The Ride: Los Lobos: Amazon.ca: Music

1. La Venganza de Los Pelados - featuring Cafe Tacuba

2. Rita

3. Is This All There Is? - featuring Little Willie G.

4. Charmed

5. Somewhere In Time - featuring Dave Alvin

6. Wicked Rain/Across 110th Street - featuring Bobby Womack

7. Kitate - featuring Tom Waits and Martha Gonzales

8. Hurry Tomorrow

9. Ya Se Va - featuring Ruben Blades

10. Wreck Of The Carlos Rey - featuring Richard Thompson

11. Matter Of Time - featuring Elvis Costello

12. Someday - featuring Mavis Staples

13. Chains Of Love

Product Description

From Amazon.com

After hitting a creative peak in the early '90s, Los Lobos settled into a decade-long groove that was perhaps a little too comfortable. The band's twelfth studio CD, The Ride, tries to shake things up a bit, and mostly succeeds by pairing the group with a string of collaborators similar to Carlos Santana's Supernatural. Only instead of the young hit-makers that propelled Santana's comeback, The Ride matches Los Lobos with early influences ( Bobby Womack, Little Willie G) and long-time friends ( Dave Alvin, Elvis Costello).

The experimentalism that fueled 1992's Kiko can be found here on a couple of tracks--most notably "Kitate," a deliriously wiggy collaboration with Tom Waits and Martha Gonzales of Quetzal--but generally the focus is on blues, soul, and roots rock. Surprisingly, some of the strongest performances are new versions of songs previously recorded by Lobos: Costello helps the band re-invent "Matter of Time" as a piano and pedal-steel guitar ballad; Mavis Staples turns the folk-blues lament of "Someday" into rousing Stax soul/gospel; and Womack segues effortlessly from "Wicked Rain" into his '70s blaxploitation classic, "Across 110th Street." Of the newer material, the band shines brightest on "La Venganza de Los Pelados," a Latin dance workout with Café Tacuba, and the bluesy soul of "Chains of Love," which shreds 12-bar formula by including a 90-second violin solo. The latter is a tribute to '50s rock & rollers Don and Dewey, proving that the best road to the future is sometimes paved by revisiting the distant past. --Keith Moerer

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Customer Reviews

30 Reviews

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

Average Customer Review

4.4 out of 5 stars (30 customer reviews)

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Most helpful customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Go buy this CD right now., July 7 2004

By

Ketil Parow (7070 Bosberg Norway) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ride (Audio CD)

The last LL Album I bought was Kiko. Back then I considered it to be one of the best CDs I had bought in years.
Now I say the same about this one.
LL are great musicians, and add a little something to material that could otherwise be perceived as good but a little traditional. Their guitar riffs are always a little off the beaten track, their drum/bass backing always a little interesting, their instrumentation playful and virtuos, and the production flawless. The guest artists really contribute to create a special sounding CD, too.
Elvis Costello always does a great job, Womack reinvents two great songs (I enjoy these versions a lot more than I did the originals), and Staples is absolutely breathtaking in "Someday". Tom Waits does what he usually does (adds a little hysterical madness), and he's great as usual.

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5.0 out of 5 stars GREAT!!!, July 7 2004

By

R. COGHILL (Omaha, NE USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Ride (Audio CD)

I'm not going to go into a fanciful track by track dissection of this CD, my only recomendation is to buy it and now. Listened to it after tough day at work and mellowed me out. Usually when I see a CD with a bunch of special guest artists I'm leary but they do the trick and more here especially the organ work of Garth Hudson and scorching vocals of Mavis Staples. Did I mention to go out and buy this CD, doesn't get any better!!!

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4.0 out of 5 stars Take the Ride, July 5 2004

By

Larry White (AdultPop.com) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Ride (Audio CD)

With nary a change in personnel, Los Lobos have been making music together for more than 30 years (take that U2). And dare you try to pigeon-hole them as a Latin-American band from East LA, their body of work would prove that label bogus. They are consistently one of the most eclectic and daring bands around and 'The Ride' stands among their finest work. A gleaming showcase of versatility, the band dips into their usual array of Mexican/Latin, pop, rock & roll, country & western, rhythm & blues, Irish, gospel and various indefinable hybrids. And, as if the voices (David Hidalgo's evocative lilt, Cesar Rosa's feral growl) and musicianship of the regulars wouldn't be enough, these Wolves have recruited a parade of unique and distinguished artists (Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Bobby Womack, Mavis Staples, Dave Alvin, Ruben Blades, Richard Thompson, Café Tacuba, Little Willie G., Garth Hudson, Mitchell Froom, et. al.) to aid in their endeavor. Every guest is a natural fit. While a worthwhile cd by the young Mexican-American band Los Lonely Boys has been getting a fair amount of hype of late, this one by their progenitors sambas rings around it. If you only know Los Lobos by virtue of their one-hit remake of 'La Bamba' years ago, you owe yourself a chance to discover an unsung and underappreciated American institution.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Groundbreaking Effort
Los Lobos have always been a band that has confounded critics who want to classify their music and fit them neatly into some category like Latin-rock or "roots rock"... Read more

Published on July 2 2004 by Kurt Harding

4.0 out of 5 stars good, but not their best.
Los Lobos is the most under-rated band in the US. Known (unfortunately) for their cover of La Bamba, they have written some of the BEST rock and roll ever!!! Read more

Published on Jun 20 2004 by Todd Risk