Jazz and Blues Report review The Town and the City
Los Lobos is certainly not a band I am unfamiliar with. In my old concert promotion days I brought them to Cleveland twice. Since that time I have kept up with their recordings…always interested in seeing what new stuff they came up with. Known for their Tex-Mex rock, roots and Mexican music with tinges of jazz, blues and more, they began to branch off into a fresh and different direction on the CD Kiko. Now they have really expanded more on that with this brand new album, resulting in their finest, deepest, most creative offering to date.
The music here is comprised of dark moods and strange grooves done mostly at medium or slow tempos and loaded with emotion. The concept is a look at life in America today…working harder and harder just trying to survive, not to mention so many other problems in todays society, those of immigrants and in the world in general. Each song carries a different message and very different music to convey it, sometimes with some eerie things going on with the guitars, keyboards or percussion. Los Lobos actually began in 1973 in L.A., but became well-known with their mid eighties album How Will The Wolf
Survive? This is their 13th album with the same bandmembers; and the long road theyve travelled, and experience theyve garnered together certainly shows here. This is a keeper to be played again and again. Viva Los Lobos! Crank it up.
Bill Wahl