Dose

Latin Playboys | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 2, 1999)
• Original Release Date: March 2, 1999
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Atlantic
• ASIN: B00000I5LS
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #88,075 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com's Best of 99

With their other band Los Lobos, David Hidalgo and Louie Perez helped generate a Latin rock & roll sound specific to East Los Angeles. With Latin Playboys, Hidalgo and Perez--joined by studio maestros Tchad Blake and Mitch Froom--are quickly yanking even the wildest Los Lobos material into an altogether more dynamic, complex realm. Hissing, crackling, lo-fi sonic buzzing--it's all part of Dose, which ranks squarely with the best of 1999 precisely because it stretches in so many directions without losing its heart. --Andrew Bartlett

Amazon.com

The follow-up to the Latin Playboys' 1994 cult-fave debut finds the union of Los Lobos bandmates David Hidalgo and Louie Perez and the studio team of Mitchell Froom and Tchad Blake pushing their envelope-busting, genre-blending mix of ethnic, urban, rock, jazz, and audio vérité across every boundary they can imagine and into a musical place that seems to lie just south of the eighth dimension. It's a journey down Whittier Boulevard by way of the rings of Saturn. Dose's slice-of-life lyrics come alive in brave new music whose rhythm tracks are as likely to be a chorus of bicycle bells recorded in an Indian street as standard drums. The opening instrumental, "Fiesta Exotica," sets the tone, recalling the dense, alien rush of Jimi Hendrix's Are You Experienced. Indeed, Dose echoes the most underrated aspect of '60s rock: its utopian sense of endless possibilities and the adventuresome spirit to pursue them. Each track seems to be a short story with a soundtrack that manages to be simultaneously familiar ("Lemon & Ice"'s cool, loping R&B; the Curtis Mayfield-esque falsetto of "Locoman"; the distorted-blues shuffle of "Tormento Blvd.") and otherworldly. Listened to in tandem with Hidalgo's other contemporary side project, Houndog (a minimalist blues excursion with vocalist Mike Halby), Dose supports producer T Bone Burnett's contention that Hidalgo is one of the greatest musicians of his generation. As far as making the perfect video for this music, Orson Welles may well have beaten the Playboys to the punch; he called his Touch of Evil. --Jerry McCulley

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars superb, May 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Dose (Audio CD)

not for everybody! DOSE is low tech (in effect at least) and rough around the edges. -Not through lack of attention, but that is what they want you to hear. Its like the interpretation of dreams or memories invoked with the help of sound effects, narration & sound quality that belongs to an earlier age. It works wonderfully well if you let it....

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars addictive, original, possibly the album of the year!, August 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Dose (Audio CD)

The music on this album has a fusion of different sounds masterfully combined to create a mindopening musical experience. It combines rock, funk, and latin grooves among other sounds. Unfortunately the Latin playboys along with Los Lobos probably will not be truly appreciated untill they are long gone. They are definately way ahead of the times. You would do yourself a favor to give this album a listen.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Worth a Second Look (Listen), November 5, 1999

By 

Caitlin Hughes (Maryland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dose (Audio CD)

On first playing it, I immediately began evaluating my options for getting a refund. Very dischordant, very inconsistent. Not at all what I thought I was getting based on a cool NPR review. Then, a few days later, in a completely different mood, I put it on for a second try. This CD was clearly meant for an enlightened ear. I can't convince anyone else I live with to like it (although the dogs like lemon n' ice, they only tolerate the scratchier tunes, and they run around in a frenzy at the background sounds of sirens -- they're purists and more inclined to celtic, anyway); but I don't care -- I love it. If you bought it, hated it, and still have it, try it again. It's like ethiopian food -- some of it looks familiar, some of it is delicious, but not everyone is going to dare to try it (twice).