Bloggerhythms

Los Lobos's Chicano based rock never has been, and almost certainly never will be appreciated by the masses, and that's OK. They've made themselves a viable force in rock music, consistently making excellent records loved by critics and a large, devoted cult of which I am a member. They're a great success.  The Los Angeles quintet is still in business with the same five man lineup they've rolled out since How Will The Wolf Survive  became their breakthrough album almost forty years ago. The brand new  Native Sons is the group's fourth set of covers. Previously, they gave us a seven song EP,  Ride This ; the children's record,  Los Lobos Goes Disney ; and if you want to count movie soundtracks you can add  La Bamba to the list. I've written here before that artists often release cover albums when they've lost their muse but this new record is not one of those times. These veterans have never been afraid to issue cover albums interspersed with rel...

Cesar Rosas, the "other" singer and guitarist for Los Lobos, the great Los Angeles quintet, is not as well known as frontman David Hidalgo and he is a less prolific composer than either Hidalgo or bandmate Louis Perez. However, he shouldn't have to take a back seat to them because Rosas is a better vocalist than his legendary group's lead singer and his original songs are just as rewarding as those written by the Hidalgo/Perez team. Rosas' one and only solo CD, Soul Disguise (1999), rocks just as hard as his band did in their early years and stylistically it is reminiscent of their debut, How Will the Wolf Survive . The guitarist is also a versatile singer who can handle horn-fueled R & B ("E. Los Ballad #13"), traditional Mexican folk music ("Angelito" and "Adios Mi Vida"), and even a soulful ballad ("Better Way"). Much of the rest is straight ahead rock highlighted by "Little Heaven," the blues influence...

Los Lobos has always been one of the best bands of the post-classic rock era and they are one of my personal all time favorite bands from any era. The consistency of their work over their twenty-four year recording career has been astounding and their latest, The Town And The City , is another critically acclaimed batch of songs. Some reviewers even rank it alongside their universally agreed upon masterwork, Kiko . However, despite its seriousness and worthy subject matter I find The Town And The City to be one of the band's more disappointing efforts. While I like this disc, I don't grant it the exalted status that almost everyone else who writes about music has assigned to it. The thirteen songs form a loosely based concept album about the Mexican-American experience including the travails of the ultra-controversial illegal Mexicans that are becoming more and more a part of American society. You can guess that the band is sympathetic towards their brethren but that isn'...