Los Lobos

Good Morning Aztlan, Mammoth

After a remarkably fruitful association with the production team of Mitchell Froom & Tchad Blake – which resulted in two of the finest albums of the Nineties, Kiko and Colossal Head – Los Lobos switch to veteran indie studio helmsman John Leckie for Good Morning Aztlan. Though it's not quite up to the same standard, there's much to enjoy here, from the hustling New Orleans R&B rocker "Get to This" to "Maria Christina", an elegantly infectious groove in the Colombian cumbia style. As before, the Mexican-American experience furnishes much of their inspiration, with disillusioned tracks such as "The Big Ranch" and "Tony y Maria" and the title track, "Good Morning Aztlan", a paean to the enduring spiritual ancestry of the culture (Aztlan being the mythical homeland of the Aztecs). The most significant change in their sound is Louie Perez's move from drums to guitar, which frees up David Hidalgo for more diverse instrumental duties, and otherwise secures them a devastating three-guitar attack for tracks such as the storming bar-band opener "Done Gone Blue" and the slow blue funk of "Hearts of Stone". But for all the poly-cultural appeal of things like the swaying rumba-rocker "Luz de Mi Vida" and the tangy "Malaque", there are a few more clunkers than usual, notably the clichéd social-conscience platitudes of "The Word", and the ponderous soul-jazz of "What in the World", which prevent the album from reaching the heights of its predecessors.