LOS LOBOS
This Time (Hollywood)
Reviewed by John Sekerka

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With the delightfully dusty and crackly Latin Playboys side project providing a handy avenue for their more adventurous musical debauchery, Los Lobos can concentrate on dealing with the masses on a much smoother level. This Time lies somewhere between the chart busting Kiko and the dead flounder Colossal Head (a much better and gloriously twisted album, but that's another story), mixing straight ahead radio friendly Tex-Mex (the catchy, but eventually tiresome title track) with innovative textured jams (a fuzzy Morphine inspired "Viking") and sweet traditional Spanish mariachi ("Corazon" being the requisite heart tune). As always Los Lobos deliver the goods on many levels, but a couple of swings are needed to find your personal strike zone.

© 1999 - John Sekerka