Hollywood Records
2004
The Ride
About This Album
Not counting compilations and live recordings, The Ride is the 11th album by East Los Angelinos Los Lobos. And in contrast to the rest of their hefty catalog, it stands as a wonderful anomaly on their shelf. First, it is an offering with loads of guests, from influences such as Richard Thompson, Garth Hudson, the Grateful Dead's famed lyricist Robert Hunter, R&B legend Bobby Womack, Latin garage-funk hero Little Willie G., gospel great Mavis Staples, and Tom Waits to contemporaries like Elvis Costello, Dave Alvin, Greg Leisz, Mitchell Froom, Martha Gonzales, Latin music statesman Rubén Blades, and rock en Español inventors Café Tacuba, and many more. These 13 tracks walk the razored edge between the band's wondrous amalgam of rock, blues, country, soul, and Latin folk and pop styles found on How Will the Wolf Survive? and The Neighborhood to the song fragmentation and studio experimentation that made records like Kiko and Colossal Head standouts. To this end, Los Lobos redo some of their nuggets There's a wonderfully gospelized read of "Matter of Time," with Costello, that adds a completely new meaning to the tune. Little Willie G.'s vocal on "Is This All There Is" digs deep into the tune for its gritty funk root and stretches it to the breaking point -- it's one of the strongest performances on the disc.
Track List (try tracks 2,3,6,9 and 12)

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