|
Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZLOS LOBOSRock/Tex-Mex fusion band formed '74 in East LA: David Hidalgo, guitar, accordion; Cesar Rosas, vocals, bajo sexto guitar; Conrad Lozano, bass; Louie Perez, drums. As Ry Cooder's Chicken Skin Music '76 gave wider exposure to Tex-Mex, the Lobos' own wide influences incl. Clifton Chenier, Flaco Jimenez, Richie Valens, Doug Sahm, Albert Collins, Fairport Convention. They built up a strong LA following, in '70s contributed to Si Se Puede ('It Can Be Done') for the United Farm Workers and released their own Just Another Band From East L.A. Steve Berlin of the Blasters was an early fan and joined full-time after guesting on their official debut mini LP ... and a time to dance... '83, prod. by Belin and T-Bone Burnett, with cover of Richie Valens's '58 hit 'C'mon Let's Go'. They received considerable attention after winning Rolling Stone poll award; Will The Wolf Survive '85 was confident full-length LP, title song covered by Waylon Jennings in his How Will The Wolf Survive same year. Rosas and Hidalgo sessioned on Cooder's soundtrack music for Alamo Bay '85, Hidalgo on Elvis Costello's King Of America '86. They backed Paul Simon on 'All Around The World' on his LP Graceland '86; toured UK early '87; album By The Light Of The Moon '87 again prod. by Burnett, a mainstream rock formula that lost much of their appeal. Band supervised soundtrack to film La Bamba '87, a biopic on Valens, which also featured Marshall Crenshaw, Carlos Santana, Stray Cats' Brian Setzer doing 'Summertime Blues', Bo Diddley on 'Who Do You Love'; soundtrack LP and title single were no. 1 hits. La Pistola y El Corazon ('The Pistol And The Heart') '88 was an acoustic album with fiddle and accordion displaying their rich Hispanic heritage, followed by The Neighborhood '90, Kiko '92 (underrated). They borrowed the title of their own first effort for two-disc Just Another Band From East L.A. (compiling 41 tracks, ten live and four previously unreleased). All these were on Slash; they switched to parent WB for Colossal Head '96, showing mastery of many styles. |