Los Lobos – Native Sons (2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Los Lobos – Native Sons (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 49:27 minutes | 1,03 GB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © New West Records, LLC

Los Lobos named their debut album Just Another Band from East L.A. back in 1978, when they were still primarily playing acoustic music. While the title was meant to be tongue in cheek, their hometown is clearly a major part of who they are and what they do. It’s hard to imagine another city giving them the fertile ground to create their trademark fusion of rock, blues, folk, Latin, R&B, and Tex-Mex that manages to be more than the sum of that remarkable list of parts. Los Lobos pay tribute to the Los Angeles musical community and the songs that inspired them on 2021’s Native Sons, which features a dozen songs originally written and recorded by artists from L.A., along with one new original. The covers album is often a risky proposition, as it suggests the artists may have run out of fresh ideas of their own, but if Los Lobos didn’t write most of the songs here, they make them their own with the imagination, spirit, and commitment of their performances, not to mention their impressive chops and the incredible feel that comes from more than four decades of working together. They open the set with “Love Special Delivery,” a classic side from the East L.A. R&B act Thee Midniters, who fittingly were stars in California without breaking big anywhere else, and while it’s mostly faithful to the original, the band tears into it with the fervor of true fans. They show a special joy in putting their stamp on material from hometown heroes like Lalo Guerrero Y Sus Cincos Lobos (“Los Chucos Suaves”), Willie Bobo (“Dichoso”), Don & Dewey (“Farmer John”), and the Jaguars (“Where Lovers Go”), though they can also tackle Buffalo Springfield (their arrangement of “For What It’s Worth” expands greatly on the menace of the original), the Beach Boys (a emphatic performance of “Sail On Sailor”) and War (a jazzy exploration of “The World is a Ghetto” with guest vocals from Little Willie G. and Barrence Whitfield) with an individual style. And the impassioned plea of the title cut sounds just like one of the dusties that inspired them in the first place while also feeling fresh and totally like them. Native Sons is a tribute that manages to be more than a set of covers – it shows what the band learned from these songs, as well as showing us where their long musical journey has taken them. It’s essential listening from one of America’s greatest bands.

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Los Lobos – Native Sons (2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/48kHz]

Los Lobos – Native Sons (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 49:27 minutes | 612 MB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © New West Records, LLC

Los Lobos named their debut album Just Another Band from East L.A. back in 1978, when they were still primarily playing acoustic music. While the title was meant to be tongue in cheek, their hometown is clearly a major part of who they are and what they do. It’s hard to imagine another city giving them the fertile ground to create their trademark fusion of rock, blues, folk, Latin, R&B, and Tex-Mex that manages to be more than the sum of that remarkable list of parts. Los Lobos pay tribute to the Los Angeles musical community and the songs that inspired them on 2021’s Native Sons, which features a dozen songs originally written and recorded by artists from L.A., along with one new original. The covers album is often a risky proposition, as it suggests the artists may have run out of fresh ideas of their own, but if Los Lobos didn’t write most of the songs here, they make them their own with the imagination, spirit, and commitment of their performances, not to mention their impressive chops and the incredible feel that comes from more than four decades of working together. They open the set with “Love Special Delivery,” a classic side from the East L.A. R&B act Thee Midniters, who fittingly were stars in California without breaking big anywhere else, and while it’s mostly faithful to the original, the band tears into it with the fervor of true fans. They show a special joy in putting their stamp on material from hometown heroes like Lalo Guerrero Y Sus Cincos Lobos (“Los Chucos Suaves”), Willie Bobo (“Dichoso”), Don & Dewey (“Farmer John”), and the Jaguars (“Where Lovers Go”), though they can also tackle Buffalo Springfield (their arrangement of “For What It’s Worth” expands greatly on the menace of the original), the Beach Boys (a emphatic performance of “Sail On Sailor”) and War (a jazzy exploration of “The World is a Ghetto” with guest vocals from Little Willie G. and Barrence Whitfield) with an individual style. And the impassioned plea of the title cut sounds just like one of the dusties that inspired them in the first place while also feeling fresh and totally like them. Native Sons is a tribute that manages to be more than a set of covers – it shows what the band learned from these songs, as well as showing us where their long musical journey has taken them. It’s essential listening from one of America’s greatest bands.

