Los Lobos - Viking

Now I have always liked Los Lobos ever since buying Will The Wolf Survive but this struck me as exceptional!

Different! and HEAVY rock for a Friday night boogie

Viking

Los Lobos

This Time

WILL THE WOLF SURVIVE [LIVE] - Los Lobos : Live in CHICAGO 1984 | Voodoo Wagon | Silent Way Special

Bought when it came out I loved Los Lobos and the album was hardly off the decks for a year or more and loved the title track the most. . . . here supporting and promoting the album they are live in Chicago 

Los Lobos - Live Biddy Mulligan's

December 14, 1984 

Chicago, IL.

WXRT FM Source @ 320

Set List:
We're Gonna Rock 2:15
I Got Loaded 3:03
Our Last Night 3:20
Come On, Let's Go 2:52
Walking Song 3:04
A Matter of Time 3:28
Evangeline 2:31
Instrumental 3:50
Farmer John 2:42
Let's Say Goodnight 3:30
Will the Wolf Survive? 3:41
Don't Worry Baby 3:02
300 Pounds of Heavenly Joy> 7:21
La Bamba 4:36
I Got To Let You Know 2:37
Why Do You Do? 3:20 

here . . .

or at The Archive too . .

PLAYING FOR CHANGE! | La Bamba various and all sorts, the shiz!

 Too Silly!? For ya! The CACKLE SISTERS? Why whatsa matter wit yo’ mill!?

How about a version of LA BAMBA

I am not a sailor, I am the captain!

Start the week with one for Mr Mumbles! | THE BEST OF AMERICA! | Los Lobos : One Time One Night

One Time One NightLos LobosBy the Light of the Moon

A quiet voice is singing something to me
An age old song about the home of the brave
In this land here of the free
One time one night in America

This one a dedication to all my American visitors here and especially monsieur mumbles dupree who dropping by to comment on the Georgia O’Keefe quote!

This one’s for you . . . . . .  

LOS LOBOS- LIVE IN SANTA BARBARA 1984 - FLOPPY BOOT STOMP

Los Lobos - Santa Barbara 1984 - Floppy Boot Stomp

Los Lobos - La Casa de la Raza
Santa Barbara, CA
January 14, 1984
Soundboard @shn file+vbr
 

 

Setlist:

01. intro
02. Let's Say Goodnight  
03. Our Last Night  
04. Ay Te Dejo en San Antonio  
05. I Got To Let You Know  
06. That's My Little Suzie  
07. Buzz Buzz Buzz  
08. My Baby's Gone  
09. The Walking Song  
10. Volver, Volver  
11. How Much Can I Do?  
12. Anselma  
13. The Breakdown  
14. Soul Twist  
I'm Sorry - removed 
16. Come On, Let's Go  
17. Corrida #1  
18. I'm Gonna Be a Wheel Someday  
19. 300 Pounds of Heavenly Joy  
20. La Bamba  
21. We're Gonna Rock  
22. Why Do You Do?  

Encores:
01. crowd/tuning 
02. Sleepwalk  
Los Ojos De Pancha - removed 
04. I'm Tore Down  
05. Unknown Corrido  

Will The Wolf Survive?

LOS LOBOS

and the answer if this picture is anything to go by is yes, possibly longer than we will!

Wolf inside the Exclusion Zone at Chernobyl © Sergei Gaschak

LOS LOBOS

(The Wolves)

I loved Los Lobos thanks largely I think to Ry Cooder introducing me to Mexican style music with his work with Flaco Jimenez and such and I bought 'How Will the Wolf Survive' when it came out over here (still love that album) and then they did the music for this, the biopic on Ritchie Valens one of the stars who died in the Big Bopper, Buddy Holly terrible aircrash. 
I was obsessed with collecting early prints and books on the wolf back then for reasons best known to someone else. 

We tried to learn the Mexican Spanish to understand what on earth was being sung about (it didn't help much) and my dear friend Leo could sing all the songs and, guitarist eatrxaordinaiore, he could play pretty much everything anyhoo. We laughed and laughed at 'I am not a sailor, I am the Captain!" WTF was he singing about?
We didn't care, it ROCKED! 
Los Lobos still do!

