'KIKO' WAS HERE LOS LOBOS ALBUM RETURNS IN SPECIAL LIVE SHOWS.

Byline: Sandra Barrera Staff Writer

Nearly 14 years after its release, ``Kiko,'' the groundbreaking album by Los Lobos that Rolling Stone hailed as ``quirky yet emotionally gripping,'' hasn't lost the ability to captivate with its cinematic textures and compelling narratives of hope and despair.

And just wait until you see the theatrical version.

Los Lobos' 52-year-old drummer Louie Perez says it's coming. In fact, it's in the works even as, for the first time, the mostly Latino rock band from East L.A. plays the 1992 album in its entirety during a series of West Coast holiday shows, including Tuesday at the House of Blues Sunset Strip.

``I don't know for what reason everything is coming up 'Kiko' lately, but it's all right,'' says Perez, speaking by phone from his home in Yorba Linda, where he's currently working on adapting the album to a theatrical production.

But more on that later. Right now, Perez says Los Lobos' main objective is to get ``Kiko'' ready for the tour.

That means relearning songs, many of which have receded into obscurity over the years.

``Oh man,'' Perez playfully whines as he talks about the task that lies ahead. ``Whose idea was this anyway?''

Actually, the members of Los Lobos - Perez, David Hidalgo, Cesar Rosas, Conrad Lozano and Steve Berlin - came up with the idea of reprising ``Kiko'' live while planning its annual holiday shows at the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco.

``This year we asked ourselves, 'What can we do that's really special?' We've had such a great year,'' says Perez, referring to Los Lobos' year-long outing, which included about 30 acoustic shows and a world tour partially in support of 2004's ``The Ride,'' which the band plans on following up with a new release come spring. ``We have a very loyal fan base, and so we thought this would be a real gift to give to the fans.''

But two shows in the Bay Area wasn't enough. And so Los Lobos added dates at the House of Blues in both Southern California and Las Vegas.

The ``Kiko'' tour could be extended into 2006, with shows nationwide, depending on how the West Coast leg goes.

While the band has no interest in re-creating the album note for note, Perez says it can't stop midsequence to inquire about the audience either, like Los Lobos might normally do.

``With this one, we're going to have to try out some (artistic) muscles that we haven't used before,'' he says.

And he isn't talking theatrics - not yet, anyway.

Perez says he's talking about bringing in a lighting director to highlight certain nuances in the music and possibly scaling down the instrumentation to ``get back to the vibe'' of the album.

``Kiko'' was created during a period of uncertainty for the band.

At the time, Los Lobos was still coming off its hugely successful ``La Bamba'' cover featured in the 1987 biopic about Pacoima rock legend Ritchie Valens.

``It really threw us when it became such a huge hit,'' Perez recalls. ``Suddenly, it was like everything we had ever done before, it didn't matter. We had become the 'La Bamba' band.''

Faced with an identity crisis, the band that had made considerable cultural inroads since coming together in 1973 with its musical fusion of American roots and Mexican folk tried to distance itself from the hype.

The year following ``La Bamba'' brought the Mexican folkloric project ``La Pistola Y El Corazon.'' In 1990, Los Lobos followed it with the roots rocker ``The Neighborhood.''

But the band didn't really succeed in distancing itself until Perez and Hidalgo - Los Lobos' principal songwriters - sat down to write an album of new material. And out came ``Kiko.''

``The seas parted,'' remembers Mitchell Froom, producer of the 1992 album. ``Some of the demos that David brought in were made on a little cassette machine, and some of the rhythm was real distorted on it - it was real attractive. And at the same time, coincidentally, Tchad (Blake, the engineer) had just bought this little guitar pedal.

``We said, 'What if we use this on the percussion,' '' continues Froom as he explains that nowadays it's fairly generic to hear percussion distorted, but then it was a new sound. ``It was dramatic ... and that was very much the record. It was just this opening-up process where, all of a sudden, anything was possible.''

The album ``Kiko'' didn't only explore new studio technologies but helped to reinvent Los Lobos.

``The band is so talented that if you're in a room with them and they're at their peak, where they're really firing on all cylinders, so to speak, it's real inspiring,'' Froom says. ``Seeing it unfold was great.''

Even the band thought so.

On the day that everybody gathered in the studio for the playback, the room fell quiet.

``We were all stunned by what we had done,'' Perez recalls.

Los Lobos wasn't alone. While critics praised the record, likening it to ``a Hispanic 'Sgt. Pepper's (Lonely Hearts Club Band),' '' says Froom, the MTV generation was riveted by the inventive music video of what Rolling Stone called ``the haunting cabaret jazz'' of the single ``Kiko and the Lavender Moon.''

It even went on to win a chromed astronaut at the MTV Video Music Awards in the category of Best Breakthrough Video.

In addition, the album produced its share of thought-provoking songs about suicide (``Two Janes''), homelessness (``Angels With Dirty Faces'') and domestic abuse (``Reva's House'').

Perez's challenge now is to bring those stories and characters out as he and his friend, Luis Torres of KNX radio, work on the theatrical adaption.

Of course nothing is set in stone, he says.

Los Lobos is still in preliminary talks with theaters across the country, including the Mark Taper Forum.

But Perez remains hopeful about the project, which he predicts will ``take on another life altogether.''

Think pit band, actors and maybe some recorded tracks.

``It's going to be really cool,'' Perez promises. ``You'll see.''

Sandra Barrera, [phone]

sandra.barrera(at)dailynews.com

LOS LOBOS PRESENTS 'KIKO'

Where: House of Blues Sunset Strip, 8430 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood.

When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Tickets: $32.50. [phone]. www.ticketmaster.com.

CAPTION(S):

6 photos

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) LOBOS

Seminal L.A. band aims to turn classic album into stage show

(2) HIDALGO

(3) ROSAS

(4) BERLIN

(5) LOZANO

(6) PEREZ