Los Lobos

Colossal Head (Warner Bros.)
by Steve Tremain

Oh, yippee! The new Los Lobos is here! And who gets the dubious honor of listening to these throwbacks to the ’80s? Me, one of the second stringers, of course. All right, let’s see what the revivers of “La Bamba” have to say for themselves. Whoa. The first thing that comes out of my stereo is gritty, War-era Latin funk, total Low Rider music. This is Los Lobos? Okay, bring it on! I immediately kicked back, letting Colossal Head creep up on me. I popped a cold one (Corona, natch), and let it come. The next track, “Mas Y Mas” sounds like Mexican rockabilly, sax and drums setting up a groove that’s like Santana meets The Stray Cats. After that comes what I thought I was gonna hear originally, a Spanish ballad. But coming after those first two tunes, I can take it now. I even found myself getting into it. Even the accordion. Go figure. But after that little reminder of who they used to be, they kick into a subterranean, high production lo-fi shuffle called “Everybody Loves A Train” that makes the beer slide down so much easier. Then we get another ’60s South-Of-The-Border funk number that hits a groove as wide as the Rio Grande. And so it goes on from there; the songs on Colossal Head come to life, each one with its own raw sound, from “Life Is Good” and its pseudo-live party in the background, to the James-Brown-drinks-too-much-tequila-and-writes-a-song of “Little China.” And that’s how it is. After several years on hiatus, Los Lobos prove they rock. Who knew?