection of talent used for the production of this album, but hugely dissappointed when I bought it and took a listen, it's an overrated album and downright obnoxious sometimes. I agree with David M, the worst tracks are his compostions. Good intentions, bad music...
Armando G F gave it a10:
You got to acknowledge that Mr. Cooder came home to his roots of Los Angeles. Not just for himself, but for all of us growing up here in Los Angeles and in the latino community. The mixture of of styles in the music is what the average latino listened to. I was not born at the time of these political crimes till 1961, I did grow up here in Los Angeles in the middle of a city with different nationalities listening to all different styles of music. Me especially because I was into music because on my mother and father. But I went further listening to Blues,Rock,Jazz,Swing,Classical,the different Latinos styles,acoustic and electric. Latinos in Los Angeles listened to all styles of music. So the mixture on the recordings for that time period is appropriate for the subject matter. I'm regular joe who grew up in Los Angeles at the end of the old and the beginning of the most ugly changes to our communities.
Matt A gave it a6:
I have to agree with David M, although I would also put Sleater-kinney in that severely overrated category as well. A decent enough listen but I think that it is getting alot of kudos just because the guy is somewhat of a legend in the world music scene. It was the same with "Smile." It was a good album, but not 97 on metacritic good, and even critics that initially gave it a really high score realized that in retrospect, as was evident by the fact that it only appeared on no more than half of the end of year lists and was number one on only a few.
David M gave it a6:
Right now only Lookaftering ranks ahead of it as most overrated album in Metacritic top 30... This album has been way overrated on account of it's well meaning political intentions, but as music...I am really unimpressed, and I've given it a solid 8 or 9 listens now. Only closing track is fantastic, and only one or two others (ie. Muy Fifi) memorable. Worst, all of the weakest tracks are Cooders own compositions. Despite the unique ethnic and historical appeal, end result is Bland and undynamic.
Chris O gave it a10:
Simply breathtaking
