Remember Alamo Bay

Press, 13 February 1986, Page 18

Remember Alamo Bay

RY COODER “Music From The Motion Picture ‘Alamo Bay’ ” (Big Time BT 7052).

From the killing fields to the fishing fields is the background to the film, "Alamo Bay.” And the music produced by Cooder also gives a marvellous swelling background to the film which is based on a conflict between Vietnam immigrants and U.S. fishermen, some of whom were former Vietnam War veterans, at Port Alamo, on the Texas Gulf.

“Time” magazine’s music critics chose the soundtrack among its most popular section for records of 1985, describing it as “Southwest border funk, shimmering guitar elegies, and raw roadhouse blues.” In spite of the racial conflict be-

tween the U.S. fishermen and the Vietnamese immigrants, who had experienced shrimp fishermen in Vietnam, the music itself shows a number of cultural influences already in the Lone Star state.

Besides Cooder, who has already shown his knowledge on Tex-Mex music, there is Cesar Rosas, from Los Lobos, giving a clear Mexican influence on the superb “Quatro Vicios,” with Cooder on accordion. The song titles themselves seem to capture the feeling of uptight Americans holding on to values under the gaze of the French director, Louis Malle — the threatening rock of “Gooks On Main Street,” to the threatening Oriental piece, “Search And Destroy.”

“Search and Destroy” shows how good Cooder is on guitar, the acoustic one in this case, as he combines mystery and menace into the sound. The title track, “Alamo Bay,” is marvellous too, and it seems as much at home with Van Morrison at his Celtic music best as on the border.

Personally, I have been somewhat dissatisfied with Cooder’s music since 1979’s “Bop ’til You Drop,” but “Alamo Bay” shows that Cooder has not lost his touch when gathering a fine bunch of musicians around him. Cooder is able to set the scene without having to watch the picture. “Sailfish Evening” is a good example of this, so that the album can stand on its own.