★★★★★
The Wolf Survives
There's this stupid Pace salsa commercial, some version of which has been running for years, that makes fun of a dude because his condiment comes from New York City. The authentic cowboys in the ad gawk in disbelief, as if modern San Antonio, Texas, shares more in common with the old southwest than it does the Big Apple. These days, as Los Lobos will tell you, the 'hood is where you find it--whether it be East L.A. or Manhattan's City Winery...
- www.popmatters.com
2013-12-13
★★★★★
When they started out in theirnative East Los Angeles, in1973, Los Lobos may nothave seemed destined to lastlong enough to celebrate their40th anniversary. Broughttogether, in their own words,by a love for Ry Cooder, Randy Newman and, erm, FairportConvention, the band put theirown distinctive Latino spin ontraditional American music.
- recordcollectormag.com
2013-12-06
★★★★★
Track Listing: CD 1: Intro; The Neighborhood; Oh Yeah; Chuco's Cumbia; Tears of God;
Venganza de
los Polados; Tin Can Trust; I Got To Let You Know; Maria Christina;
Malaque; Little
Things; Set Me Free (Rosa Lee); La Bamba / Good Lovin'. CD 2: Hardest
Time; Bertha;
Don't Worry Baby; Mas Y Mas. DVD: Chuco's Cumbia; Tears of God; Set Me
Free (Rosa
Lee); La Venganza de Los Pelados; Malaque...
- www.allaboutjazz.com
2013-11-30
★★★★★
Los Lobos are marking their 40th anniversary as a band with the release of this live record, Disconnected In New York City, which is about as low-key as a ruby anniversary gets. That doesn't mean it's bad, just unnecessary. The setlist spans a number of years, but it's not definitive or celebratory (like a 40thanniversary should be). In particular, there are no inclusions from Los Lobos' best album, Kiko, which is a huge disappointment...
- www.beat.com.au
2013-11-21
★★★★★
429 Records The eponymously named MTV series of the 1990s spawned a new genre in rock music- unplugged. Artists would trade in electric guitars and keyboards for Martins and Steinways, drummers either pulled way back or reached for the bundle sticks and brushes, and old classics found new life reworked and delivered to an intimate audience...
- www.jambands.com
2013-11-04
★★★★★
The always impressive Shout! Factory label pulls out all the stops to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Los Lobos' monumental recording with three releases, all available separately. The original Kiko album was an anomaly at the time of its 1992 release, not just because it showed that the already well-respected Los Lobos were more than just a really good roots rock band, but because it so successfully broadened their artistic vision, lyrically and musically, with production (by Mitchell Froom)...
- www.americansongwriter.com
2013-04-25
★★★★★
Shout! Factory The release of Kiko 20 years ago by Los Lobos wasn't just the opening of a door - they knocked the damn thing right off the hinges. At that point in their career (with 7 albums and a couple of Grammy awards under their belts) the self-described "just another band from East L.A." were an established commodity: multi-faceted rockers who wove their Latin roots proudly throughout the music they made. Kiko, however, was something different...
- www.jambands.com
2012-09-04
★★★★★
The second volume of Los Lobos' Live Recordings series supplies multiple reminders why this is not just another band from East LA. The scholar/academician might look for more background content on the locale of such a recording as One Night One /Time Vol.2, and perhaps some rationale from the band (especially archivist/producer of this title, Lobos' Cesar Roas), as to why this particular show deserves preservation for posterity...
- www.glidemagazine.com
2011-10-31
★★★★★
About the worst thing you can say about Los Lobos is that they might have gotten distracted for a couple of albums. 1992's landmark Kiko was a near-perfect blend of the established Los Lobos sound--steeped in '50s and '60s rock and soul, incorporating elements of Hispanic culture--and something new and ethereal...
- www.popmatters.com
2011-01-20