dreadpirateroberts Malo's second album gets a big shot of salsa.

On their debut, 'Malo' this San Francisco band were rockier and perhaps more adventurous in their efforts to blend Latin and rock music, with Jorge Santana's guitar having a prominent role, along with a more aggressive rhythm section lurking beneath the horn section.

Here, with 'Dos' the rock has been pared back and the salsa feel takes over. With a mostly new line-up, the sound of horns, percussion and percussion become the key, there's even a higher amount of instrumental songs this time around. This shift in direction is in itself highly enjoyable, however, this time around, the songwriting is not as strong. While the openers 'Momolombo' and 'Oye Mama' are quality tracks that remain catchy but still allow for some interplay between instruments, and 'Oye Mama' has probably the best vocal arrangement on the album (in Spanish) the rest of the songs are not as memorable.

'I'm For Real' is nice enough, and echoes the commercial appeal of their previous hit 'Suavecito' and 'Midnight Thoughts' is a soothing instrumental track featuring flute in the lead role. 'Hela' is a little too similar in feel to the rest of the tracks (despite a raging Santana solo) and 'Latin Bugaloo' suffers from a vocal line that feels a little like an afterthought. Otherwise it covers similar ground that is done better earlier in the album, again, despite some nice work from Santana.

This is not a disappointing album, but taken as a whole, it's simply not as strong as their first, even with the exciting change in sound. Three stars.

dreadpirateroberts Latin rock with some samba and a bit of Santana too.

San Franciscan band 'Malo' released this great album in 1972, and rode the single 'Suavecito' up the pop charts.

While it is accessible music, with a mixture of English and Spanish vocals, there is a lot going on in this collection of songs. No piece runs shorter than six minutes, allowing the band to stretch out. And with over ten members there's a full sound delivered when the standard rock instruments are joined by brass, keys and percussion. This set up works with the samba-rock of opener 'Pana' and the catchy 'Cafe' or the jam-closer 'Peace' but is applied more sparingly elsewhere. 'Peace' actually provides the biggest riff on the album, rounded out by a chubby bass line and a fun tempo change in the middle. This track is probably mostly reminiscent of Santana in some ways.

As can be expected, Carlos Santana's younger brother Jorge provides some red-hot lead throughout and some nice riffs on the closer, but Malo isn't a band that tries to showcase but a single player. Elsewhere on the album you get a great rocker in 'Just Say Goodbye' and more pop-influence tracks with 'Nena' and 'Suavecito' which has a chorus catchy enough to climb the charts once for Malo and then again years later for Sugar Ray.

Fans of Santana will find much to enjoy here, as there are certainly similarities that go beyond the guitar and percussion, but probably more enjoyable will be discovering the differences. Not at essential album, but good stuff nonetheless.