Los Lonely Boys
Live at the Fillmore (Or / Epic)
Reviewed by Raoul Hernandez, Fri., April 22, 2005
Los Lonely Boys
Live at the Fillmore (Epic/Or)
Live albums are relics of an era when major labels determined mainstream tastes. The digital age, meanwhile, makes the procurement of almost any live set a modern reality. This Fillmore set mutes both truth and trend. Pulling a Santana – taking their Fillmore gig poster and adapting it to album art – San Angelo superheroes Los Lonely Boys bottle the lightning. Opener "Crazy Dream" wastes no time settling into LLB's comfort groove, Ringo thumping forward the harmonies of he and brothers Jojo and Henry Garza. "We're just getting started, everybody" announces Jojo afterward, 12 songs in 79 minutes backing him 100%. Henry's guitar intro to "Hollywood" eases further down into the shotgun seat of LLB's classic serenade. A whiff of "Low Rider" in "Man to Beat," a cappella "More Than Love," crowd-pleasing covers "Cisco Kid" and "La Bamba" – everything's workin'. Henry's seven-minute saltwater intro to Santana doppelganger "Onda," which is its own 13-minute Gulf Coast drenching, including Ringo's drum solo, pumps the heart of Fillmore, breathing yet more vida into the trio's platinum debut. Late in the set, "Velvet Sky" reminds Strat freaks that what LLB lacks in Santana big-band firepower they make up for with that for which there's never been a substitute in music: familial harmonies. Heaven.
