Customer Reviews

Town & The City (Dig)

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A sophisticated record by a mature band. While traces of their bad boy roots rock remain, this record shows a older, more contemplative group of artists. On their landmark debut album they had an anthem of sorts about the plight, courage, and determination of the Latino immigrant with the soaring "Will the Wolf Survive?" Here, there are no anthems, but the story is now filled in with multiple shades and tones. What the boys kicked in the music scene door with back in the Eighties is now voiced with a tired wisdom, regret, and bittersweet pride.

Standout tracks are all over this record; among the best has to be Hidalgo and Perez's "Little Things." Strongly evoking Procol Harem's "A Whiter Shade of Pale," it's that kind of Lobos tune that can just kill you where you stand. An aching, gorgeous and beautifully sad masterpiece.

Caesar Rosas, goes all George Harrison on us this time out and only gives up two songs. Although his "No Puedo Mas" coming towards the end of the record is clearly its furious blues-rock highlight without a doubt. Anyone bemoaning the lack of "rock" on the record should skip straight to this burner and turn it up nice and loud.

But that's not what this record is about. It's about the desperate, spooky "Hold On," the Will the Wolf Survive-like "Road to Gila Bend," the bone-weary, resigned "If Only You were Here Tonight," (a song in which you'd swear Hidalgo's guitar is channeling the ghost of Jerry Garcia), and the foreboding final track "Town."

All-in-all, an excellent group of songs that is strangely reminiscent of Bob Dylan's recent brooding work. A album that requires multiple listens, your attention and your heart.
A keeper.

If this album had been issued by a band whose name consisted of a number and a noun; and whose members were all in their twenties, decked out in skinny glasses, black leather, little beards, and kinky hair, and whose album art consisted of the band members staring glumly into the eye of a camera,this CD would be HUGE.

So if you've never heard of Los Lobos; or if you think they're just a bunch of pudgy throwbacks to the roots-music movement; or if you liked Kiko but lost interest after that; or even if you love Los Lobos so much you'd buy anything they recorded, why not try a little experiment: buy the CD; take it out of the packaging without looking at any of it; slap it into your audio system; grab a comfortable chair and place it right in the center of the stereo image; turn out the lights; and listen as closely as you possibly can.

Who are these guys? How the hell did they come up with these soundscapes, timbres, moods, and fleeting highlights? How come, just when you're expecting the band to boost the volume over the top, throw the drums in your face, and "like, totally rock out," they drop the volume and add a nuance that is more exhilarating than a rave up would ever be? How, with state of the art recording techniques, do they make their songs sound hazy, intriguingly distant, like old lp's without the scratches? Who knows? Wait, I've GOT to know.

But hey, did you hear that? What the guitars are doing? If he weren't so humble, it would be hard to believe that the lead player could be capable of playing so many styles so perfectly, and yet so personally. I wait in vain for the cliches. He's in the pantheon, allright.

What's with the bass player? What, no funky thumb-wacking, no treble-booster? Is that even a bass guitar, when it insuates itself so fluidly into the interior of the chords? Hell, sometimes the bass note is the only thing making the chords change.

How come I believe what the singer's saying? When he's expressing desperation and weariness, I want to back away. I don't want to hear about it.

SO ANYWAY, how do you like this new record by "Ace44," the "Gleaming Swords," "Heatrash," or whatever name you want to give this band?

It's one of the best records you ever heard in your life, by any band, at any time.

Forget what you think you know about Los Lobos. It's them, but it's more than them this time.

John

This is the deal. I'd only amplify the previous positive reviews, which I admire: great, great recording, and I'd also mention that the atmospherics, as my music pals call them, are more integrated here than on about any CD I've heard in a very long while, maybe ever. There is just stuff here that continually surprises you, and not in some obnoxious, "clever" way. It's all part of the portrait they're painting, the immigrant life In California. Like the dab of yellow on a great painting that makes you see everything, except the dab of yellow. It's the trigger.

The Playing is explosive when necessary, subtle when appropriate. Probably their strongest lyrics yet. (I'm picky, because I have a book out that deals with immigrant LA, the source of my own writer's inspiration. They kick me real bad here, and for that I'm grateful.)

