Not just another ‘Ride’

Los Lobos

“The Ride” (Hollywood/Mammoth)

****

In the title of the acclaimed album that marked their major-label debut 20 years ago, Los Lobos asked a question that now seems farsighted: How will the wolf survive?

In the case of this extraordinary band from East Los Angeles, the answer turned out to be as simple to state as it is hard to accomplish: Los Lobos survived by making one outstanding album after another.

Now the quintet, still in its original lineup, pounces into its fourth decade with a stunning album that sustains its reputation as one of L.A.’s most creative and inspiring rock outfits. “The Ride” (in stores Tuesday) is the group’s 12th album and its first self-produced effort.

Taking control in the studio might be a gamble for musicians who are getting a little long in the tooth. But in this case, the risk paid off with a work infused with fresh energy, mature confidence and new sonic textures.

“The Ride” gets much of its fun and forcefulness from stellar collaborations covering most of its 13 tracks.

The diverse guest musicians -- from Mexican alt-rock group Cafe Tacuba and salsa legend Ruben Blades to versatile British singer-songwriter Elvis Costello and soul veteran Bobby Womack -- represent the band’s wide-ranging stylistic influences.

The approach begs comparison to 1999’s “Supernatural,” Santana’s smash comeback collection of collaborations, co-produced by music executive Clive Davis. Although “Supernatural” smacked of a product designed in part by a record company’s marketing department, “The Ride” has the down-home feel of work spun in an artist’s living room, as indeed it mostly was in the home studio of guitarist Cesar Rosas.

Los Lobos avoids the Santana gimmick of hooking up a ‘60s icon with younger talent to attract a more desirable demographic. Instead, the band members picked artists they had long admired., so most are either peers or their elders. (One omission: No guest from norteno music, a staple of their repertoire.)

The choices are occasionally surprising, such as gospel powerhouse Mavis Staples or tormented bohemian Tom Waits, who growls a barely intelligible bilingual lament (“Kitate”) about a henpecked man in a duet, and duel, with his henpecker, Quetzal vocalist Martha Gonzalez.

Such guests hardly bring commercial cachet. What they add is a depth and dynamism that transcend genres, generations and language, transforming Los Lobos’ trademark sound without throwing the band off its foundation.

The teaming turns a few Lobos standards into revelations, such as a slowed-down, spiritual rendition of 1984’s “Matter of Time,” with Costello recorded in a church in Oslo, Norway. And the group’s classic tale of immigrant disenchantment and despair, “Is This All There Is?,” becomes all funky, bluesy catharsis in the voice of their homey, Little Willie G. of the seminal East L.A. rock band Thee Midniters.

A strong sense of time and destiny runs through these songs. It’s not just nostalgia, which would have weakened the work. There’s the chance to start again in “Rita.” The flicker of hope in “Somewhere in Time.” The prediction of social vengeance for the downtrodden (“We are under the bridges and under the shadows / Under your noises and under the rug”) in the edgy and gripping opening track with Cafe Tacuba, “La Venganza de Los Pelados” (The Revenge of the Underdog).

In the only other Spanish number, the salsa-driven “Ya Se Va” (She’s Already Leaving), Blades draws a life lesson from the pain of lost love: “He who never risks anything never wins anything / He who never looks for the door never finds an entrance.”

That line provides yet another clue to the question echoing through the decades: The Wolves survived by taking chances. “The Ride,” both risky and rootsy, is bound to take them through new doors they’ve never passed through before.

Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor) to four stars (excellent).