To celebrate the 20 year Anniversary of their legendary album Kiko, Los Lobos has pulled all the stops. They have released a newly remastered edition of the album complete with demos and live tracks. There’s also a DVD of the band performing the album live at The House Of Blues in San Diego with band interviews and last but the soundtrack of that live show on CD.
They are an American treasure that has been working non-stop, touring and recording relentlessly. They are probably best known for their roots guitar rock like on the soundtrack to the movie La Bamba.
Not that they were unsatisfied with what they were doing, but they wanted to grow as artists. They wanted to stretch as musicians and experiment with drum loops and samplers and with the help of producer Mitchell Froom, they did it on Kiko.
The effort holds up today as a vibrant, energetic album, at the time though, Los Lobos’ fan base was shocked with the results. They made successful strides on Kiko, that they have continued to use to this day.
Everything on the remastered CD stands out, including the demo for “Whiskey Trail” on the live CD “Angels With Dirty Faces,” and the interviews with band members about the creative process used during the making of Kiko, inserted between the live performances make the DVD very formative.
A pretty interesting documentary has recently been released, chronicling two fan’s obsession of the career of obscure Detroit singer/songwriter Rodriguez.
Searching For Sugar Man Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Legacy) is a compilation CD from the only two albums Rodriguez recorded during his short career, Cold Fact in 1969 and 1970’s Coming From Reality.
Leaving his musical career behind, Rodriguez went on living his life, earning a degree in philosophy. During this time, unbeknownst to him, his career took off in South Africa, Zimbabwe, New Zealand and Australia, his records going platinum.
Obviously the movie has garnered a lot of attention on his career and this is a very well put together sampler of those two albums. While Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love” and “Midnight Rambler” by The Rolling Stones ruled the radio, I can see where Rodriguez’ well written and performed acoustic based material could get lost in the mix.
Tracks well worth checking out include “Sugar Man,” “I Wonder,” “Street Boy,” “Crucify Your Mind” and “I’ll Slip Away.”
Ry Cooder has been kicking it for a bit, since his self titled debut in 1970 in fact. His guitar work has been impeccable and his choice of producing outside projects (Buena Visa Social Club) outstanding. He’s known though as an artist and his latest is really awesome.
Election Special (Nonesuch) is another example on how an artist, regardless of age, can keep current. Election Special is an early front-runner for the best protest album of this election season.
There’s so much to like about this album. Cooder plays everything here, with the exception of the drums played by his son Joachim. Producing it himself gives the album an easy, freewheeling, homegrown feel. Musically everything is here from old school blues and country to Delta blues and guitar rock.
Lyrically he demands that the Constitution and Bill Of Rights be given back to the people on “Take Your Hands Off Of It” while “Going To Tampa” is about disrupting the RNC and “Mutt Romney’s Blues” is written from the point of view of Romney’s dog Seamus, who was infamously secured to the roof of his car during a family vacation.
Other standouts include “Kool Aid,” “Guantanamo,” “The Wall Street Side Of Town” and “Cold Cold Feeling.” More than others, this upcoming election needs a closer look and Ry Cooder’s Election Special hits the mark.
I would be remiss not to mention that the Frank Zappa Estate has finally negotiated the rights for his catalog to finally be re-issued on CD. This is a big deal seeing, that Zappa has been credited to recording over 80 albums during his 30-year recording career.
He was an original, no doubt about it, mixing everything from jazz, rock and orchestral pieces track to track, sometimes instantaneously.
Zappa is not for everyone and it’s not easy finding a place to start your journey in his music but his 1974 landmark album apostrophe (Zappa Records) is as good as a starting point might be.
It remains his most successful album and includes the first charting single of his career, “Don’t Eat The Yellow Snow.” Other standouts include the instrumental title track “apostrophe as well as “Cosmik Debris” and “Excentrifugal Forz.”
Ry Cooder Election Special (Nonesuch) (Ry Cooder (Nonesuch))
