DIFFERENT PATHS TO SAME DESTINATION\Los Lobos sound comes together best as sum total of its creative\parts.

Byline: Fred Shuster Daily News Music Writer

For their first new album in six years, the members of East Los Angeles' Los Lobos went to their respective corners.

"We didn't rehearse ahead of time," singer-guitarist David Hidalgo said. "Most of us never heard the songs before we entered the studio. Then, everyone went off by themselves and came up with their own parts. We work best that way, because usually the first impression is the right one."

Los Lobos' "Colossal Head" is due in stores Tuesday. The album includes a taste of funky old-school r&b, an authentic '40s-style Latin ballad, a bit of Tex-Mex, and the sort of atmospheric groove-oriented rock the band used to great effect on 1992's Grammy Award-nominated "Kiko."

"We just go into the studio and work on songs," Hidalgo, 41, said a few days after Los Lobos won a Grammy for pop instrumental performance for the track "Mariachi Suite" from the "Desperado" soundtrack.

"After a while, each song becomes part of a whole and the album takes on a feel and life of its own," he said. "We let the songs show us where to go. If three or four tunes start leaning a certain way, we'll try to come up with something that goes in another direction. We play it by ear. Everyone puts their two cents in."

"Colossal Head" isn't the thematic piece the highly textured "Kiko" was, but the album does boast a friendly, bluesy-r&b feel throughout.

"You do the best you can and hope people will get a chance to hear it," said the guitarist, on a break from the studio where he and Lobos drummer Luis Perez were working on a new Latin Playboys project with producers Mitchell Froom and Tchad Blake.

The Latin Playboys, a roots-inspired Los Lobos side project, released its impressionistic self-titled debut in 1994.

Los Lobos was recently the center of some controversy when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences deemed "Mariachi Suite" ineligible for Oscar consideration, apparently due to its Spanish lyrics.

"It's really pretty ridiculous," Hidalgo said. "It shouldn't be a problem with the way things are today. Spanish-sung lyrics shouldn't be alienating."

The band - Cesar Rosas (guitar-vocals), Conrad Lozano (bass), Steve Berlin (sax, flute), Perez and Hidalgo - is lining up tour dates to coincide with the release of "Colossal Head" (Warner Bros.).

"If people have never heard us, they might think we're just another Mexican band," Hidalgo said. "There's a lot of people we haven't yet reached who might believe that. A lot of times, until they come see us, they really don't know what we're about."

Part of the problem stems from the chart-topping hit Los Lobos had in 1987 with "La Bamba," which was ultimately a poor reflection of the breadth of this eclectic band's abilities.

"The triple-A (adult album alternative) radio format is helping us," Hidalgo said. "It's been going on in other parts of the country for years now, but it's just starting to catch on in L.A."

From its earliest recordings, the musicality of Los Lobos - which got its start playing weddings and celebrations in East Los Angeles - was evident.

After releasing a self-produced EP in 1980 and a major-label EP in 1983, the band delivered its first full-length album, "How Will the Wolf Survive." The disc, featuring rockers ("Don't Worry Baby," "I Got Loaded"), a shuffle ("Evangeline"), the stirring title tune and two traditional Mexican numbers ("Seranata Nortena," "Corrida 1"), hinted at the diversity to come.

Four years later, "La Pistola y el Corazon," an album of traditional Mexican music, celebrated the band's heritage. "The Neighborhood" in 1990 was a straight-ahead rock 'n' roll disc that seamlessly combined r&b, blues, country and rock.

Next came "Kiko," Los Lobos' experimental and highly praised studio creation that many say represents the band's finest hour. A marvelous two-CD best-of, "Just Another Band From East LA: A Collection," includes all of the band's hits and best-known songs, plus several previously unreleased tracks.

Hidalgo - who, along with his fellow band mates, still lives in their native East Los Angeles neighborhood - has been amused as he sees his own teen-age kids becoming fans of such punk revival bands as Green Day, Rancid, NOFX and Pennywise.

"A lot of it pales to the first wave of punk that came out," Hidalgo said, recalling Los Lobos' early years sharing the stage with X, the Blasters, the Plimsouls and other early-'80s punk, roots-rock and new-wave bands.

"The music doesn't seem as important today as it was back then," he said. "In the beginning, it really was trying to make a difference. Now, it's like the retread hippie movement or something. It pales compared to the real thing."

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Photo Los Lobos includes a taste of funky old-school r&b, an authentic '40s-style Latin ballad, a bit of Tex-Mex and atmospheric groove-oriented rock on the band's "Colossal Head" album.