Los Lobos - Kiko (1992)

"Kiko" is the ninth album by the American rock group Los Lobos.

Los Lobos had earned a reputation as one of the most intelligent and creative roots rock acts in America with the albums "By the Light of the Moon" and "The Neighborhood", but it was with 1992's "Kiko" that they really demonstrated the breadth of their sonic ambitions. Produced in collaboration with Mitchell Froom, "Kiko" exchanged the more straightforward approach of Los Lobos' previous sessions for a uniquely textured sound, with the group's guitars thrown into sharp relief against Froom's collection of vintage tape-loop keyboards, and the arrangements are often unusually spare, most powerfully in the ghostly spaciousness of "Kiko and the Lavender Moon" and "Wake Up Delores." Even the more full-bodied cuts, such as the rollicking "That Train Don't Stop Here" and the hard-rocking "Whiskey Trail," boast a different personality than in Los Lobos' previous work, with the guitars clean but cutting like a switchblade and the drums snapping hard, and the more contemplative selections drip with a mysterious, otherworldly ambience that's matched by the impressionistic imagery of David Hidalgo and Louie Pérez's superb songs. At its best, "Kiko" sounds like the musical equivalent of a Luis Buñuel dream sequence, balancing beauty and menace with intelligence and a skill that's little short of dazzling.

Track listing

01.  Dream In Blue  (Hidalgo, Pérez)  - 3:34

02.  Wake Up Dolores  (Hidalgo, Pérez)  - 2:55

03.  Angels with Dirty Faces  (Hidalgo, Pérez)  - 4:02

04.  That Train Don't Stop Here  (Cesar Rosas, Leroy Preston)  - 3:52

05.  Kiko and the Lavender Moon  (Hidalgo, Pérez)  - 3:35

06.  Saint Behind The Glass  (Hidalgo, Pérez)  - 3:17

07.  Reva's House  (Hidalgo, Pérez)  - 3:04

08.  When the Circus Comes  (Hidalgo, Pérez)  - 3:16

09.  Arizona Skies  (Hidalgo, Pérez)  - 2:45

10.  Short Side of Nothing  (Hidalgo, Pérez)  - 2:57

11.  Two Janes  (Hidalgo, Pérez)  - 3:53

12.  Wicked Rain  (Cesar Rosas)  - 3:04

13.  Whiskey Trail  (Hidalgo, Pérez)  - 2:41

14.  Just a Man  (Hidalgo, Pérez)  - 3:40

15.  Peace  (Hidalgo, Pérez)  - 3:55

16.  Rio de Tenampa  (Hidalgo, Pérez)  - 1:59

Released:  May 26, 1992

Recorded:  Sound Factory West Studio

Genre:  Roots Rock, Chicano Rock, Tex-Mex, Psychedelic Rock

Length:  52:29

Label:  Slash Records

Producer:  Mitchell Froom and Los Lobos

Personnel

David Hidalgo - vocals, guitar, banjo, violin, accordion, piano, percussion

Cesar Rosas - vocals, guitar

Louie Perez - vocals, drums, guitar, percussion

Conrad R. Lozano - guitarron, bass

Steve Berlin - flute, harmonica, soprano, tenor & baritone saxophones, piano, organ, melodica, synthesizer, percussion

Fermin Herrera - Veracruz harp

La Chilapena Brass Band - horns

Mitchell Froom - keyboards

Victor Bisetti - drums, percussion

Pete Thomas - drums

Gary Mallaber - drums

Alex Acuna - percussion