''Paradise and Lunch'' is the fourth album by

roots rock Roots rock is a genre of rock music that looks back to rock's origins in contemporary folk music, folk, blues, and country music. First emerging in the late 1960s, it is seen as a response to the perceived excesses of the then dominant psychedel ...

musician

Ry Cooder Ryland Peter Cooder (born March 15, 1947) is an American musician, songwriter, film score composer, record producer, and writer. He is a multi-instrumentalist but is best known for his slide guitar work, his interest in traditional music, and h ...

, released on June 8, 1974 on

Reprise Records Reprise Records is an American record label founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operates through Warner Records, one of its flagship labels. Artists currently signed to Reprise Records include Green Day, En ...

. The album is composed of cover versions of jazz, blues and roots standards and obscurities recorded at the Warner Brothers Studios. The final track, "Ditty Wah Ditty," showcases a duet between Cooder and jazz pianist Earl "Fatha" Hines. It was produced by Russ Titelman and Lenny Waronker. The album reached #167 on the

Billboard 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists. Sometimes, a rec ...

. The album also includes Cooder's updated arrangement of bluesman Washington Phillips' " The Tattler" that stands out for its guitar playing. It was subsequently covered by

Linda Ronstadt Linda Maria Ronstadt (born July 15, 1946) is an American singer who has performed and recorded in diverse genres including rock, country, light opera, the Great American Songbook, and Latin music. Ronstadt has earned 11 Grammy Awards, three A ...

on her 1976 album '' Hasten Down the Wind'' and by

David Soul David Soul (born David Richard Solberg; August 28, 1943 – January 4, 2024) was an American-British actor and singer. With a career spanning five decades, he rose to prominence for portraying Detective Kenneth "Hutch" Hutchinson in the Americ ...

on his 1977 album ''Playing To An Audience of One''. In 1990 the album was released on CD, while a remastered version appeared in 2007. It was newly remastered from the original master tapes for a high-resolution SACD in 2017.

Track listing

Side One #"Tamp 'Em Up Solid" (Traditional) – 3:19 #" Tattler" ( Washington Phillips, Ry Cooder, Russ Titelman) – 4:14 #"Married Man's a Fool" (

Blind Willie McTell Blind Willie McTell (born William Samuel McTier; May 5, 1898 – August 19, 1959) was an American Piedmont blues and ragtime singer, songwriter and guitarist. He played in a fluid, syncopated finger picking guitar style common among many Eas ...

) – 3:10 #"Jesus on the Mainline" (Traditional) – 4:09 #"

It's All Over Now "It's All Over Now" is a song written by Bobby Womack and his sister-in-law Shirley Womack. It was first released by The Valentinos, featuring Bobby Womack, in 1964. The Rolling Stones heard it on its release and quickly recorded a cover ver ...

" (

Bobby Womack Robert Dwayne Womack ( ; March 4, 1944 – June 27, 2014) was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. Starting in the early 1950s as the lead singer of his family musical group the Valentinos and as Sam Cooke's backing guitarist, Womack's ...

, Shirley Womack) – 4:49 Side Two #"Fool for a Cigarette/Feelin' Good" (Sidney Bailey, J. B. Lenoir, Jim Dickinson) (medley) – 4:25 #"If Walls Could Talk" (Bobby Miller) – 3:12 #"Mexican Divorce" (

Burt Bacharach Burt Freeman Bacharach ( ; May 12, 1928 – February 8, 2023) was an American composer, songwriter, record producer, and pianist who is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential figures of 20th-century popular music. Start ...

Bob Hilliard Bob Hilliard (born Hilliard Goldsmith; January 28, 1918 – February 1, 1971) was an American lyricist. He wrote the words for the songs: "Alice in Wonderland", " In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning", " Any Day Now", " Dear Hearts and Gentl ...

) – 3:51 #"Ditty Wah Ditty" ( Arthur Blake) – 5:42

Personnel

*Ry Cooder – guitar, mandolin, vocals *

Milt Holland Milton Holland (born Milton Olshansky; February 7, 1917 – November 4, 2005) was an American drummer, percussionist, ethnomusicologist and writer in the Los Angeles music scene. He pioneered the use of African, South American, and Indian perc ...

– drums, percussion *

Jim Keltner James Lee Keltner (born April 27, 1942) is an American drummer and percussionist known primarily for his session work. He was characterized by Bob Dylan biographer Howard Sounes as "the leading session drummer in America". Howard Sounes. ''Do ...

– drums * Russ Titelman, Chris Ethridge – electric bass *

Ronnie Barron Ronnie Barron (born Ronald Raymond Barrosse, October 9, 1943, in Algiers, New Orleans – March 20, 1997) was an American actor, keyboardist, organist, and blue-eyed soul singer during the 1970s. He was known for his work as a session music ...

– piano, organ * Red Callender, John Duke – bass guitar *

Plas Johnson Plas John Johnson Jr. () (born July 21, 1931) is an American soul-jazz and hard bop tenor saxophonist, probably most widely known as the tenor saxophone soloist on Henry Mancini’s " The Pink Panther Theme". He also performs on alto and bar ...

– alto saxophone *

Oscar Brashear Oscar Brashear (August 18, 1944 – July 7, 2023) was an American jazz trumpeter and session musician from Chicago, Illinois. After studying at DuSable High School and Wright Jr. College (currently known as Wilbur Wright College) under John DeR ...

– cornet * Bobby King, Gene Mumford, Bill Johnson, George McCurn, Walter Cook, Richard Jones, Russ Titelman, Karl Russell – voices *

Earl Hines Earl Kenneth Hines, also known as Earl "Fatha" Hines (December 28, 1903 – April 22, 1983), was an American jazz pianist and bandleader. He was one of the most influential figures in the development of jazz piano and, according to one source, " ...

– piano on "Ditty Wah Ditty" *

George Bohanon George Roland Bohanon Jr. (August 7, 1937 – November 8, 2024) was an American jazz trombonist and session musician from Detroit, Michigan. Biography In the early 1960s, he participated in Detroit's Workshop Jazz ensemble, with Johnny Griffith, ...

– horn arrangement *Nick DeCaro – string arrangement ;Technical *Russ Titelman, Lenny Waronker – production *Judy Maizel, Trudy Portch – production coordination *Lee Herschberg – engineer, mixing *Bobby Hata, John Neal – assistant engineer *Susan Titelman (Ry Cooder's wife and Russ Titelman's sister) – cover paintings and photography

Chart positions

References

1974 albums Ry Cooder albums Albums produced by Lenny Waronker Albums produced by Russ Titelman Reprise Records albums 1970s covers albums {{1970s-rock-album-stub