The guitar performances are especially unbelievably fine. Anyone who has heard "Tomorrow Never Knows" on the box set know that these guys can sound as if George Martin had run the guitar track backwards. But they can run it real time.

Man, what an accomplishment from los veteranos del Norte. And, I say this as a listener for many years, there is NO BAND better than Los Lobos. Nobody. Nowhere. The Beatles of East LA. Not a small accomplishment. Amigos siempre. Amigos de mi corazon.

My Spanish sucks. Forgive me, amigos. Your record is the best of this and many years.

Yeah I still call them albums, and I still think Los Lobos is one of the best bands around. This album grows on you with each listen so, you might have to give it a chance. This time out, Los Lobos(producing), with Tchad Blake (mixing)have created a work that, sonically, is laced with so much detail that it would be hard to digest in one sitting. Through out the album you can hear; Nylon acustic guitar strings against electronic soundscapes, Electronic and acoustic persussion, and a huge rage of guitar tones crunching and strumming, even beautiful organ on a few tracks. At one point, while listening, I took off my headphones because I thought my phone was ringing! There's more to these songs than meets the ear at first listen. I was listening with headphones on my PC. I really want to hear this on my 5.1 Home Theater System!

Overall it's a very strong album, telling the tale of the immigration experince. The songs have a theme of a Mexican immigrant traveling into the USA, and his feelings and experiences,looking at it from different(character)angles. Each song is another story. Their dedicating the album to their parents for "giving all they had" made me think of my own grandfather who was a Mexican immigrant during the 1920's.He was naturalized in Nogales (mentioned in Gila Bend) and married his wife there.

While this album may not "Rock" as much as you might want, the songs are solid. From the rockin "Road to Gila Bend" and the shuffly "Two Dogs and a Bone", the wonderful Mexican dance of "Chuco's Cumbia" the blusey "No Pueda Mas", ballads like "If you were only here with me tonight" the experimental sounding "Luna". "Little Things" does sound heavily influenced by the organ drenching of Procol Harem, another beautiful ballad. But don't be fooled! Songs like "The City", "The Town", and "Free Up" show that no matter what territory these guys may voyage into, they still manage to bring those elements together to create their own sound. A sound that continues to elvolve and delight along the way.

I gotta say that I don't think alot of the reviews I read for their albums on here are very fair at all. Everyone seems to refer to KIKO as the begining and end of it all for Los Lobos and measures each new release against it. I disagree, I feel it was just the begining for them as a band to REALLY reach out and explore, peronally I'm more interested in what a band like Los Lobos will do next. It's been 19 years since I saw them live at Toads Place in New Haven CT. I have tix for next Thursdays show in NYC - Irving Plaza, and I am so psyched.

If you like the band, you will enjoy this album alot. It has alot to offer. From good "sound" to good songs, it even has great artwork. Like each Los Lobos album it is a unique thing. This one works, one all levels, as a concept, a good record, you name it.If you like them and what they do, but this record. You'll like it.

Whenever you start talking about music inspired by Los Angeles you'll inevitably provoke the same fauning drivel about the usual suspects. "MORRISON HOTEL" they'll say. Yawn, I'm not 16 anymore. "HOTEL CALIFORNIA" someone will yell, & then start with the gawd-awful qoutes..."they just can't kill the beast!" Can I get ya another COORS LIGHT my sorry little friend? Raymond Chandler & James M. Cain played better "MUSIC" than that on a typewriter, & don't even talk to me about Jackson Browne. If X-Los Angeles ain't on that list, I don't want to hear it. A case could be made for Hole's-Celebrity Skin & Ry Cooder's-Chavez Ravine but with the new LOS LOBOS album "The Town & The City" you can send the jury home. Case Closed! This is the most hauntingly exquisite musical document about the city of fallen angels ever. Cesar Rosas voice is chilling on "If You Were Only Here Tonight". Something happens in the song somewhere between 3-4am. We're not sure what transpired but it was bad and the gentle sorrow in his lament suggests it happens here all the time. A few songs later the incomparable David Hidalgo turns a whiter shade of pale recognizing the "LITTLE THINGS" we take for granted. "No Puedo Mas" shakes & rattles like a neighbour having much more fun. You're either dancing or pounding on the wall. This entire song cycle is a tour that starts in "The Valley", drives through "The City" ends in "The Town" of East L.A. It's dark & it's sad. It's strong & it's hopeful. Needless to say these are peerless musicians. Visionaries who consistently seek out new sonic landscapes. This is a masterwork!

