With so much soul, they could fill a football stadium with it, Los Lonely Boys finally get their latest release, Sacred out to their waiting fans. The boys came out of nowhere a few years back to score heavily with their debut and later on toured with Santana and Willie Nelson. The band is made up of the three Garza brothers; Henry (guitarist), JoJo (bass) and Ringo (drums). All three do vocals.Sacred is an excellent record that plays to all the band's strengths; great songs, soulful vocals and harmonies, and able instrumentation. Seems like they've got most of the bases covered.
Starting off with a Stevie Ray Vaughn-sounding guitar in "My Way", the band gets bluesy and aided by the horn section, they hit a high mark right off the bat. "Órale" is even better. The vocals are excellent and the hook makes this track hard to take off repeat.
"Diamonds" goes slightly into Lynyrd Skynyrd or early Doobie Brothers area. The guitar riff on "Oye Mamacita", recalls '70s guitar legends Robin Trower or Bill Nelson and the vocal sounds close to Jack Bruce/Clapton territory. "My Loneliness" is one of the many highlights on the record with the simple but ear-friendly melodies.
You can go through all the tracks and not get let down by a single one. If you get the deluxe edition, there is a very engaging bonus DVD. The brothers talk about their roots and how goes into their writing. They sit a table and bang out 5 songs that sound almost as good as anything that's on the record.
This is an excellent record that show these guys know they've hit on a winning formula and have no intention of going away soon.
