CD Review: Los Lonely Boys, "Live at the Fillmore" (Epic)
Houston, we have a problem. The Texas-based Los Lonely Boys simply won't give their fans new product. Instead, the band--or, more likely, its management--seems content to milk the initial batch of songs until there's nothing left.
If they keep repackaging the band's self-titled debut, which first received independent distribution in 2003, "true" fans might need a dedicated CD rack just for Los Lonely Boys even before the second studio album hits.
The latest stopgap is "Live at the Fillmore," which was recorded during one-heck-of-a-busy Bay Area weekend in late-2004 that found the boys playing three nights at that legendary bastion of '60s culture, as well as both of Neil Young's Bridge School Benefits at the nearby Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View.
The upside is that this disc shows that the band is at least as good live as it is in the studio. The downside is that even big fans don't need yet another gooey version of the Grammy-winning "Heaven" or the equally saccharine "More Than Love." One mediocre new track, "Man to Beat," and covers of War's "Cisco Kid" and Richie Valens' "La Bamba," while well-suited for the group's Tex-Mex pop sound, simply aren't enough to sell this album.
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