Ry Cooder's new album, Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down, was released to great critical acclaim and a few choice tweets, not least yesterday's from Billy Bragg, who recommended the track "No Banker Left Behind" as a way to celebrate Labor Day. The album has received three more five-star reviews. "Pull Up Some Dust And Sit Down is a stunning return to form for one of America's most original and talented musicians," exclaims the Daily Telegraph. Cooder "has been inspired anew by 21st-century social ills to produce one of the best albums of a distinguished career." The Observer says: "He's become a Woody Guthrie for our times." Scotland on Sunday names it the Release of the Week, saying: "Cooder has now made one of the best records of his considerable career."
Ry Cooder's new album, Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down, was released last week on Nonesuch / Perro Verde Records to great critical acclaim and a few choice tweets, not least yesterday's from singer/songwriter/activist Billy Bragg, who recommended the album's opening track, "No Banker Left Behind," as a way to celebrate Labor Day. In the UK, where Pull Up Some Dust already scored perfect five-star reviews from Uncut, the Guardian, and the Independent, the album has received three more five-star reviews in the Daily Telegraph, the Observer, and Scotland on Sunday.
"Pull Up Some Dust And Sit Down is a stunning return to form for one of America's most original and talented musicians," exclaims the Daily Telegraph's Martin Chilton in his five-star review. Cooder "has been inspired anew by 21st-century social ills to produce one of the best albums of a distinguished career."
Following the album opener to which Bragg refers, "No Banker Left Behind," which "sets the tone in wonderful style," says Chilton, the "sound of the album is deliberately vibrant and varied."
While the album addresses a number of important concerns, "It's humourous too," Chilton assures. "If protest is what you want, Cooder has delivered it magnificently."
Read the complete five-star review at telegraph.co.uk.
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The Observer gives the album a perfect five stars as well, echoing its partners at the Guardian, which gave the album five stars last week. "Cooder follows his garlanded 'California trilogy' [Chávez Ravine, My Name Is Buddy, and I, Flathead] with a fierce state-of-the-nation album," writes the Observer's Neil Spencer. "Musically, it's grounded in the blues, folk and Tex-Mex the guitarist explored in the 1970s, but its songs belong to modern times ... He's become a Woody Guthrie for our times." Read the five-star review at guardian.co.uk.
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The album receives a perfect five stars from Scotland on Sunday as well, where it is the paper's Release of the Week. "Cooder has now made one of the best records of his considerable career," exclaims reviewer Colin Somerville. "It's a record to file next to Into the Purple Valley and Boomer's Story, a thoroughly modern and authentic appraisal of the past." Read the review in this week's paper.
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To pick up a copy of Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down, head to the Nonesuch Store, where CD orders and vinyl pre-orders (the LP is due out on September 13) include high-quality, 320 kbps MP3s of the album at checkout; you can also purchase the MP3s and FLAC lossless files there.
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