Town & The City
After variously celebrating their 30th anniversary with the star-studdedThe Ride, documenting their bracing live shows onLive at the Fillmoreand doing a little intimate musical retrenchment on the self-releasedAcoustic En Vivo, Los Lobos returned to the studio with creative exploration on their minds. The result is their most sonically adventurous, thematically taut collection since the heady days ofKikoandColossal Head. With lyrics penned mostly by multi-instrumentalist Louis Perez, the album's  first-person narrative views a myriad of larger issues through slices of local life, from the immigrants' physical and spiritual travails of "The Valley" and "Hold On" to the liturgical grace of "Little Things" and the haunting impressionism of "The City." The musical tack is even more adventurous, a melange of diverse flavors that ranges from the infectiouscaloSpanglish patois of Cesar Rosa's "Chuco's Cumbia" and neo-norteno"The Road to Gila Bend" to the chunky r&b; groove of "Don't Ask Why," the Caribbean-Latin fusion of "No Pueda Mas" and the shadowy, jazz reflectiveness of the "The Town." The Lobos blend it all into a compelling sonic landscape, one that's tamed the playful, psychedelic spirit of Perez and David Hidalgo's free-spirited Latin Playboys side project and focused it into a band context with rich rewards at every turn.-- Jerry McCulley