Los Lobos C/D

feel like Rojas' blues dad schtick has taken them into "uncool" territory

On a major kick: Will the Wolf Survive, the superior By the Light of the Moon, the even better The Neighborhood. As forgotten as they are, it's not often mentioned how their guitars got tougher, the rhythms more fascinating; my stereotypical thinking led me to think Mitchell Froom did his clinkety clankety Froomery on otherwise solid songs instead of complementing already weird songs.

Massively underrated band. Someone on twitter once asked for people to name the most underrated band, and Jason Isbell, immediately and to his credit, posted "Los Lobos."

Don't remember this thread, should have long since posted this, from my Nashville Scene ballot comments re 2010 albums:

On Los Lobos' Tin Can Trust, it seems like the narrator is on the
verge, he's some old tired guy, but made up his mind to do something,
take revenge and/or a commission, various indicators of volatility
keep rolling by or up the block, and little jolts--I know, enough with
the foreplay already, but the tension keeps getting renewed,
reinforced, and the Dead cover, "West L.A. Fadeaway," fits perfectly,
with no crunchy granola attached
(it's all sidewalks and traffic, the whole album, and then
there's the sardonic "happy ending" history short). A cliche to say
it's a soundtrack for movies you can make up, but it really seems to
work that way, rumbling implications--if it were so definite a
storyline, would get too familiar too fast, perhaps. It is badass
urban country, obsessive as a shot glass lens.

my fault that i don't really know the others, but kiko is an incredible album

Yeah, all the tracks I remember are pretty vivid, need to check it again.
xpost Then from 2015 Pazz & Jop comments:
Los Lobos, Gates of Gold: Sun-dried rough-edged West Coast splendor, variegated, acerbic, appetitive, keen. Still got the touch & the L.A. River. (Jimmy Carter: "When somebody described Ronald Reagan to ma as an ambitious old man, I laughed. I'm not laughing any more.")

That's still the most recent I've heard. Maybe they'll do some Deluxe Edition expanded reissues, or maybe they have?

I used to have an unexplainable aversion to these guys, probably because my only frame of reference when I was younger was the La Bamba soundtrack, but I picked up the Just Another Band from East L.A. comp earlier this year and belatedly realized how great they are.

I have a good friend who is (or I guess, was) always buying great seats to shows in his city and then generously inviting friends along. A few years back he bought some seats to see Los Lobos at sort of a seated club situation, and apparently no one wanted to go with him! He said he ended up going by himself, iirc, and that the band absolutely killed it.

Some trivia: everyone always cites bands like the Pogues, but I've had a club owner tell me that Los Lobos is the only band that ever shut them down at the end of the night. Out of booze, out of time, everyone has to go home.

I will ride for Collosal Head forever but I know I’m in the minority

"Mas y Mas" and the title track kick ass.

I don't understand xhuck's Tom Waits comparisons. Waits loves his clinkety-clankety theatrics, but From and Los Lobos didn't pursue grotesquerie for its own sake.

it’s way more restrained than waits thing. I get a kind of lofi trip-hop vibe from a lot of stuff, e.g. the murky ride cymbals on stuff like “life is good” reminds me of portishead.

“little japan” is a sleeper

the whole last half is really interesting, lots of instrumentals.

I love "Colossal Head."

Speaking of Los Lobos and The Pogues, there were two very young women, Nancy McCallion and Catherine Zavala, who had a Southwestern New Wave band, but they saw LL and TP on the same bill in London, then went back to Tucson and started The Mollys, which was Irish-Chicana folk-country-rock-polka etc (also sounded like they knew Willner's Weill tribs), which, why not, the Irish went West to work in the mines, also do some shooting (the band name is in part a reference to the Molly MaGuires from back East), also there was (stay with me now just a little bit longer) the San Patricio Brigade, who switched sides in the Mexican-American War, from the latter to former, and inspired The Chieftans' San Patricio, which includes Linda Ronstadt, Van Dyke Parks, enough Coody to appease the suits, Los Tigres del Norte, Lila Downs, and many more, incl. three tracks feat. Los Centzontles, a really good, deeply knowledgeable young folk-rock etc., who made a couple albums with appearances by David Hidalgo, and I think some other Lobos have showed up onstage them (a publicist told me was having trouble placing coverage in some Americana outlets, even w Hidalgo in there, also He and Taj Mahal were on the follow-up, but something about Los C not sounding American e enough)(I've heard grumbles about that Richard Thompson fella too, I shit you not).

