Ry Cooder: Chávez Ravine (Nonesuch)

CHÁVEZ RAVINE is Ry Cooder's What A Carve Up, a multilayered song-cycle about the way a Hispanic neighbourhood of Los Angeles was cleared to make way for the Dodgers' baseball stadium. On one level it is about power, corruption and lies, with film noir echoes of Chinatown, L.A. Confidential and Who Framed Roger Rabbit. But on another it is surprisingly laid-back and optimistic, about love, life, community and the enduring power of music.