''The Neighborhood'' is the fifth album by the rock band

Los Lobos Los Lobos (, Spanish for "the Wolves") are an American rock band from East Los Angeles, California. Their music is influenced by rock and roll, Tex-Mex, country, zydeco, folk, R&B, blues, brown-eyed soul, and traditional music such as cumbia, ...

. It was released in 1990 and includes contributions from, among others,

Levon Helm Mark Lavon "Levon" Helm (May 26, 1940 – April 19, 2012) was an American musician who achieved fame as the drummer and one of the three lead vocalists for the Band, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. H ...

and

John Hiatt John Robert Hiatt (born August 20, 1952) is an American singer-songwriter. He has played a variety of musical styles on his albums, including new wave, blues, and country. Hiatt has been nominated for nine Grammy Awards and has been awarded ...

. The album peaked at No. 103 on the ''Billboard'' 200 in September 1990.

Production

The album followed a period of writer's block, brought on by the success of " La Bamba," and a confusion about what musical direction to go in. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' noted a more prominent

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

influence, "in different moods and textures." Some tracks employed session drummers in place of Louie F. Pérez, Jr.

Critical reception

Reviewing ''The Neighborhood'' for the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'',

Greg Kot Greg Kot (born March 3, 1957) is an American music journalist and author. From 1990 until 2020, Kot was the rock music critic at the ''Chicago Tribune'', where he covered popular music and reported on music-related social, political and busines ...

said that Los Lobos had "translated" their mastery of blues,

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

, R&B and Mexican folk "into 13 songs of startling simplicity and power", describing the album as "

East L.A. East Los Angeles ( es, Este de Los Ángeles), or East L.A., is an unincorporated area in Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 118,786, a drop of 6.1% from 2010, when it was 126,496. For statistical purpo ...

soul music Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in the African American community throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It has its roots in African-American gospel music and rhythm and blues. Soul music became po ...

, played and sung with utter conviction." ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

'' critic Don McLeese stated that it "confirms that the music of Los Lobos has deeper dimensions than the good-time revivalism of 'La Bamba'"; in ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'', McLeese noted the album's "simplicity and understatement" and summarized it as "a bringing-it-all-back-home affair" which "finds a spiritual dimension, a sense of wonder in the course of everyday life." For ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'',

Geoffrey Himes Geoffrey Himes is an American music critic who has written weekly for ''the Washington Post'' since 1977. He also wrote for '' No Depression'' as a contributing editor in its first print era in the late 1990s to the early 2000s and has written for ...

wrote that "the album is a bold claim by these second-generation immigrants that they are Americans, and that all of America's culture belongs to them." Ira Robbins of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

'' lauded the band's musical versatility and concluded that "despite the disconcerting lack of focus, what's in this musical melting pot is mighty tasty." ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' journalist Chris Willman credited Los Lobos with maintaining their "edge" throughout ''The Neighborhood'', even in moments that "are so outrightly sentimental that they would be sheer

Capra Capra may refer to: * ''Capra'' (genus), comprising the goats * Capra (goat dance), a Romanian custom * Capra (titular see), a titular see in the Catholic Church * Capra (car), a pick-up brand from the Iranian Bahman Group People * Buzz Capra ...

-corn in almost any other group's hands". While finding the band's songwriting not at par with "their stylistic mastery", Gavin Martin of ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' deemed the album "Los Lobos' most successful collection to date". Critic

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

, however, merely gave it a grade of "

neither Neither is an English pronoun, adverb, and determiner signifying the absence of a choice in an either/or situation. Neither may also refer to: * ''Neither'' (opera), the only opera by Morton Feldman * "neither" (short story), a very short s ...

". Retrospectively,

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

Mark Deming Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Finn ...

called ''The Neighborhood'' "a genuine step forward for a great band, as well as the jumping-off point to their most experimental period." In ''

The Rolling Stone Album Guide ''The Rolling Stone Album Guide'', previously known as ''The Rolling Stone Record Guide'', is a book that contains professional music reviews written and edited by staff members from ''Rolling Stone'' magazine. Its first edition was published in 1 ...

'',

J. D. Considine J. D. Considine (born 1957) is a music critic who has been writing about music professionally since 1977. Background J. D. Considine's work has been published in numerous newspapers and music magazines, and he has contributed to several books. ...

commented that the album showed Los Lobos sounding "reinvigorated" and "stronger than ever" with material that played to the band's musical strengths. ''

Trouser Press ''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference to ...

'' praised it as "exciting, evocative and highly satisfying."

Track listing

All songs written by David K. Hidalgo and Louie F. Pérez, Jr., except where noted.

Personnel

* David K. Hidalgo - vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, 6-string bass, tiple, accordion, bajo sexto, violine, Hawaiian steel, koto guitar, drums, percussion * Cesar J. Rosas - vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, bajo-sexto, huapanguera * Louie F. Pérez, Jr. - drums, percussion, guitars, jarana, hidalguer * Conrad R. Lozano - vocals, fender precision and 5-string bass, guitarron, upright bass * Steve M. Berlin - tenor, baritone and soprano saxophones, organ, clavinet, percussion Additional personnel *

Jerry Marotta Jerome David Marotta (born February 6, 1956, in Cleveland, Ohio) is an American drummer who resides in Woodstock, New York. He is the younger brother of Rick Marotta, who is also a drummer and composer. Career Marotta was a member of the bands ...

- drums (track 1, 3) * Danny Timms - organ, wurlitzer, piano (track 1, 12) *

Alex Acuña Alejandro Neciosup Acuña (born December 12, 1944), known professionally as Alex Acuña, is a Peruvian-American drummer and percussionist. Background Born in Pativilca, Peru, Acuña played in local bands such as La Orquesta de los Hermanos Neci ...

- percussion, shekere, hand drums (track 1, 3, 4) *

- vocals (track 1, 10) *

Jim Keltner James Lee Keltner (born April 27, 1942) is an American drummer and percussionist known primarily for his session work. He was characterized by Bob Dylan biographer Howard Sounes as "the leading session drummer in America".Howard Sounes. ''Down ...

- drums, percussion (track 2, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13) *

- vocals, mandolin (track 2, 5) *

Mitchell Froom Mitchell Froom (born June 29, 1953) is an American musician and record producer. He was a member of the bands Gamma (band), Gamma and Latin Playboys, and is currently the keyboardist for Crowded House. He has produced albums for several artists, ...

- harmonium (track 4) Production * Larry Hirsch - producer, engineer, mixing * Los Lobos - producer * Mitchell Froom - producer (track 4) * Clark Germain - engineer * Stacy Baird - engineer * Brian Soucy - assistant engineer * Dan Bosworth - assistant engineer * Eric Rudd - assistant engineer * Joe Schiff - assistant engineer * Neal Avron - assistant engineer * Tom Nellen - assistant engineer *

Tchad Blake Tchad Blake (born 1955) is an American record producer, audio engineer, mixer and musician. A native of Baytown, Texas, he has worked with numerous artists and musicians, including Al Green, American Music Club, Ani DiFranco, Apartment 26, Arct ...

- engineer (track 4) * Julie Last - assistant engineer (track 4) * Stephen Marcussen - mastering * Terry Robertson-Mota - art direction, design * Louie Perez - art visions * Carlos Almaraz - paintings * Max Aguilera-Hellweg - photography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Neighborhood, The 1990 albums Los Lobos albums Slash Records albums