Also, though I've never been that into his lyrics or his voice, can see how Waits albums like Rain Dogs and Swordfishtrombones relate sonically to some LL, also the Latin Playboys sidetrip, which xgau loved, esp. the s/t:
...David Hidalgo and Louis Pérez rework Kiko outtakes to undercut the band's Springsteenian quest for meaning. Whenever the lyrical impressions lapse toward the stolid or sodden, they're lifted by the spare, bent music: echoes and silences, filtered voices and ancient klaxons, Indian film sounds and scratchy samples of street bebop, jagged Beefheart rhythms and idle guitar thoughts, friendly melodies from a Victrola perched on a barrio windows..., gave that one an A+, and Dose an A, also wrote a bit longer, all of that's here (scroll way down past these Consumer Guide entries for link to other piece):
https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=Latin+Playboys

I've meant to check out all the post-Colossal Head albums, can only attest that The Town and the City is really good. Tin Can Trust seems like a good next step? (intrigued by "all sidewalks and traffic")

Alfred's writing prompted me to listen to their first two Slash albums last night. (How Will the Wolf Survive? is only 33 minutes, By the Light of the Moon only 40.) I hadn't heard Wolf in over 30 years; I never heard Moon at the time. Listening now, I hear lots of '80s barroom blues in their sound; Stevie Ray Vaughan and the Fabulous Thunderbirds are in there for sure, especially in the guitar tones and the trash-can drum sound on a song like "My Baby's Gone".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXhPp5QIgQM

I'm gonna keep listening. I think I might wind up hating the albums the critics love, but we'll see.

Well, thank you. I'm in the minority for thinking they got better with each album; of the first three, The Neighborhood is the peak.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xDukUlPRhY

"Be Still" is so beautiful. "The Neighborhood" is often overlooked in the band's evolution (and features not one but two cameos from fellow Ignored For No Good Reason roots-rocker John Hiatt).

heh -- the Hiatt cameo sounded my alarm bells.

There are plenty of good reasons to ignore John Hiatt. Signed, person who bought Slow Turning at 16 based on a rapturous Rolling Stone review, and even saw the man live (with Robert Cray opening!) that fall.

I bet it was a great double bill! I almost never listen to John Hiatt, but I saw him on some bill with a bunch of other songwriters, and every time it was his turn to sing he absolutely silenced the crowd, so the dude's got my respect.

I've always thought that "The Neighborhood" sounded pretty great, too, so I looked up the producer, and I was surprised to see a name I didn't recognize: Larry Hirsch. Turns out Hirsch was the engineer on a ton of T-Bone Burnett/Mitchell Froom/Nick Lowe productions.

What I wrote a couple days ago.

The Band influence otm; "When the Circus Comes" on "Kiko" is one of the few songs indebted to the Band that actually *sounds* like the Band, right down to the pinched guitar harmonics (which simultaneously also makes it one of few guitar solos inspired by Robertson's playing that actually *sounds* like Robertson's playing).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULj3LoXvkcQ

totally

kiko is a truly weird and beautiful album, i went through a serious kick a few years back. i recall loving "arizona skies" and "wicked rain." also that haunting title track.

re: will the wolf survive, another really solid album, if a bit more traditional than kiko. "i got loaded" will live forever thanks to bull durham

Signed to New West and a new (mostly) covers album, Native Sons, due out in July

1. Love Special Delivery (Thee Midniters)
2. Misery (Barrett Strong)
3. Bluebird/For What It’s Worth (Buffalo Springfield)
4. Los Chucos Suaves (Lalo Guerrero)
5. Jamaica Say You Will (Jackson Browne)
6. Never No More (Percy Mayfield)
7. Native Son (Los Lobos) * the sole original on the album
8. Dichoso (Willie Bobo)
9. Farmer John (The Premiers)
10. Sail On, Sailor (Beach Boys)
11. The World Is A Ghetto (WAR)
12. Flat Top Joint (Blasters)
13. Where Lovers Go (The Jaguars)

kinda digging this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJtSi6-0418

I like how Shandling makes the band cut up a little right before they go into their song.

pic.twitter.com/thzTQrCFaD

— SNL Hosts Introducing the Musical Guest (@snlhostsintro) November 29, 2021

Los Lobos live on this latest World Cafe: just did "It's Christmas in Texas," now "Please Come Home For Christmas," w tuba and maybe another bonus horn, kinda The Band-ish (instrumentally)

Oh wait,it was just an excerpt of a previous live set, now they've gone to Tracy Thorne's version of "River," the suitably inconsolable sleeper seasonal classick: nice cover, duh, but already hearing JM's ace original quite a bit on local jazz station, this and every year.

