Happy 30th Birthday to La Bamba, the fab 1987 Ritchie Valens biopic that features Lou Diamond Phillips as doomed Mexican-American 50s rocker who died at the age of 17 in the same plane crash that killed Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper.
La Bamba was also the film through which most people heard the wonderful rock’n’roll band Los Lobos, who, like Ritchie, had come out of East LA with a real and raw sound and were capable of rocking powerfully and with great tenderness.
Los Lobos - The Wolves - never again achieved quite the commercial success they achieved with the La Bamba soundtrack; their version of the title track was a worldwide smash, and their covers of Ritchie’s pretty ballad "Donna" and the storming "Come On Let’s Go" (which they’d actually originally released on their 1983 breakthrough “… And a Time To Dance” mini-LP) were much loved. But they remain one of America’s most revered bands; an outfit that has stayed true to its roots and true to its soul. They’ve released a stream of great records, been feted by artists of the calibre of Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Carlos Santana, Eric Clapton, Robert Plant and Elvis Costello, and won multiple Grammy Awards. You mightn’t hear them on Top 40 radio anymore, but you are likely to see them at somewhere like Bluefest, where they are considered royalty.
Let’s have a listen to a handful of classic early Lobos tracks, including those I mentioned from La Bamba and a couple from their sensational 1984 debut album Will The Wolf Survive? And we’ll finish off with a nice little piece on an official La Bamba 25th Anniversary reunion from 5 years ago.
If you’re in the mood more more Los Lobos, check out the superb collection ‘Just Another Band From East L.A’ on Spotify here.
- DL
