...Los Lobos remains as relevant and vibrant as ever.

THE RIDE
LOS LOBOS
Hollywood Records/Mammoth Records

By Désirée I. Guzzetta

Something old, something new, some things borrowed, some things blues: That’s what you’ll get if you accept The Ride with seminal East L.A. band Los Lobos.

For its 12th album—which is also the first one produced by the band itself—Los Lobos picks up a few friends and influences for a journey encompassing its musical past and present. Older tunes are reworked with new arrangements and guest vocals, while new tunes suggest both a mastery of the past and a look to the future of the band’s sound. The result is an outing more than worth the price per gallon at today’s gas pumps.

As with previous Los Lobos efforts, The Ride cruises along the roads of blues, roots rock, Latin folk, and soul, occasionally intersecting with other musical paths and incorporating them into the bands’ core sound.

The album starts strongly with a new song, the Spanish-language "La Vengaza de Los Pelados" ("The Revenge of the Underdogs"), a collaboration with Roc en español’s Café Tacuba. The song is a giddy dance-rock workout marked by crunchy guitar licks and multi-layered percussion.

"Rita," another new song, switches gears to a soulful, sad, yet ultimately beautiful tone. The band then dips into its past with a funkier version of "Is This All There Is?" (from its album By The Light of the Moon) with help from Thee Midnighters’ Little Willie G., another seminal figure in East L.A. Chicano rock. The infusion of inspiration revitalizes both the song and the band’s energy.

Other highlights include the wacky "Kitate," a playful collection of musical noises and quirky vocals provided by the endearingly gravelly Tom Waits, as well as the wonderfully elastic Martha Gonzalez of fellow East L.A. band, Quetzal; a medley of the band’s "Wicked Rain" (from Kiko) with Bobby Womack’s classic "Across 110th Street," with Womack featured on vocals; and "Someday" (from The Neighborhood), which features the amazing grace of Mavis Staples’ gospel vocals.

The new songs, including the insinuating groove of "Charmed" and the countryish guitar narrative of "Wreck of the Carlos Rey"—the latter a fruitful collaboration with Fairport Convention's Richard Thompson—together with the timelessness revealed in the reworked older tunes show that Los Lobos remains as vibrant and relevant as ever. Take The Ride with Los Lobos with caution, though: Once you get in the car, you’re not going to want the trip to end.

Read more about the band and buy the album here: http://www.loslobos.org/ or here: Official Album Site

Page last updated: May 04, 2004

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