The Town And The City [Digipak]

Performer: Los Lobos
Producer: Los Lobos
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: This is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files. Los Lobos: Conrad Lozano, David Hidalgo, Louie P�rez, Steve Berlin, Cesar Rosas. With the release of 1992's landmark album, KIKO, Los Lobos broke away from the somewhat limiting "roots-rock" label and established themselves as a band capable of making sonically adventurous, meticulously constructed music. That thread of bold experimentation re-surfaced, to greater or lesser degrees, in the band's successive releases, but it wasn't until 2006's THE TOWN AND THE CITY that Los Lobos came close to matching the artistic success of KIKO. Blues, rock, and R&B still form the structural skeleton here, but that skeleton is fleshed out with a diversity of styles that includes cumbia, jazz, norteno, country, and ambient shadings. Yet THE TOWN AND THE CITY never sounds like a collection of genre experiments; the band integrates its eclectic range into an organic sound that is uniquely and wholly their own. The songwriting is top-notch too, with lyrics that focus on community-oriented concerns ("The Valley") and the more universal questions of the heart ("If You Were Only Here Tonight"), and are supported by melodies that are plaintive, haunting, or simply catchy. This album represents one of America's best and longest-running bands working at the height of its creative powers.

Rolling Stone (p.126) - 4 stars out of 4 -- "This is what happens when five guys create a magical sound, then stick together for thirty years to see how far it can take them." Uncut (p.117) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "The heartfelt vocals and inspired guitar work of David Hidalgo bring a stunning soulfulness to Los Lobos' 13th album..." Mojo (Publisher) (p.103) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Like many atmospherically textured albums, the songs are slow-burn rather than instant."

They began playing traditional Mexican music in their native East L.A. in the mid-'70s, but Los Lobos were galvanized by the California punk movement. By the early '80s they were a rock band to be reckoned with, purveying a highly charged brand of roots-rock distinctively colored by conjunto and Latin shadings. Their '90s work with producer Mitchell Froom found them heading into new worlds of textural sonic exploration.

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