La Pistola y El Corazón
La Pistola y El Corazón (Spanish for "The Pistol and the Heart") is the fourth album by the Mexican American rock group Los Lobos, released in September 1988 on Slash/Warner Bros. Records. The mini-album is dedicated to Tejano/Mariachi folk music. It won a Grammy Award in 1989 for Best Mexican-American Performance.[2]
| La Pistola y El Corazón | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | September 1988 | |||
| Recorded | "Noon June 13 to Midnight June 17, 1988" | |||
| Studio | Sunset Sound Factory, Los Angeles, California | |||
| Genre | Chicano rock Tex-Mex Conjunto Mariachi Ranchera Son Jarocho | |||
| Length | 25:04 | |||
| Label | Slash, Warner Bros. | |||
| Producer | Los Lobos | |||
| Los Lobos chronology | ||||
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| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
The cover is a painting by East L.A. Chicano artist George Yepes, who conceived the image after listening to a demo of the album. "It is a perfect marriage between the musical and the visual," said band member Louie Pérez. "George’s painting directs you to the heart of the whole record. It has the same tough image as the music itself."[3] The cover has won numerous awards and was, in 1999, selected as one of the 100 Best Album Covers of All Time by the editors of Rolling Stone Magazine.[4]
Reception
Geoffrey Himes of the Washington Post was positive in his review of the album, saying that it finds Los Lobos "approaching the tunes not as nostalgia or folklorico but as confessional dramas requiring all the individual verve they can muster. The playing and singing is not only technically marvelous ... but also emotionally urgent." Himes added that the album "lacks the grand ambition of Los Lobos' best records, but it succeeds marvelously at what it sets out to do."[5]
In a retrospective review, rating the album three stars out of five, William Ruhlmann of AllMusic wrote, "If this is a band that seems to do too many things well, in a sense they are at their best when they narrow their focus, and they are certainly masters of their style here."[1]
Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "La Guacamaya" | Traditional | 2:05 |
| 2. | "Las Amarillas" | Traditional | 3:04 |
| 3. | "Si Yo Quisiera" | Romualdo Garcia | 2:42 |
| 4. | "(Sonajas) Mañanitas Michoacanas" | Yolanda Patricia Ayala | 2:23 |
| 5. | "Estoy Sentado Aquí" | Cesar Rosas | 2:28 |
| 6. | "El Gusto" | Elpidio Ramírez | 2:58 |
| 7. | "Que Nadie Sepa Mi Sufrir" | Ángel Cabral, Enrique Dizeo | 2:30 |
| 8. | "El Canelo" | Jacinto Gatica | 3:27 |
| 9. | "La Pistola y El Corazón" | David Hidalgo, Louie Pérez | 3:27 |
Personnel
- Los Lobos
- David Hidalgo – requinto jarocho (1, 8), vocals (1, 3, 8), violin (2, 4, 6), accordion (3, 5, 9), guitar (5, 7), lead vocals (6, 9), huapanguera (8)
- Cesar Rosas – lead vocals (1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8), guitar (1, 4, 5, 7, 8), huapanguera (2, 6, 9), bajo sexto (3), vocals (6)
- Louie Pérez – jarana (1, 4, 6, 8, 9), vocals (1, 6, 8), snare drum (2, 3), vihuela (5), brushes (7)
- Conrad Lozano – guitarron (1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 9), vocals (1), tololoche (3, 7, 8)
- Steve Berlin – soprano saxophone (3, 5, 9)
- Additional musicians
- Production
- Los Lobos – producer
- Larry Hirsch – engineer, mixing
- Scott Woodman – engineer
- Stephen Marcussen – mastering
- George Yepes – cover, design
- Louie Pérez – cover, cover concept
- Jeri Heiden – art direction
Awards
Billboard charts
| Chart | Peak |
|---|---|
| The Billboard 200 | 179 |
Grammy Awards
| Award | Year |
|---|---|
| Best Mexican-American/Tejano Music Performance | 1989 |
References
- Ruhlmann, William. "La Pistola y El Corazón – Los Lobos". AllMusic. Retrieved August 11, 2019.
- "Grammy Awards - Artist: Los Lobos". Grammy.com. Retrieved on 11 August 2019.
- Katz, Jesse (4 May 1989). "The Arts : His Art Imitates the Life Los Lobos Sings About". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 11, 2019.
- "Biography: George Yepes". georgeyepes.com. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
- Himes, Geoffrey (14 October 1988). "The Washington Post review - La Pistola y El Corazon". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 11, 2019 – via Rock's Backpages.