Record of the year! Los Lobos have emerged from a long period of coasting, their great musical triumphs seemingly behind them (HOW WILL THE WOLF SURVIVE? and KIKO, their two greatest records, from 1984 and 1992), with a record the equal of those masterpieces.

THE TOWN AND THE CITY includes 11 amazing new songs from the songwriting team of David Hidalgo and Louie Perez (music and lyrics, respectively), and 2 from the irrepressible Cesar Rosas. The band is intact after all these years, though Cougar Estrada is added on drums and percussion -- their 30th anniversary is in the rear-view mirror. They have produced an album in the best sense of that old-fashioned idea, a set of songs that hangs together thematically, telling the story of Mexican immigrants to the U.S., and one which reveals new facets upon multiple listening.

I have listened to THE TOWN AND THE CITY back to back with KIKO many times in the last few weeks, and they are similarly brilliant. In a recent interview (with Don McLeese, in NO DEPRESSION), Perez talks about how the band broke out of its creative slump, performing the entirety of KIKO live in order to rekindle its sense of adventure and experimentation. He also speaks of the band's recent troubles, and the world's troubles, and how those had to be surmounted.

This is one of those great albums without a weak track, but some highlights include the instantly memorable "The Road to Gila Bend," which touches me as it is on my old turf, having lived in Tucson for 7 years in the 1990s, the great blues number "Two Dogs and a Bone," the tragic "Little Things," (the "Just a Man" of this album), the incredible avant time signature of "The City," with electronically altered dogs barking, the funky "Free Up," and finally "The Town," a moving memory of home, and of bedrock values in a world full of insanity and evil.

There is absolutely no overt politics here, but with quiet dignity and pride Los Lobos speak louder than shouting to the current climate of anti-Mexican racism and attacks along the border. This is an AMERICAN band, one with a MEXICAN heritage. Los Lobos are much more than a good-time party band, though they are that, as anyone who has seen them live can testify! With THE TOWN AND THE CITY they have reclaimed their position as the best and most important band in the land.

Solid throughout. It rocks. It has roots. It probably doesn't break new ground but it does go through most of everything they do best and the songs all sound fresh and compelling. In the spirit of Kiko, Colossal Head, the Latin Playboys and the first Super Seven collaboration with a dash of Will the Wolf Survive. If you like those albums, you'll like this album, too.

Back in the days when Martin Mull used to play music concerts, I once caught a gig at the Cellar Door in Washington, DC, in which Mr. Mull nailed a heckler right after playing an understated jazz guitar solo: "what's the matter, kid, not ready for ADULT guitar?" That line applies to this wonderful new concept album from Los Lobos. It is music for grown-ups and for serious music fans who like substance over style.

Loosely woven around the story of the Mexican-American migrant saga, the songs on "The Town and the City" add up to a whole that grows with repeated listenings (as does most of their music).

The Rolling Stones and U-2 may claim to be the greatest rock band in the universe, but Los Lobos really is--and they can play acoustic EVEN BETTER. Grab this one if you are ready for grown-up music.

This album is a return to the "Kiko" era Los Lobos, and finds them in a reflective mood for many of the tracks. On each successive listening, I find this album to be a real "grower", and one that very gradually works it's way into your musical consciousness.
They are playing the studio like an instrument, and seem to be really enjoying the whole creative process. There are no out and out rockers here, but some songs which will doubtless grow and evolve as the band play them live. Cesar Rosas keeps on producing quality Mexicano party vibes, and the Hidalgo/Perez writing team continue to produce quality songs.
I still feel that I haven't yet plumbed the depths of this record, and look forward to what new delights are in store with each listening.

30 years together and Los Lobos has put out an absolutely solid, wonderful CD. While everyone is out looking for "the next hot thing," Los Lobos has stuck together and continued making great music. This CD grows on me each time I listen to it. Great songwriting, great musicanship, and great production. Easily one of the year's best.