Amazon Review of T&C

After variously celebrating their 30th anniversary with the star- studded The Ride, documenting their bracing live shows on Live at the Fillmore and doing a little intimate musical retrenchment on the self- released Acoustic En Vivo, Los Lobos returned to the studio with creative exploration on their minds. The result is their most sonically adventurous, thematically taut collection since the heady days of Kiko and Colossal Head. With lyrics penned mostly by multi- instrumentalist Louis Perez, the album’s first-person narrative views a myriad of larger issues through slices of local life, from the immigrants’ physical and spiritual travails of “The Valley” and “Hold On” to the liturgical grace of “Little Things” and the haunting, neo- psych impressionism of “The City.” The musical tack even more adventurous one, one that seamlessly infuses diverse flavors that range from the infectious calo Spanglish patois of Cesar Rosa’s “Chuco’s Cumbia” and neo-norteno “The Road to Gila Bend” to the chunky r&b groove of “Don’t Ask Why,” the Caribbean-Latin fusion of “No Pueda Mas” and the shadowy, jazz reflectiveness of the “The Town.” The Lobos blend it all into a compelling sonic landscape, one that’s tamed the playful, psychedelic spirit of Perez and Louis Hidalgo’s free-spirited Latin Playboys side project and focused it into a band context with rich rewards at every turn. — Jerry McCulley