Rick Treviño Reviewed

Rick Treviño

Mi Son (Vanguard)

It was obvious from "El Que Siembra Su Maiz," Rick Treviño's suave solo on Canto, Los Super Seven's sophomore score earlier this year: Time for a solo album. Only this time, gone is the "y" from Ricky -- replaced by the tilde in Treviño -- as are the KVET country leanings of a prior career on Sony. A Grammy, for 1999's Los Super Seven, will do that. So will support from the LS7 machine: executive A&R hombre Dan Goodman; producer Steve Berlin, with help from his little ol' band from East L.A., Los Lobos; Austin Eastsider Ruben Ramos; and the Mavericks' Raul Malo. With Treviño's pure, timbral tenor and that backing, it's no sorpresa then that Mi Son is a chip off the ol' franchise. Opener "El Gustito" sounds like an outtake from the Wolf Pack's La Pistola y el Corazon, which is fitting given the backing band, while "Cupido," also guesting Los Lobos, is even better. Nearly six minutes of Buena Vista push and grind on "El Tira y Jala," with background vocals from LS3 (Ramos, Malo, and David Hidalgo) kicks the party quotient up, just as Treviño's lovely duet with Ramos on "La Hiedra" means gente can also slow dance to it. Astor Piazzolla's "Vuelvo Al Sur," on the other hand, found on a Caetano Veloso album, is "one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard," writes Treviño in the liner notes, but those chancletas go unfilled here. Mi Son should also sound warmer, most arrangements being too bright ("Ojos"), the vocals too on top of the mix, and the album missing the overall organic feel of the best Buena Vista Social Club discs, but "Vanidad," a duet with Martha Gonzalez, takes care of this ("Our engineer, Dave McNair, placed a single [microphone] in the middle of the rhythm section next to Martha and Me"). Closer "Long Goodbye" is an unreleased Los Lobos tune that probably sounds better sung by D. Hidalgo. Even then, however, Mi Son is a good son. Rick Treviño's son. A son worth singing.