The return of Los Lobos
'Good Morning Aztlan' new album from long-lived band
June 18, 2002 Posted: 1:26 PM EDT (1726 GMT)
cnn.com
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By Todd Leopold
CNN
(CNN) -- Listening to Los Lobos' new album, "Good Morning Aztlan," you have to wonder when these guys don't rehearse. The playing is as razor-sharp as the creases on a freshly pressed sharkskin suit; the rhythm is brick-solid, the guitar lines fluid, the vocals pure and timely.
The band is so locked in you could use it to set a metronome.
Steve Berlin, Los Lobos' longtime saxophone and keyboard player, laughs. "I think the last time we rehearsed was the week before last," he says in a phone interview from Los Angeles. "And the time before that was probably 1989."
OK, so Los Lobos -- Berlin, vocalists and guitarists David Hidalgo and Cesar Rosas, bassist Conrad Lozano, and drummer Louie Perez -- aren't big on practicing. Perhaps it's simply the amount of time the quintet has spent together. Berlin joined the group full-time in 1982; the other four have been together since 1973.
"Good Morning Aztlan" (Hollywood Records) is a return to the band's roots after '90s albums such as "Kiko" and "Colossal Head" went for a broader, more atmospheric sound.
"We felt like we said what we wanted to say," says Berlin. "After the past three records, we wanted this one to be more about songs and structures."
From college circuit to Grammy
Los Lobos' 30-year career has had its ups and downs commercially. After years spent on the Southern California college circuit in the '70s, the group got a break when it opened for roots-rock heroes the Blasters at the Whisky a Go-Go nightclub on the Sunset Strip.
By the early '80s the band had been signed to Slash Records, the punk-independent label affiliated with Warner Bros. Records (now a part of AOL Time Warner, as is CNN). It also released a critically acclaimed EP, "... And a Time to Dance," and won a Grammy for best Mexican/American performance.
Then the floodgates really opened.
The band's 1984 LP, "How Will the Wolf Survive?", topped critics' lists and earned the band a national following. Three years later, the group had a No. 1 single with its version of "La Bamba," from the Ritchie Valens biographical film of the same name.
But the band never bought into Top Forty success, Berlin says.
"We got to see how life treats you when you're No. 1, which is nice," he says, "but it ultimately had its own arc. When 'La Bamba' was done, we were back to where we started. ... [But] we knew a 'La Bamba'-based career would be a short-lived career."
The group's last four albums, during which the group switched labels and branched off into side projects such as the Latin Playboys, were a way to "try to stake out a corner of the planet that belongs to us, and working it," says Berlin.
New album an eclectic mix
The band's studio releases have been infrequent, coming roughly every three years, as the band members synchronize their schedules and find time to be together. (Berlin lives in Seattle; the other band members still call Los Angeles home.) "Good Morning Aztlan" started as a series of demos last July, but this time the record came together quickly, says Berlin.
"Our original intent was to cut demos to see where we were at," he says. "The last time we did that was with 'Kiko.' This was very similar to that."
Very quickly the band recorded and produced six songs, of which all but one made it on the final album. The rest were produced in conjunction with John Leckie.
The songs on the album demonstrate Los Lobos' ability to handle a broad range of styles. "Done Gone Blue" and "Good Morning Aztlan" are tough rockers; "Hearts of Stone" is a bluesy lament; "What in the World" is a soulful ballad; "The Word" is an expansive, atmospheric track in the tradition of the band's '90s work. The band handles the changes seamlessly.
There were no plans to make a particular kind of record, says Berlin. "The songs tell us what kind of record we're going to make," he says.
The group will be hitting the road to tour for a few months. The band has already undergone a quick change of labels; "Aztlan" was first going to be on Mammoth, then the band found the record back on Hollywood. Berlin verbally shrugs when he talks about the switch -- "The industry is in an enormous state of flux. God knows if there will even be a record business in 18 months" -- but he's less than happy about radio support.
"As far as I'm concerned, radio has ceased to exist," he says. "The labels wring their hands about why nobody is buying music. It's because radio died."
Fortunately, he says, Los Lobos has a firm fan base, and the band has never been concerned with much else besides making a living making music.
"We were friends before the money and success showed up, so we had a good base for what happened later," he says. "The things that make playing hard are unrealistic expectations. We're always shocked anyone pays attention." |
