By the Light of the Moon

How Will the Wolf Survive? Los Lobos's ability to wade through disparate musical styles isn't the stuff of Elvis and the Beatles, but Los Lobos did it on their debut album. And, unlike much of the material Los Lobos cut their teeth on as a Los Angeles Top 40 cover band, there is nothing lowest-common-denom...	Kiko After their hit remake of "La Bamba," Los Lobos could easily have settled into the lazy, provincial groove of hometown heroes. But with producer Mitchell Froom's encouragement, the pride of East L.A. exploded all conventions on their one true masterwork. Their Latin roots are obv...	La Pistola y El Corazon	The Neighborhood The Neighborhood continues Los Lobos' gift for melding American musics--R&B, conjunto, C&W, rock, and the rest--into a sound that's entirely its own. The longing swing of "Emily" is kick-started by driving fiddle, the delicate "Little John of God" features the Arkansas drawl of L...	Colossal Head If Kiko was Los Lobos' unanticipated definitive statement, as in "You've got to hear this!" Colossal Head is its less focused addendum. It says: "Oh, yeah, and furthermore. The title track, a multi-textured grinder with a Middle Eastern string arrangement mixed in with baritone s...
The Town and the City After variously celebrating their 30th anniversary with the star-studded The Ride, documenting their bracing live shows on Live at the Fillmore and doing a little intimate musical retrenchment on the self-released Acoustic En Vivo, Los Lobos returned to the studio with creative ...	Good Morning Aztlán [Limited Edition] After 25 years together as a band, you'd expect Los Lobos to be spent creatively. Not so, though this East L.A. institution has settled into a perhaps too-comfortable groove with its past couple of albums. No longer the studio experimentalists of Kiko (still the group's best albu...	The Ride After hitting a creative peak in the early '90s, Los Lobos settled into a decade-long groove that was perhaps a little too comfortable. The band's twelfth studio CD, The Ride, tries to shake things up a bit, and mostly succeeds by pairing the group with a string of collaborators ...	Del Este de Los Angeles (Just Another Band from East L.A.) Long before they became American rock legends and Grammy favorites, Los Lobos (or rather Los Lobos del Este de Los Angeles--the Wolves of East Los Angeles--as they were then known) turned a faithful musical tutelage by their parents' Mexican folk music records into a steady strea...	This Time The gents in Los Lobos refuse to go gentle into the good night. This Time (like the 1999 Los Lobos spin-off projects Houndog and the Latin Playboys) is rife with an adventurous spirit that belies the lengthy recording history these guys have behind them. No one can accuse Los Lob...

A humble yet extraordinary collection that endures
I always thought Los Lobos peaked relatively early with Kiko, but after a binge of relistening, I now believe the even earlier "By the Light of the Moon" is their true masterpiece. It's beautiful, it's funny, it rocks, it makes you cry. The guitar work on the cinematic numbers "One Time One Night" and "Tears of God" is exquisite. They give us tight-rocking blues in songs like "Shakin' Shakin' Shakes" and "Set Me Free Rosa Lee." This album exudes the confidence of a band with nothing to prove, no hipster rock critics to placate, a clear sense of its identity as a unique melder of Latino, rock, blues and folk sounds. The lyrics are miniature portraits that expand in the mind to represent America in microcosm. As Los Lobos progressed, they continued and continue to make great music, but I think "Kiko" made them self-conscious, made them strive for sounds and meanings that sometimes eluded them. But on "By the Light of the Moon," Los Lobos lets the music come to them. That's why it endures.

Strong From Start to Finish!!
This album came out right before "La Bamba" made Los Lobos a household name briefly in 1987. Unfortunately, in all the hubbub over that #1 song, their album got lost along the way, and underperformed commercially. Thus, many people missed a brilliant album with no weak spots anywhere. I have had this cassette since 1987, and am patiently waiting for the band to have Rhino remaster their first few albums. The originals sound pretty good still, but hearing amazing songs like "River of Fools" and "One Time One Night" in glorious Rhinophonic sound would be to die for. For those who want to get this now, find a used CD copy at your local store and hear the sound of a band that has few rivals in American music history.

Good-time rock & roll. Happy and upbeat. Party!
Mixing a bit of Tex-Mex with that Old-Time Rock & Roll, Los Lobos keep you tapping your toes, singing along or getting out of your chair to dance. Even the potentially somber "Is This All There Is" is a real sing-along cheerful number. "Shakin' Shakin' Shakes" delivers exactly what the title promises. "All I Wanted to Do Was Dance" moves you to do just that, dance with the guys. "The Hardest Time," nominally a sad ballad, is a tuneful cut that'll get your fingers moving. You'd expect a song called "Tears of God" to be mournful, but you'll find yourself humming harmonies along with its optimistic energy. When they sing "My Baby's Gone," an up-tempo blues, they sound HAPPY about it! In fact, that's the main thing about this whole album: it's got a HAPPY mood. Not a downer on it. There aren't many albums that are just plain good-time music, fun to listen to. This is one of them. These guys are enjoying themselves, and it's infectious. I love it.

These guys just keep making great albums
BY THE LIGHT OF THE MOON by LOS LOBOS is another gem that this group has turned out. LOS LOBOS are a great band that has the ability to combine all of their musical influences together and make great sounding songs. PRENDA DEL ALMA shows the band digging into their Mexican heritage and belting out a traditional song, which is just a beautiful song. This album is a good rocking song that has some standout tunes on it. Listen to the songs ONE TIME ONE NIGHT, SHAKIN SHAKIN SHAKES, ALL I WANTED TO DO WAS DANCE, ROSA LEE(SET ME FREE), THE HARDEST TIME, RIVER OF FOOLS, THE MESS WE'RE IN, and TEARS OF GOD. Actually every song on the album is good, I cant think of any low points. All of the songs have some killer melodies to them and I think that you will enjoy this album. PEACE, ESE

One of their best.
I am listening to "BY THE LIGHT OF THE MOON" right now.This CD is probably my favorite by Los Lobos.What a great band they are!I'm not gonna go through their songs one by one.I'm just gonna tell people they will not be disappointed in any CD by Los Lobos.I don't listen to words very much.Just the music.And the music is awesome!