Ride The Music: Los Lobos Live at the Fillmore

During the "Imported from ELA"? documentary section of the new Los Lobos DVD, guitarist/songwriter/singer Cesar Rosas muses on the acts who once opened for his band, such as Melissa Etheridge and Stevie Ray Vaughan, who have gone on to great popularity. He turns away from the camera wryly commenting "not us..."? and it's hard to tell if he's disappointed or proud of that fact. Certainly during the course of their 30 years together, an anniversary celebrated this year, Los Lobos have not compromised heir integrity or identity a whit (and that includes the participation in the "La Bamba" movie enterprise). Quite the contrary as the group has made a point of reasserting heir roots on a regular basis, including an album of all Spanish songs in 1988 ( La Pistola y El Corazon ) as well as their most recent album The Ride.

But the May 2004 cd isn't exactly a reaffirmation of roots so much as a tribute to their tenure together as well as the music, musicians and songwriters who've come to form the basis of a sound like no other rock band around in the new millennium. If there's a criticism to be aimed at the album---and it may be fatuous, make no mistake?"it is that..there's not enough Lobos! With characteristic modesty, the band relegates itself to the role of backup band much of the album to accomodate artists such as Tom Waits, Elvis Costello and Richard Thompson. Though it's a heartfelt tribute to their musicianly sensitivity, you may nevertheless end up hungry for a dose of Los Lobos straight up.

Which is what Ride This: The Covers EP actually constitutes. While a clutch of tunes from the full-length cd appear on the DVD, interspersed with selections back to their earliest records and right up to the most recent studio work Good Morning Aztlan (arguably the group's most powerhouse combination of rock and roots), nothing from this half-hour disc, slipped virtually unannounced into the marketplace this summer, shows up on video. Strictly from a consumer point of view, that's a good thing: buying the DVD and mini-cd forms a fine package where there's virtually no overlap.

There's no real sense the creation of Live at the Fillmore was a rush job (nowithstanding the comments of Rosas and Berlin during the documentary) yet there's a noticeable absence of special features, either in the form of content or technology, apart from the abbreviated documentary. And, as the performance was shot and edited in a somewhat predictable round of individual shots of the band members, the venue and the happy audience, there's nothing fancy going on.

But then, neither is there anything genuinely fancy about Los Lobos: as documented on Ride This, their roots in Mexican music, R&B and blues-rock are unwavering; that's exactly what makes the band's presence so much a pleasure as Lobos sound as fresh as any young band discovering their collective possibilities they do the Mexicali strut with panache on Tom Waits "Jockey Full of Bourbon,"? then give Cesar Rosas the spotlight to croon his way through the bittersweet naiveté that is Bobby Womack's' "More Than I Can Stand."? Rosas reappears in all that soulful glory on Willie G's "?It'll Never Be Over for Me", then gives way to that mountain of a man called David Hidalgo to lead Lobos through the heaviest of heavy blues-rock stomp treatment of Elvis Costello's "Uncomplicated."? As with the equally ominous version of Richard Thompson's "Shoot Out the Lights,"? there's an aura of malevolence about the performance true of all authentic blues, no matter how otherwise jubilant the song — but it's a testament to the versatility this group demonstrates on The Ride and this companion piece that, when they turn to move in another direction, namely the speedy shuffle of "Marie Marie,"? they're equally adept at it and no less enthusiastic.

Dave Alvin wrote the latter tune when a member of another famous LA group of the 80's, The Blasters, from whence came saxophonist/keyboardist Steve Berlin to join Los Lobos twenty years ago. Such undercurrents of historical perspective bubble up throughout this DVD. often when you might least expect it, as when Hidalgo's son Conrad plays heavy fuzz guitar on "Viking"? a phenomenon suggesting that Los Lobos, as an ever-changing entity, may very well continue on through their extended families, as depicted in the documentary. Grateful Dead historian Blair Jackson puts the Lobos evolution squarely in a context that mirrors the development of rock and roll since the sixties, as he pinpoints that very juncture the band's development intersected with The Fillmore auditorium itself. And there's tangible sense of tradition too in Los Lobos' proud homage to this place they filmed their DVD: Hidalgo's modesty notwithstanding, Lobos appear as a band who is truly adding something to the original tradition.

Certainly they bring heir own character to the appearance. Who else could put a religious symbol behind them as they play on stage and not mean it ironically or sanctimoniously? "Imported From East LA"? contains much footage of the band in their own homes within their families, so the continuity between their roles as musicians and members of the community is well-drawn. As is Rosas frequent recognition of he audience as "music-lovers,"? a community somewhat nebulous on paper, but with an unmistakable bond during the time a band of Lobos stature and expertise are at work.

Nothing really spectacular occurs during the course of the performance, but the cumulative effect of the band's music takes hold perhaps half-way through, despite some obvious disenchantment with the sound on Rosas' part: his guitar is buried in the mix till his jaunty rendition of "That Train Don't Stop Here."? Perhaps not coincidentally, since the footage has been edited from two night's performance in late July of his year, the band mixes things up considerably as the set progresses on disc, Hidalgo playing violin as well as and accordion on a handful of numbers, while Louie Perez forsakes his guitars for a turn at the traps, joining percussionists extraordinaire Victor Bisetti and Cougar Estrada Jr. who switch back and forth between drumsets throughout the performance.

The one genuine surprise on Live at the Fillmore is the guest appearance by steel guitar wunderkind Robert Randolph during the encore of "Mas y Mas. He's an appropriate choice to sit in with Los Lobos, beyond the injection of yet another sound, because he reveres his roots too, but his animated stage presence contrasts with his hosts: even as the performances churns furiously to a close, Lobos remain essentially stoic, as epitomized by bassist Conrad Lozano, whose beatific grin and metronomic head bobbing is his, and by extension the band's, only concession to theatricality.

It may in fact be the ultimate compliment to a band to say that, when they're finished, you are still hungry for a little more and that's the sensation you're left with upon viewing the Live at The Fillmore DVD and the mini-cd Ride This. You have to hope there will come a time when a more detailed chronicle of Los Lobos will appear, but in the meantime, these discs are proof positive the group is a vital vigorous entity, with no foreseeable end in sight. And that's gratification enough.

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Tracks:1.The Big Ranch ; 2. I Walk Alone ; 3. Maria Christina ; 4. Done Gone Blue; 5. Charmed; 6. Luz de Mi Vida; 7. Rita; 8. Maricela ; 9. Chains of Love; 10. Hurry Tomorrow ; 11.Tears of God; 12.Viking; 13.That Train Don't Stop Here; 14. Kiko and the Lavender Moon ; 15. How Much Can I Do? ; 16. Mexico Americano ; 17. I Got Loaded ; 18. Good Morning Aztlán ; 19. Cumbia Raza ; 20. Shakin' Shakin' Shakes; 21. Mas y Mas

Personnel:David Hidalgo: guitar, violin, accordion, percussions and vocals; Cesar Rosas: guitar, percussion and vocals; Louie Perez: guitars, drums and vocals; Conrad Lozano: bass and vocals: Steve Berlin: saxophone and keyboards; With: Cougar Estrada: drums and percussion; Victor Bisseti: drums and percussion; Guest artists: Vincent Hidalgo: guitar on "Viking;"? Robert Randolph: pedal steel guitar on "Mas y Mas."?

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