Los Lobos – Ride This: The Covers EP

This EP comes quickly on the heels of the full-length The Ride, serving as a companion piece and providing further evidence of Los Lobos’ impressive versatility. The Ride featured guest collaborations from a variety of musicians, some of them idols, some peers. On Ride This, Los Lobos say thanks to seven of those collaborators in a way that means more than a liner notes nod: The band covers their songs.

From Kiko forward, Los Lobos have shown they’re comfortable with Tom Waits-style quirk and syncopation, and here they both speed and polish up Waits’ “Jockey Full Of Bourbon”; call it bourbon with a slight twist. “Uncomplicated”, the opening cut on Elvis Costello’s Blood & Chocolate, finds the quintet mirroring the throb generated by Costello and adding some extra crunch. “Patria” is one of the simplest yet loveliest songs from Ruben Blades’ catalogue, while “It’ll Never Be Over For Me” is streetwise R&B from the vault of early inspirations Willie G and Thee Midnighters.

It’s not damning with faint praise to say that Los Lobos comes pretty close to matching Richard Thompson’s definitive ferocity on “Shoot Out The Lights”. A live version of the Blasters’ “Marie Marie” closes things out, underscoring the kinship of the two hard-working California bands and ex-Slashmates.

Best of all is “More Than I Can Stand”. The soul of Bobby Womack’s original version, with its strings and near-twangy guitar, was halfway between Philly and Muscle Shoals. By making the horns even punchier and adding Motown percussion, Los Lobos add East L.A. and Detroit to the geographic mix. It’s a triumphant performance that, alone, makes this brief ride worth taking.