Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Definitive Collection????, April 7, 2007
Where does one start with the Los Lobos catalogue? There have been three Los Lobos "Best Of's" (a 4 disc set, a 2 disc set and this single disc) and, although they all give a fair overview of the band, I would suggest that if you are hard-core Los Lobos fan you probably own most of this material already. Los Lobos have been releasing albums now for 30 years and have gone through a number of stylistic changes in this time. They started off as a traditional Mexican music band and have moved through country, blues, atmospheric groove, rock, rock and roll, R&B and pop. What has distinguished them throughout has been superb musicianship, songwriting, lyrics and vocals and an unbending desire to release albums that satisfied the band before a record company. All this has led to many vastly different albums some of which may alienate the casual listener. For example, compare "Will The Wolf Survive" with "KIKO", "La Pistola y el Corazon" with "Colossal Head" or "Papa's Dream" (a superb children's album) with "The Town and the City" and you will see the diversity of the band. This all leads to the difficulty in compiling a definitive "best of" collection for the casual listener. One may love the traditional Mexican stuff but not the hard-core, groove based material or visa versa. Wolf Tracks does a reasonable job of condensing the Los Lobos catalogue into a one disc overview and, as such, is a pretty good place to start. If you like all the music here then I urge you to go get as many albums as you can. However if you like the more accessible material, start with "Will the Wolf Survive" and "By the Light of the Moon" then move forward with care. If you like the rock material, you can't get any better than "The Town and the City" and the previous album, "The Ride". If you like the groove based material, go for "KIKO" and move on from there, including the Latin Playboys albums. Los Lobos have been releasing some of the best American/Mexican roots music available for nye on 30 years and the journey, from start to now, has been exhilirating, if frustrating at times. "Wolf Tracks" is as good a place to start as anywhere and if you do decide to go the journey you will be richly rewarded with some of the finest roots music of the last 30 years.
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33 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Can't argue with the song selection...., February 27, 2006
... but, essentially this is the third retread of the same canon - Live at The Fillmore, Acoustic en vivos, and now this. It's a slightly better compilation than the other two, but, the wolves have a bit of Costello-itis: retread the same stuff ad nauseum. It doesn't sound particularly remastered.
I, for one, wish they would release some of the really amazing sets I have heard from them (The Fillmore doesn't make the cut). For example, their set at the Philadelphia Folk Festival some years back was maybe the best 45 minutes of live music I have ever heard, and closed with an incendiary take on Neil Young's "Cowgirl In the Sand," over the protestations of the numb-skull mc of that festival. I'm sure you would find it interesting hearing an audience boo a moron who was intruding off the stage - it just leant an extra edge to the whole set. Best part was they wound it up with a segue into "Cinnamon Girl" that exceeded their alotted time considerably. It's great to see control freaks swallow their tongues and reenforces the delicious subversiveness that rock can foster.
None of that is on offer here. Still, if you have not purchased either of the last two live discs, then skip them and buy this, and hope that if LL can't figure out what to do next, perhaps they'll mine their live catalogue for some remarkable shows.
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4 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Nothing like a retrospective..., September 12, 2006
to help us see just how good these guys are. Makes the miles fly away. What better recommendation can there be?
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