To make it clear once again that Los Lobos is more than the hit La Bamba - which she will probably always haunt - not only a diverse number of different music styles can be heard on the eleventh album The Ride (2004), but also a very large number of guests. Café Tacuba, Little Willie G, Dave Alvin, Bobby Womack, Tom Waits, Martha Gonzalez, Ruben Blades, Richard Thompson, Mavis Staples and Elvis
… Costello participate (on partly old material) and with every guest appearance the music changes. For example, the gentlemen funken together with Little Willie G. in the song Is This All There is ?, Bobby Womack gives away a nice sample of soul-crooning in the medley Wicked Rain / Across 110th Street, the South American rhythms resound solidly in Ya Se Va with Ruben Blades and Elvis Costello breathes new life into the old Los Lobos song Matter Of Time. Despite all the diversity, The Ride is nowhere changeable, but consistently of high quality. (IV)more
