El Cancionero Mas y Mas

El Cancionero: Mas y Mas is a four-CD box set by the American rock band Los Lobos, released in 2000. It contains album tracks, live recordings, rarities, and alternate versions, as well as tracks from solo and side projects, soundtracks, and tribute albums. Of the eighty-six tracks on the box set, eleven are previously unissued.

"El Cancionero" translates as "songbook" or "the person who interprets songs," according to guitarist/drummer Louie Pérez. The set was the subject of an essay by author Nick Hornby in his collection Songbook.

Reception

Writing for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine called it "the definitive portrait of Los Lobos". He wrote, "As the set winds from the authentic Mexican folk music of 1977 through the gutsy roots rock of 1987 and the dreamy soundscapes of 1992 to the daring music of the mid-'90s and then the consolidation of their strengths on 1999's This Time, it's hard not to be astonished not just by the band's range, but the fact that they do it all really well."

The Guardian described the box set as "a comprehensive history of the band" with "dodgy patches among the triumphs". The eighty-six tracks are, according to The Guardian, "so varied it seems remarkable that they should be recorded by the same musicians."

Track listing

Note

Tracks 8 and 9 recorded live January 14, 1984 at La Casa de la Raza, Santa Barbara, California.

Notes

Track 5 recorded live December 11, 1987 at the Hollywood Palladium, Hollywood, California.
Track 20 recorded live October 18, 1987 in Burbank, California.

Notes

Track 12 recorded live January 9, 1993 at the Moritz von Bomhard Theatre/Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts, Louisville, Kentucky.
Track 20 recorded live May 16, 1996 at the Wells Fargo Theater/Autry Museum of the American West, Los Angeles, California.