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Los Lobos – Llegó Navidad (2019) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Los Lobos – Llegó Navidad (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 40:29 minutes | 832 MB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Rhino

The problem with the sizable majority of Christmas albums is they sound pretty much the same. Most yuletide records feature the same songs about Jesus or Santa that have been circulating for decades (if not centuries), and regardless of the genre, someone throws in sleigh bells or a “Ho Ho Ho” to remind you that yes, this is Christmas music. So hats off to Los Lobos for making a Christmas album that does something fresh and interesting with songs of the season. For 2019’s Llegó Navidad, Los Lobos sifted through dozens of Christmas songs in a variety of Latin genres from South and Central America as well as Mexico (along with a few obscurities from the United States), and what they’ve delivered is a collection of tunes that (with two exceptions) has flown far under the radar of mainstream listeners in North America. Here the band celebrate the holiday with songs rooted in salsa, cumbia, ranchera, cancion, son jarocho, and Tex-Mex styles, most sung in Spanish, and while there’s a genuine warmth and good cheer to these performances, this sounds less like a typical Christmas album and more like a Los Lobos album, which is most certainly a good thing. The group plugs in on a few tracks, but the bulk of Llegó Navidad is dominated by acoustic material, and fans who loved 1988’s La Pistola y la Corazon and 2005’s Acoustic en Vivo will especially enjoy this. Either acoustic or amplified, this music is performed with the passion, skill, and joy that this band has brought to their work for over 45 years, and listening to them play together is about as pleasurable as American music gets. The album also includes a fresh original tune, an old-school R&B-influenced track called “Christmas and You,” and just to give wary listeners something they already know, they close the set with “Feliz Navidad” played like an enthusiastic singalong where friends and family happily shout the chorus, perhaps aided by a beer or two. If you’re looking for something to play at your holiday party that’s a change of pace, Llegó Navidad will fill the bill quite well, and don’t be surprised if it stays in your personal rotation well into the new year. – Mark Deming

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Los Lobos – This Time (1999) [MFSL 2004] SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Los Lobos – This Time (1999) [MFSL 2004]
PS3 Rip | ISO | SACD DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 38:01 minutes | Scans included | 1,54 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 790 MB
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab # UDSACD 2024 | Genre: Rock

Los Lobos might have touted themselves as “just another band from East L.A.”, but it’s quite likely that even the group’s humble members recognized that few—if any—other artists in the late 1980s rivaled their soulful music, rousing performances, and eclectically blended arrangements. While lacking the commercial status of the quintet’s subsequent La Bamba release, By the Light of the Moon stands as the band’s most enjoyable excursion into American-hued soul, penetratingly reflective lyrics, and earnest roots rock. The music making is simply extraordinary.

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Los Lobos – Kiko (1992) [MFSL 2014] SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Los Lobos – Kiko (1992) [MFSL 2014]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 52:32 minutes | Scans included | 2,12 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 1,02 GB
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab # UDSACD 2069  | Genre: Rock

Los Lobos had earned a reputation as one of the most intelligent and creative roots rock acts in America with the albums By the Light of the Moon and The Neighborhood, but it was with 1992’s Kiko that they really demonstrated the breadth of their sonic ambitions. Produced in collaboration with Mitchell Froom, Kiko exchanged the more straightforward approach of Los Lobos’ previous sessions for a uniquely textured sound, with the group’s guitars thrown into sharp relief against Froom’s collection of vintage tape-loop keyboards, and the arrangements are often unusually spare, most powerfully in the ghostly spaciousness of “Kiko and the Lavender Moon” and “Wake Up Delores.” Even the more full-bodied cuts, such as the rollicking “That Train Don’t Stop Here” and the hard-rocking “Whiskey Trail,” boast a different personality than in Los Lobos’ previous work, with the guitars clean but cutting like a switchblade and the drums snapping hard, and the more contemplative selections drip with a mysterious, otherworldly ambience that’s matched by the impressionistic imagery of David Hidalgo and Louie Pérez’s superb songs. At its best, Kiko sounds like the musical equivalent of a Luis Buñuel dream sequence, balancing beauty and menace with intelligence and a skill that’s little short of dazzling; it’s a brilliant, singular achievement, and the most rewarding album in the group’s catalog.

