The Neighborhood is the fifth album by the rock band Los Lobos.[3][4] It was released in 1990 and includes contributions from Levon Helm and John Hiatt, among others.[1][5]
The album peaked at No. 103 on the Billboard 200 in September 1990.[6]
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.[7]The New York Times noted a more prominent blues influence, "in different moods and textures."[8] Some tracks employed session drummers in place of Louie F. Pérez, Jr.[9]
Reviewing The Neighborhood for the Chicago Tribune, Greg Kot said that Los Lobos had "translated" their mastery of blues, country, R&B and Mexican folk "into 13 songs of startling simplicity and power", describing the album as "East L.A.soul music, played and sung with utter conviction."[11]Chicago Sun-Times critic Don McLeese stated that it "confirms that the music of Los Lobos has deeper dimensions than the good-time revivalism of 'La Bamba'";[10] in Rolling Stone, 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."[16] For The Washington Post, Geoffrey Himes 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."[1] Ira Robbins of Entertainment Weekly 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."[12]
Los Angeles Times 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-corn in almost any other group's hands".[13] While finding the band's songwriting not at par with "their stylistic mastery", Gavin Martin of NME deemed the album "Los Lobos' most successful collection to date".[14] Critic Robert Christgau, however, gave it a grade of "neither".[18]
Retrospectively, AllMusic's Mark Deming called The Neighborhood "a genuine step forward for a great band, as well as the jumping-off point to their most experimental period."[2] In The Rolling Stone Album Guide, J. D. Considine commented that the album showed Los Lobos sounding "reinvigorated" and "stronger than ever" with material that played to the band's musical strengths.[9]Trouser Press praised it as "exciting, evocative and highly satisfying."[19]
Track listing
All songs written by David K. Hidalgo and Louie F. Pérez, Jr., except where noted.
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
