POP MUSIC REVIEW : In Los Lobos’ Case, Something Old <i> Is </i> Something New

Creating a body of work is most important to poets, painters and photographers, but it can work against rock ‘n’ roll bands, opening them to charges of redundancy and of living on past glories. Not so in the case of Los Lobos.

The release this year of “Just Another Band From East L.A.,” a two-CD collection that chronicles 15 years of Los Lobos recordings, proves the point. Never willing to limit themselves to a single sound or style, Los Lobos use their retrospective to demonstrate the range of their repertoire: hard rockers, blues, country and roots-rock-inspired tunes, danceable norteno songs, and the introspective, rhythmically ambitious pieces that have surface on their most recent albums, “The Neighborhood” and “Kiko.” It’s this kind of variety, and a willingness to let individual tunes evolve as time goes by, that keep the quintet continually satisfying.

The first of their two shows Saturday at the Coach House succeeded on the same terms. There was little in the way of new material; indeed, the one-hour, 20-minute set resembled the band’s recent performances at the Rhythm Cafe in Santa Ana and at A Taste of Orange County. But the ability to provide variations on the familiar, while balancing driving electric guitar-backed tunes with acoustic traditional music spiced by David Hidalgo’s accordion, made the performance fresh in a way more often associated with jazz bands than with veteran rock acts.

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The set opened with what might be considered a new number, Hidalgo and drummer Louie Perez’s “Someday.” Culled from the sessions that produced “The Neighborhood” in 1990, the tune was heard for the first time on the “East L.A.” compilation. From there, though, the band provided a tour through its recorded history, with emphasis on “Kiko” and “Neighborhood.”

Best known generally for their version of “La Bamba” (which they didn’t play during this show), Los Lobos continue to cover tunes from others. The Grateful Dead’s “Bertha” has become Los Lobos’ signature encore piece and its performance was one of the evening’s most invigorating. The band also did Gregg Allman’s “Don’t Keep Me Wonderin”’ off the Allman Brothers “Idlewild South” album from 1970. The tune featured Cesar Rosas’ hot, sometimes psychedelic guitar licks and insistent beat from Perez and second percussionist Victor Bisetti.

The band’s own established tunes featured orchestrating quirks and new variations. “One Time One Night” revolved around Hidalgo’s hard-strummed acoustic guitar break that swept through a well-tempered dynamic change, bringing the tune to a whisper’s level before Hidalgo’s voice re-entered the mix. “Peace,” with its firm tribal rhythms, closed on a series of intense, ascending chords that sounded like something generated by Sun Ra or electric-period Miles Davis. Even “Someday” varied from the version heard on “East L.A.,” as Hidalgo enlarged the tune with his electric guitar rather than his accordion.

This was by no means the group’s most charged performance, or its most polished. The tempo on “Bertha” lagged at times and members seemed out of sync during “Don’t Worry Baby.” But those are minor quibbles; for the most part, the group maintained its reputation as one of the most practiced on the scene. And Los Lobos demonstrated their usual ability to adapt to a crowd, answering a request thrown from the audience for “That Train Don’t Stop Here Anymore” with a version that featured a dramatic, incredibly tight climax.

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Opening act Ben Harper brought a dreadlock sensibility to the delta blues tradition, moving between a quartet of acoustic guitars from which he coaxed sliding phrases and various echo effects while holding them flat in his lap. His most effective sound came from a stubby, hollow-necked instrument that brought a mix of melancholy and optimism to a lyric that made (too much) wordplay on the name “King.” His vocals relied too heavily on such gimmicks as warbles and yodeling, which overshadowed the sincerity that often filled his words.

Los Lobos continued at the Coach House Sunday night.