Consumer Guide Album

Los Lobos: . . . And a Time to Dance [Slash EP, 1983]
At first I suspected tokenism or worse, but that's because the solid craftsmanship of a committed club band only gathers full impact at LP length. Once I saw them--felt them, really, in my bones more than my soul--the suspicion that maybe hip white Angelenos were working off Chicano guilt never entered my mind again. I just wondered whether there weren't more where they came from, and decided that finding competitors of equal chops, breadth, and reach would be pretty tough, especially with young Mexican-Americans so heavily into metal. Good old rock and roll East L.A. style, with a lope Doug Sahm fans will recognize long before Joe "King" Carrasco fans. A-