This is Los Lobos at their most the Band:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCSKdR0E1cA

From New West:

Congratulations to Los Lobos on their Grammy win last night! The band was awarded Best Americana Album for their 2021 studio album Native Sons at last night’s ceremony. It is their fourth Grammy Award win.
Watch Steve Berlin accept the award on behalf of the band, and catch Los Lobos near you as they begin the next leg of their extensive Native Sons tour this Friday.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEH_NxkUwrM

tour dates:
https://www.loslobos.org/site/tour.shtml?utm_source=Mailing+List&utm_campaign=80ceed6939-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2022_04_04_11_16&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_9d7f017887-80ceed6939-415586925&goal=0_9d7f017887-80ceed6939-415586925&mc_cid=80ceed6939&mc_eid=3ce2be0c08

I really regret missing their free show at Prospect Park in Brooklyn a few years back. There was the threat of heavy rain, so I didn't want to make the 90-120 minute trek just to be disappointed. (It was merely a light rain.)

Ah damn. Did he record with them?

Francisco González, a founding member of Los Lobos, has died. He was 68.
In the early 1970s, González joined fellow musicians Louie Perez, David Hidalgo, Cesar Rosas and Conrad Lozano to form one of East LA's most eclectic bands.

Los Lobos paid tribute to González on its Instagram page.

"We are deeply saddened by the passing of our brother and founding member, Francisco González. He, along with Cesar, started the group in 1973 for the purpose of 'playing Mexican music for our mothers,' as he always put it. Francisco was a brilliant musician, and after leaving the group in 1976 to follow a different musical path, he went on to master the Veracruz harp, then became the musical director of El Teatro Campesino theatre group—always shining across a lifetime of accomplishments."

nah he never recorded with them

Cool concert review:

The band brought Nuevo guitarist David Jimenez and keyboardist Anthony Farrell onstage for the jam, which must have lasted 10 minutes at least, and then each performer got to walk through “The Neighborhood,” roaming about on fret boards, across the ivories, over the baritone sax’s buttons. Los Lobos drummer Fredo Ortiz, the longtime Beastie Boys drummer, held down the beat and was as entertaining to watch as he was to hear. It’s hard to put into words how exhilarating this particular moment of the show was, but if Los Lobos brings “The Neighborhood” to your neighborhood, you should try to be there.

I read the Los Lobos "Dream in Blue" book and learned so much, like how they never grew up particularly interested in traditional music, or even acoustic instruments, gravitating toward the usual jammy stuff in the '60s - Cream, Hendrix, the Dead, and so on - but then followed the lead of bands like the Band and Fairport Convention in embracing their own folk equivalent; they would scour the thrift shops for all these old traditional instruments that no one wanted. Or that they never really bothered writing their own songs until much later, maybe the early '80s, taking specific inspiration from the Blasters. Lots of other great stuff in there, too. Worth a read. Also discovered this fascinating document through it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfpdejgOBpk

There's that classic quote from Louie Perez: "If you were married between 1973 and 1980 in East L.A., we probably played your wedding."

An example of a band that got better with each album.

This is awesome---watch it while you can (although there was an ad for DVD version, maybe CD as well)(scroll down for bonus performances)

Dia de los Muertos
Special | 55m 36s

¡Dia de los Muertos! is a musical celebration of this much-anticipated and highly celebrated fiesta by people of Mexican heritage everywhere. Special guests include Latino rock greats, Los Lobos, the salsa-rap-reggae-funk of Ozomatli — both Los Angeles-based — and the all-female mariachi band Flor de Toloache from New York City.

Aired: 10/28/22

Expires: 11/25/22

Rating: TV-PG

actually just bought a ticket today to see them down the street in a couple of weeks! been a while.

xpost Just watched that, that was rad. We're going to miss Los Lobos when they're gone.

Seeing Los Lobos tonight. Pretty sure I'm the only one seeing them, the 1975 and Sunn O))) the same week, lol.

Man, this band is a national treasure. They were so good tonight I was practically jealous of myself.

I just checked the setlists, and holy crap they're crazy. A ton of covers, but also they're completely mixing it up each night - very, very few repeats, even when playing material from the same album. I already missed most of the New York residency (there's one more show tomorrow night, and I may miss that as well) but if I had the money it would've been worth going every night.

Yeah, I meant to follow up. They played four nights here. I saw them on a Saturday, the Sunday set was pretty much 100% different. And then Monday's set after that looks like it was 3/4 different from the previous two nights. I didn't check the set list for the fourth night, but I assume it was equally different. They have such a deep catalog. And the night I saw them a local blues guy sat in for a few songs, and needless to say Los lobos is so tight that pretty much they can back anyone, no sweat.

I almost want to say they're like the Band if the Band had their shit together and didn't self-destruct. (Musical differences aside, though the both do draw on musical traditions that pre-date rock, including some overlapping ones.)

I've probably commented before how well Los Lobos nail The Band on "When the Circus Comes to Town."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZUtkRDfmMk

Love that album, but I especially love that track.

They start to lose me with Kiko, but up till that moment every album was better than the last.