On this day in music history: July 24, 1987 - “La Bamba”, the biopic of Mexican-American Rock & Roll pioneer Ritchie Valens is released in US theaters. Directed by Luis Valdez (“Zoot Suit”) and produced by Taylor Hackford (“An Officer And A Gentleman”, “Against All Odds”, “Ray”) and Bill Borden, the film stars Lou Diamond Phillips (as Valens), Esai Morales, Rosana DeSoto, Joe Pantoliano, and Elizabeth Peña. The soundtrack is performed by Los Lobos (scored by Carlos Santana and Miles Goodman) who hit number one with both the title song and album.  Released through Columbia Pictures and made for only $5.6 million, the modestly budgeted film is a huge success grossing over $52 million in domestic box office.

thanks as ever to Jeff Harris at his wondrous Behind The Grooves 

Check the vocals on this and don't they remind you of Stevie Winwood wonderful voice!

a favourite song . . . . . TURN IT UP!

Again in the series of sounds purchased when they came out here is my second Los Lobos purchase. I bought the fine album 'Will The Wolf Survive' when it came out and then heard they were doing the soundtrack of the Ritchie Valens story and it may be a tad hackneyed now but none the less it was a hit at the time and my dear friend Leo explained the Mexican/Spanish to me from 'La Bamba' which had us in fits and it stands as one of the oddest songs of the era! 

"I am not a sailor! I am the Captain!" pure pop genius!

On this day in music history: August 29, 1987 - “La Bamba” by Los Lobos hits #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for 3 weeks. Written by Ritchie Valens, it is the biggest hit for the East Los Angeles, CA based band. Recorded as the theme song to the biopic of Mexican American rock & roll icon Ritchie Valens, the traditional Mexican folk song is based on the Son Jarocho style of music native to the state of Veracruz, and is often played at weddings. Valens rock & roll version (#22 Pop) is recorded in 1958 and is issued as the B-side of his biggest single “Donna” (#2 Pop). When Los Lobos records their version for the film (who also make a cameo appearance), they use Valens’ arrangement of the song, adding a reprise at the end of the traditional folk arrangement. Released six weeks ahead of the film in early June of 1987, the single is an immediate smash. Entering the Hot 100 at #84 on June 27, 1987, it climbs to the top of the chart nine weeks later. The accompanying soundtrack album also hits number one on the Billboard Top 200 for 2 weeks (on September 12, 1987), and to date has been certified 3x Platinum in the US by the RIAA.

Largely discovered through the work of Los Lobos who I adored and bought their album 'Will The Wolf Survive' when it came out but they then covered 'La Bamba' for the film and discovered this fine Rock 'n' Roller who didn't really travel across the pond every well somehow

1,656 plays

UPDATE (from The Writer's Almanac - Today [13th May] is the birthday of singer and songwriter Richard Steven Valenzuela (1941), born in Pacoima, a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. He's better known as "Ritchie Valens," and you've probably danced along to two of his biggest hits, "La Bamba" and "Donna." Ritchie Valens's career only lasted eight months. He died in a plane crash in Iowa in 1959, alongside fellow 1950s rockers Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper. He was only 17. Ritchie Valens grew up listening to traditional Mexican mariachi music and flamenco guitar, but he also soaked up a lot of R & B and jump blues. When he was five, his dad bought him a trumpet and Ritchie taught himself to play the drums. By the time he was a teenager, he was giving impromptu concerts in the bleachers at his high school, earning him the nickname "Little Richard of San Fernando." A local band called The Silhouettes asked him to join them. He made his public debut on October 19, 1957, and when a record producer came calling, Richard Valenzuela followed. The producer shortened his first name to Ritchie, and his last name to Valens. Ritchie Valens had a girlfriend named Donna. They'd dated about a year before deciding to see other people. One night, he called her up and sang a song he'd written about missing her. She liked it, but didn't think much of it until several months later, when she was driving in a car with friends, and the song came on the radio, and she realized her boyfriend was about to become famous. Donna became famous, too: even Elvis Presley had his bodyguard try to arrange a date with her. Pretty soon, Valens dropped out of high school to go on tour. He appeared on The Perry Como Show and American Bandstand. Ritchie Valens biggest hit was "La Bamba," a hard-driving, peppy song he sung entirely in Spanish. The song is a traditional Mexican folk song dating back to the 1830s that's popular at dances, weddings, and festive dinners. In Mexico, it was mostly played on a small guitar and with a harp as an accompaniment. Valens grew up in an English-speaking household and wasn't fluent in Spanish, so he learned the words phonetically, getting the lyrics from his aunt. The song became a massive hit, with Valens becoming a pioneer for mixing traditionally Latin sounds with rock music. During his lifetime, Ritchie Valens only recorded two albums and 33 songs.