Album Review: Los Cenzontles - Covers 3
Spinning Los Cenzontles’ Covers 3 LP is akin to sidling up to a sonic smorgasbord.
Across 12 tracks the band - the Mockingbirds for English speakers - offers a diverse array of tracks, three in Spanish, nine in English, that combine American and Mexican inspiration and instrumentation to create a musical menu that’ll leave listeners stuffed but wanting more.
Los Lobos’ - the Wolves for English speakers - David Hidalgo appears on three cuts, singing on a devastatingly morose version of the Rolling Stones’ “No Expectations;” providing lead vocals on a south-of-the-U.S.-border transplantation of the Pogues’ “A Rainy Night in SoHo;” and chipping in accordion, lead guitar and backgrounds to a playful rendering of John Prine’s “Boundless Love,” sung by Eugene Rodriguez.
Cenzontles’ Rodriguez is blessed with a high tenor similar to Hidalgo’s and his voice colors the balance of the tracks which include Bob Dylan’s “Tomorrow is a Long Time,” the Stone Poney’s “Different Drum,” Jimmie Rodgers’ “Waiting on a Train,” replete with some Tex-Mex yodeling and “God Bless the Child,” which combines orchestral strings with the nylon variety of a flamenco guitar.
Los Cenzontles used a lot of cooks and threw a ton of ingredients in the pot in cooking up Covers 3. Such an approach is full of risks, but in this case, the stew is anything but spoiled.
Grade card: Los Cenzontles - Covers 3 - A-
10/1/24
