Last month, the legendary Los Angeles band Los Lobos stopped by the studio of KCRW during the early show ‘Morning Becomes Eclectic’ to perform ‘Kiko’ live in its entirety. Hard to believe, but it is the 20th anniversary of the album,… I haven’t listened to 'Kiko' for a long time, but it had such an impact on me when it was released. And I was not the only one, as, at the time, the Chicago Tribune, L.A. Times and New York Times all declared the album a masterpiece, and the Wall Street Journal proclaimed it the album of the year, comparing it to the Beatles’ ‘Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band’!
It was not my introduction to Los Lobos, but when I bought the album, I couldn’t get enough of this atmospheric pop music tainted by Tex-Mex, Latin and jazz rhythms and habited by poetic imagery. I couldn’t get enough of this Veracruz harp on ‘Saint Behind the Glass’, or this percussion-guitar duo on ‘Arizona Skies’, or the mysterious darkness behind ‘Kiko and the Lavender Moon’, it was such soothing and touching music. It was tough and sweet, exotic and familiar at the same time, but it was something I had never heard before. But at the same time, the album was so diverse, rich and inventive, drawing influences from all over the place, than there wasn’t a song that could characterize it
For its 20th anniversary, Shout! Factory has reissued a remastered and expanded Anniversary Edition of ‘Kiko’, with a CD, a DVD and a 2-disc Blu-ray CD, containing 5 unreleased bonus tracks, live recordings, and a new essay by journalist and longtime friend of the band, Luis Torres. I know it’s old news, but I stumbled on this video of their recent visit to KCRW, and was reminded of Los Lobos' brilliance. So watch them below perform ‘Kiko and the Lavender Moon’ or go to KCRW’s website to watch the whole show. One last thing, they are currently on tour with Neil Young & Crazy Horse!