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Los Lobos – Good Morning Aztlan (2002) [MFSL 2003] SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Los Lobos – Good Morning Aztlan (2002) [MFSL 2003]
PS3 Rip | ISO | SACD DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 47:40 minutes | Scans included | 1,93 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 1,01 GB
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab # UDSACD 2022 | Genre: Rock

Los Lobos might have touted themselves as “just another band from East L.A.”, but it’s quite likely that even the group’s humble members recognized that few—if any—other artists in the late 1980s rivaled their soulful music, rousing performances, and eclectically blended arrangements. While lacking the commercial status of the quintet’s subsequent La Bamba release, By the Light of the Moon stands as the band’s most enjoyable excursion into American-hued soul, penetratingly reflective lyrics, and earnest roots rock. The music making is simply extraordinary.

(more…)

Read more

Los Lobos – By The Light Of The Moon (1987) [MFSL 2012] SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Los Lobos – By The Light Of The Moon (1987) [MFSL 2012]
PS3 Rip | ISO | SACD DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 40:39 minutes | Scans included | 1,63 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 842 MB
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab # UDSACD 2064 | Genre: Rock

Los Lobos might have touted themselves as “just another band from East L.A.”, but it’s quite likely that even the group’s humble members recognized that few—if any—other artists in the late 1980s rivaled their soulful music, rousing performances, and eclectically blended arrangements. While lacking the commercial status of the quintet’s subsequent La Bamba release, By the Light of the Moon stands as the band’s most enjoyable excursion into American-hued soul, penetratingly reflective lyrics, and earnest roots rock. The music making is simply extraordinary.

(more…)

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Los Lobos – Gates Of Gold (2015) [Official Digital Download 24bit/88,2kHz]

Los Lobos – Gates Of Gold (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 42:50 minutes | 839 MB | Genre: Alternative
Studio Master, Official Digital Download – Source: ProStudioMasters | @ Proper Records

Gates Of Gold, the first new studio release from Los Lobos in five years, has been called an American saga in the rich literary tradition of Steinbeck or Faulkner. Uplifting, hopeful and whimsical, the songs on the self-produced album amalgamate the band’s diverse musical potpourri.

“… (the band) continues to make kaleidoscopic Americana … in songs about journeys and connections, it reaches back to basic boogie blues or Mexican cumbia, wanders out on psychedelic byways and looks deeply inward.
– The New York Times

“… practically bursts with the spirit of exploration that has marked Los Lobos’ best work over the years. Musically and culturally, the band speaks to its audience in a way few others have or could. There is no filler material on Gates Of Gold … the songwriting shimmers with concisely drawn reflections on life …”
– NPR

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Los Lobos – Kiko (1992) [MFSL 2014] {PS3 ISO + FLAC}

Los Lobos – Kiko (1992) [MFSL 2014]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 52:32 minutes | Scans included | 2,12 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 1,02 GB
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab # UDSACD 2069

Los Lobos had earned a reputation as one of the most intelligent and creative roots rock acts in America with the albums By the Light of the Moon and The Neighborhood, but it was with 1992’s Kiko that they really demonstrated the breadth of their sonic ambitions. Produced in collaboration with Mitchell Froom, Kiko exchanged the more straightforward approach of Los Lobos’ previous sessions for a uniquely textured sound, with the group’s guitars thrown into sharp relief against Froom’s collection of vintage tape-loop keyboards, and the arrangements are often unusually spare, most powerfully in the ghostly spaciousness of “Kiko and the Lavender Moon” and “Wake Up Delores.” Even the more full-bodied cuts, such as the rollicking “That Train Don’t Stop Here” and the hard-rocking “Whiskey Trail,” boast a different personality than in Los Lobos’ previous work, with the guitars clean but cutting like a switchblade and the drums snapping hard, and the more contemplative selections drip with a mysterious, otherworldly ambience that’s matched by the impressionistic imagery of David Hidalgo and Louie Pérez’s superb songs. At its best, Kiko sounds like the musical equivalent of a Luis Buñuel dream sequence, balancing beauty and menace with intelligence and a skill that’s little short of dazzling; it’s a brilliant, singular achievement, and the most rewarding album in the group’s catalog. (more…)

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