It’s like going from a wide stretch of starlight desert range in
\nthe midnight hour to a smokey blues bar where the lights are turned
\ndown low and the beer is flowing aplenty. That’s the best way I can
\ndescribe the change that Los Lobos underwent from their heralded
\n1992 album
\nKiko<\/i> to 1996’s
\nColossal Head<\/i>.<\/p>\n
\nKiko<\/i> made about every critic’s best-of list for 1992. It was
\na beautiful, mythical album that put any claim that Los Lobos were
\nonly that
\nLa Bamba<\/i> song band back in 1987 to rest. As great as
\nKiko<\/i> was, I thought there were times that the album was
\nover-produced. Any hint of over-production is non-existent on
\nColossal Head<\/i>. After working on the soundtracks of
\nDesperado<\/i> and
\nFeeling Minnesota<\/i>, the band recorded
\nColossal Head<\/i> in six short weeks.<\/p>\n
Los Lobos’ rich 20-year history with each other has paid off. In
\ntheir history, they’ve managed to weave R&B, hippie rock ala
\nthe Grateful Dead, straightforward rock and the sound of a great
\nlocal bar band effortlessly into their albums. While
\nColossal Head<\/i> may sound like it was recorded in a basement,
\nnot a studio, the inspiration is there in every single track.<\/p>\n
The album kicks off with the murky “Revolution”. The soft,
\nmuddled bass of Conrad Lozano perfectly plays off of David
\nHidalgo’s blues-inspired vocals. The album then kicks into a full
\nout jam session with “Mas Y Mas,” an instant staple to Los Lobos’
\nsmoking live shows.<\/p>\n
The traditional Hispanic sound of “Maricela” is about the only
\nsong on
\nColossal Head<\/i> that fits with Los Lobos’ heritage. The rest
\nof the album feels as if the band took a road trip to Chicago and
\nNew Orleans and took in some serious blues acts. The instrumental
\ncloser, “Buddy Ebsen Loves The Night Time” would sound perfect in a
\ndirty Chicago blues bar. The rest of
\nColossal Head<\/i> is far harder to categorize. From the
\nexperimental steel guitar slide of “Everybody Loves A Train” to the
\npensive ballad “Little Japan,” Los Lobos brings in Hispanic, blues
\nand deep-grooving R&B almost seamlessly.<\/p>\n
In an album that’s packed with highlights, “Manny’s Bones” is
\nthe standout song of the lot. Louis Perez lays down a funeral-type
\npercussion march as Hidalgo and Cesar Rojas play a swinging, bad
\nass guitar refrain. The chorus sounds something like a sing along
\nIrish wake song. “…and let the water take him to his home.” The
\nwater imagery that Los Lobos can give the listener is
\nastounding.<\/p>\n
\nColossal Head<\/i> is in many ways superior to their acclaimed
\nKiko<\/i>. Instead of taking the full production approach, Los
\nLobos took a risk and made an album that seemed to pride itself on
\nits imperfections. While it may not be their most groundbreaking
\nalbum, all you have to do is go to one of their concerts and see
\nthe people that this album would attract:blues lovers, Phish
\nfollowers, Latin music enthusiasts and fans who just want to dance
\ntheir asses off. Pretty damn impressive accomplishment if you ask
\nme.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":24506,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5812],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-35709","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-los-lobos","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/35709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/35709\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35709"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=35709"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=35709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}