Thirty-seven years after the release of their debut LP, Just Another Band From East L.A., Los Lobos has been named a first-time nominee for the 2016 class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. If the Hall does the right thing and in this case rewards quality over fame, the band — its original five-member lineup still intact — should be a shoe-in.
Bolstering Los Lobos’ case is Gates of Gold (429 Records). The 11-song effort rivals Kiko, their bona fide masterpiece from more than two decades ago. While not as revelatory as that 1992 disc, Gates of Gold possesses similar virtues: a focused eclecticism, supreme hooksmanship, spirited playing, beguiling arrangements, soulful singing and — probably most important — a sense of daring rarely heard in such a long-standing band.
Most acts with this kind of tenure struggle to even deliver on their hackneyed formulas. Here, Los Lobos sounds like a band thoroughly engaged. A youthful vitality meshes with veteran maturity.
Sixty-one-year-old David Hidalgo remains in full possession of his honeyed soul tenor. And his guitar chops, while a bit understated on Gates, exquisitely balance taste and emotional punch.
His counterweight is singer/guitarist Cesar Rosas, who favors rip-snorting roots forays, be it the title-says-it-all romp “Mis-Treater Boogie Blues” (which carries echoes of early Z.Z. Top) or the springy, Spanish-sung cumbia, “Poquito Para Aqui.”
The real gold in these Gates is mined by the songwriting team of Hidalgo and Louie Perez. Their work ranges from the balls-out Hendrix homage “Too Small Heart” to the smoldering abstraction of “There I Go” with its distorted vocals, spare, overdriven keyboards,distant horns, and barely suggested song structure.
The title track is the tour de force amid this mostly excellent collection. The song’s early sprinkles of mandolin suggest mountain music, then the full band glides in and builds to a mid-tempo lope. Hidalgo’s vocal enters, intoning, “Far away, beyond those hills, is mystery untold.” You can practically see him gazing toward the horizon, hand shading his eyes. The message is spiritual, religious even. “Lord knows what we’ll find behind those gates of gold,” he sings, an obvious allusion to heaven. But the song can also be read as a group of survivors — Los Lobos certainly are — who still find pleasure and awe in life’s journey. The song radiates with an old dude’s sense of wonder.
Lyrically, Gates of Gold raises way more questions than answers. That may be one key to the longevity of this American treasure.
Critics' Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars.
This article appears in Oct 15-21, 2015.