Los Lobos 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 demonstrated the full 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 ...
Read More
Los Lobos 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 demonstrated the full 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 drum boxes, 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 aural personality than in Los Lobos' previous work, with the guitars sounding 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 Hildalgo and Louie Perez's superb, evocative 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; it's a brilliant achievement, and the most rewarding album in the group's catalog. [In 2012, Los Lobos reissued Kiko in an expanded and remastered edition that included five bonus tracks. Two of the bonus numbers are early demos that present "Whiskey Trail" and "Rio de Tenampa" in simpler, more stripped-down form (the latter also features an additional English-language verse), while the other three were taken from a live-in-the-studio session recorded for National Public Radio in December 1992. While these additional cuts capture the band in fine form, they don't add that much to Kiko as a listening experience, though the new edition sounds splendid, and Luis Torres' thoughtful liner notes offer a welcome perspective on how Los Lobos and Mitchell Froom turned this set of songs into the band's masterpiece.] ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
Read Less
Add this copy of Kiko (20th Anniversary Edition) to cart. $25.47, new condition, Sold by Southern Maryland Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Waldorf, MD, UNITED STATES, published 2012 by SHOUT! FACTORY.
![Kiko [20th Anniversary Edition] - Los Lobos](https://www1.alibris-static.com/kiko-20th-anniversary-edition/cover/t02898knsk5_l.jpg)
![Kiko [20th Anniversary Edition]](https://www1.alibris-static.com/kiko-20th-anniversary-edition/cover/t02898knsk5.jpg)
