After two critically acclaimed but only moderately selling albums, los Lobos were hired to record songs for the film biography of Hispanic '50s rocker Ritchie Valens, resulting in this soundtrack album, which, in addition to eight los Lobos recordings, features tracks by Marshall Crenshaw, Brian Setzer, and others. los Lobos' remake of the title song topped the charts, as did this album, which went on to sell two million copies. The result has been something of a career dilemma for the band, who went back to being a critically acclaimed, modest seller afterward.
After hitting a creative peak in the early '90s, Los Lobos settled into a decade-long groove that was perhaps a little too comfortable. The band's twelfth studio CD, The Ride, tries to shake things up a bit, and mostly succeeds by pairing the group with a string of collaborators similar to Carlos Santana's Supernatural. Only instead of the young hit-makers that propelled Santana's comeback, The Ride matches Los Lobos with early influences (Bobby Womack, Little Willie G) and long-time friends (Dave Alvin, Elvis Costello)..