Los Lobos – The Ride

Los Lobos - The RideAfter hitting a creative peak in the early ’90s, Los Lobos settled into a decade-long groove that was perhaps a little too comfortable. The band’s twelfth studio CD, The Ride, tries to shake things up a bit, and mostly succeeds by pairing the group with a string of collaborators similar to Carlos Santana’s Supernatural. Only instead of the young hit-makers that propelled Santana’s comeback, The Ride matches Los Lobos with early influences (Bobby Womack, Little Willie G) and long-time friends (Dave Alvin, Elvis Costello).

The experimentalism that fueled 1992’s Kiko can be found here on a couple of tracks–most notably “Kitate,” a deliriously wiggy collaboration with Tom Waits and Martha Gonzales of Quetzal–but generally the focus is on blues, soul, and roots rock. Surprisingly, some of the strongest performances are new versions of songs previously recorded by Lobos: Costello helps the band re-invent “Matter of Time” as a piano and pedal-steel guitar ballad; Mavis Staples turns the folk-blues lament of “Someday” into rousing Stax soul/gospel; and Womack segues effortlessly from “Wicked Rain” into his ’70s blaxploitation classic, “Across 110th Street.” Of the newer material, the band shines brightest on “La Venganza de Los Pelados,” a Latin dance workout with Café Tacuba, and the bluesy soul of “Chains of Love,” which shreds 12-bar formula by including a 90-second violin solo. The latter is a tribute to ’50s rock & rollers Don and Dewey, proving that the best road to the future is sometimes paved by revisiting the distant past. –Keith Moerer

Release Date: May 4, 2004
Label: Fontana Mammoth

Website: LosLobos.org

Track Listing:

  1. La Venganza de Los Pelados – featuring Cafe Tacuba
  2. Rita
  3. Is This All There Is? – featuring Little Willie G.
  4. Charmed
  5. Somewhere In Time – featuring Dave Alvin
  6. Wicked Rain/Across 110th Street – featuring Bobby Womack
  7. Kitate – featuring Tom Waits and Martha Gonzalez
  8. Hurry Tomorrow
  9. Ya Se Va – featuring Ruben Blades
  10. Wreck Of The Carlos Rey – featuring Richard Thompson
  11. Matter Of Time – featuring Elvis Costello
  12. Someday – featuring Mavis Staples
  13. Chains Of Love