Soundtracks

CD1 THE LONG RIDERS

1. The Long Riders
2. I'm A Good Old Rebel
3. Seneca Square Dance
4. Archie's Funeral [Hold to God's Unchanging Hand]
5. I Always Knew That You Were The One
6. Rally 'Round The Flag
7. Wildwood Boys
8. Better Things To Think About
9. Jesse James
10. Cole Younger Polka
11. Escape From Northfield
12. Leaving Missouri
13. Jesse James

CD2 MUSIC FROM THE ALAMO BAY

1. Paris, Texas
2. Brothers
3. Nothing Out There
4. Cancion Mixteca
5. No Safety Zone
6. Houston In Two Seconds (Soundtrack Version)
7. She's Leaving The Bank
8. On The Couch
9. I Knew These People
10. Dark Was The Night

CD3 PARIS, TEXAS

1. Theme From Alamo Bay
2. Gooks On Main Street
3. Too Close
4. Klan Meeting
5. Sailfish Evening
6. The Last Stand [Alamo Bay]
7. Quatro Vicios
8. Search And Destroy
9. Glory

CD4 BLUE CITY

1. Crossroads
2. Down In Mississippi
3. Cotton Needs Pickin'
4. Viola Lee Blues
5. See You In Hell Blind Boy
6. Nitty Gritty Mississippi
7. He Made A Woman Out Of Me
8. Feelin' Bad Blues
9. Somebody's Callin' My Name
10. Willie Brown Blues
11. Walkin' Away Blues

CD5 CROSSROADS

1. Blue City Down
2. Elevation 13 Ft.
3. True Believers / Marianne
4. Nice Bike
5. Greenhouse
6. Billy and Annie
7. Pops and 'Timer / Tell Me Something Slick
8. Blue City
9. Don't Take Your Guns To Town
10. A Leader Of Men
11. Not Even Key West

CD6

1. Main Theme [Johnny Handsome]
2. I Can't Walk This Time/The Prestige
3. Angola
4. Clip Joint Rhumba
5. Sad Story
6. Fountain Walk
7. Cajun Metal
8. First Week At Work
9. Greasy Oysters
10. Smells Like Money
11. Sunny's Tune
12. I Like Your Eyes
13. Adios Donna
14. Cruising With Rafe
15. How's My Face
16. End Theme [Johnny Handsome]

CD7

1. Video Drive-By
2. Trespass [Main Title]
3. East St. Louis
4. Orgill Bros.
5. Goose And Lucky
6. You Think It's On Now
7. Solid Gold
8. Heroin
9. Totally Boxed In
10. Give 'Em Cops
11. Lucy In The Trunk
12. We're Rich
13. King Of The Streets
14. Party Lights

For decades, multi-Grammy-winner Ry Cooder has used his virtuosic command of the guitar to explore countless genres across more than a dozen solo albums. But he’s also a master at using music to conjure moods and atmospheres, a skill that’s earned him acclaim as a soundtrack producer with film credits that go back more than three decades.

The music is presented in a clamshell box that features new artwork by Tornado Design, the group behind the distinctive look found on several of Cooder’s recent studio albums, as well as Rhino’s 2008 anthology, The UFO Has Landed.

After Cooder worked on soundtracks for Watermelon Man and Performance (starring Mick Jagger), he began producing soundtracks on his own. He started in 1980 with The Long Riders. It was the first of many soundtracks that Cooder would record for the film’s director, Walter Hill. Many of them are included in this set: Crossroads, Johnny Handsome, Trespass, and Blue City, a film Hill produced.

Cooder enjoyed a prolific two-year period between 1985-86 when he reeled off more than half of the soundtracks in this collection, including Alamo Bay, Blue City, Crossroads, and Paris, Texas, the Wim Wenders’ film that won the prestigious Palme d’Or in 1984 at the Cannes Film Festival.

The soundtracks vary widely in terms of style, even as the group of musicians who performed on them remained remarkably consistent. In fact, some combination of drummer Jim Keltner, Memphis legend Jim Dickinson, guitarist David Lindley, and composer Van Dyke Parks can be heard on every soundtrack included in this set. In addition to those core musicians, the albums also boasts some fantastic guest performances by Cesar Rosas and David Hidalgo of Los Lobos on Alamo Bay, keyboardist Benmont Tench of the Heartbreakers on Blue City, and harmonica player Sonny Terry on Crossroads.