Los Lobos - By the Light of the Moon -1987

I have to begin by saying I'm biased, I am a big Los Lobos fan, and consider them one of the greatest American groups ever, right up there with the Band the Beach Boys.    Mixing blues rock and Telecaster driven Tex-Mex with deeply creative production with support from Mitchell Froom and Tchad Blake.    This is an overlooked gem of the Lobos catalog and of the late 80's when the charts were topped by hair-band pop metal.  

This time around they went with producer T-Bone Burnett, leading to a bit more of a straight up Americana sound, then their later work which is often peppered with a bit of psychedelic rock and thick guitar tones.   This time around, it's smooth, clean and clear.

Songwriting is done in a Beatles mode.   Singer/guitarist David Hidalgo and drummer/guitarist Louis Perez are a team that writes most of the songs, but guitarist Cesar Rosas on his own will write 2-3 songs on each album in a slightly different style, his songs being more blues based, kind of the "George Harrison" of the band.   Rosas and Hidalgo are both spectacular guitarists, which overshadows Perez as the additional guitarist and saxophonist Steve Berlin seldom gets much solo time with two powerhouse guitarists in the band, however he doubles on keyboards.

Firstly, the album starts off with, "One Time, One Night," a twangy guitar driven riff and lyrics which detail broken American dreams with a small bit of optimism, much in the same way as their early song, "Will the Wolf Survive."    Then right into a Rosas jump blues rocker "Shakin and Shakin and Shakes."   Compared to other Lobos albums this album is more upbeat in tempo and feel and this sets the stage for a few bluey swinging songs to come.

Aside from the opening track on each side being stellar, the album's real gems are burried on the end of the B-side, the two ballads, "River of Fools" and "Tears of God."   Both these two ballads are amongst their best tunes and sometimes it's onel of those albums when it's better to start listening to the album on the B-side first.

Although my personal favorite Los Lobos album is and will be Kiko, but this album is highly recommended especially for anyone who wants to hear Americana/Blues based straight ahead rock, you can hear the ghosts of SRV and Hendrix in the guitars and even though electronic drums are used, the album is free of most 80's soul sucking production style.