RY COODER: BOP TILL YOU DROP [ESP 1984] LP/RE EN GIRONA

RY COODER: BOP TILL YOU DROP [ESP 1984] LP/RE RY COODER: BOP TILL YOU DROP [ESP 1984] LP/RE Ry Cooder   "Bop Till You Bop"  LP (Warner)  1984  made in Spain cat. num.  LB 56691 #rock  #blues rock  #rock&roll   Little Sister 3:49 Go Home, Girl 5:10 The Very Thing That Makes Your Rich 5:32 I Think It's Going To Work Out Fine 4:43 Down In Hollywood 4:14 Look At Granny Run Run 3:09 Trouble You Can't Fool Me 4:55 Don't You Mess Me Up A Good Thing 4:08 I Can't Win 4:16   Following his conceptual 1978 release,  Jazz,  Ry Cooder  returned the next year with the R&B/soul-based  Bop Till You Drop. The first major-label, digitally recorded album,  Bop  is a nice set of moderately known to obscure tunes from the '50s and '60s (along with a  Cooder / Tim Drummond  original) that doesn't always live up to its promise.  Cooder  and his excellent band, which includes the rhythm section of  Tim Drummond  and  Jim Keltner  along with guitarist  David Lindley, understand the material and are more than capable of laying down a decent groove, but something must have gotten lost in translation from what was played to what came across on the recording. There's a thinness to the tracks that undermines the performances, which according to  Cooder  is due to the digital recording. If you check out the live version of  Bop Till You Drop 's opener, "Little Sister," from the No Nukes record (using the same band), you can see what surely could have been. Still,  Bop  is worthwhile given  Cooder 's penchant for choosing great tunes, as well as the tight performances, brilliant guitar work, and a handful of great guest vocalists (including  Chaka Khan). A few of the highlights include his arrangement of the early-'60s  Elvis  hit "Little Sister," the soulful "The Very Thing That Makes You Rich (Makes Me Poor)," an instrumental take on  Ike & Tina Turner 's "I Think It's Gonna Work Out Fine," and "I Can't Win," featuring  Cooder 's longtime cohort  Bobby King  on lead vocal.