By The Light Of The Moon
by Los Lobos

By The Light Of The Moon by Los Lobos
Year: 1987
Overall rank: 8,235th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
74/100 (from 38 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 1987 (108th)
Award Top albums of of the 1980s (1,172nd)
Award Best albums of all time (8,235th)

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Los Lobos By The Light Of The Moon LP Vinyl 1987 Slash Sealed New
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By the Light of the Moon by Los Lobos (CD, 1990)
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Los Lobos bestography

By The Light Of The Moon is ranked 3rd best out of 21 albums by Los Lobos on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by Los Lobos is Kiko which is ranked number 4136 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 353.

Los Lobos album bestography « Higher ranked (4,328th)
How Will The Wolf Survive?
This album (8,235th)
By The Light Of The Moon
Lower ranked (10,752nd) »
Colossal Head

(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).

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By The Light Of The Moon rankings

Rankings summary
Overall rank: 8,235th | 1980s rank: 1,172nd | 1987 rank: 108th
Filter Filter
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YearSourceChartRankRank Score
2026cicadelicRolling Stone 1987 Critics Best Album7/10 -
2026JohnnyoTop 100 Music Albums of 198715/1004
2026Rivera201-30072/100 -
2026matterhornriderTop 50 Music Albums of 198734/502
2026RiveraTop 100 Music Albums of the 1980s65/1007
2026 covecoveTop 50 Music Albums of 198730/502
2026 zags7000Top 100 Music Albums of 198741/1003
2026 TamthebamTop 100 Music Albums of 198797/1000
2026 paladisiactop 65r albums (63), #0101-0200*12/60 -
2025 IgtonumamaTop 100 Music Albums of 198787/1001
2025JohnnyoTop albums of the '80's (101 - 200)27/100 -
2025RiveraTop 42 Music Albums of 198717/423
2025 paladisiacTop 100 Music Albums of 198766/1002
2025JohnnyoAlbums of the year 1987 by Acclaimed Music49/52 -
2025 paladisiac1980s 65rating (63.64-63), #001-100*5/59 -
2024dhbarrettTop 100 Music Albums of the 1980s18/10017
2024 PAPPITUFOTop 100 Music Albums of 198780/1001
2023henrygreen0203Top 35 Music Albums of 198733/350
2023cicadelicRobert Christgau: Dean's List 198752/55 -
2023exile_kenTop 50 Greatest Music Albums29/5029
Total Charts: Help The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. 40
Total Rank Score: Help The total rank score. 153
You can include this album in your own chart from the My Charts page!

By The Light Of The Moon collection

By The Light Of The Moon ratings

Average Rating: 
74/100 (from 38 votes)
  Ratings distribution Help Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
where:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.

Showing latest 5 ratings for this album.  | Show all 38 ratings for this album.

Sort Sort by
RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
95/100
 !
01/10/2026 03:45 Rivera  Ratings distribution  2,04582/100
 
75/100
 !
03/05/2025 11:15 cicadelic  Ratings distribution  13,28773/100
 
85/100
 !
06/14/2024 02:04 matterhornrider  Ratings distribution  5,10481/100
 
80/100
 !
05/08/2024 20:51 BorderFreeAndrew  Ratings distribution  15,62074/100
 
80/100
 !
04/19/2024 04:49 ScrumpyArbuckle  Ratings distribution  1,13178/100

Rating metrics: Help Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)

This album is rated in the top 15% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 74.1/100, a mean average of 72.8/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 74.6/100. The standard deviation for this album is 18.8.

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By The Light Of The Moon favourites

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By The Light Of The Moon comments

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Rating:  
100/100
AOY for me for 1987, a shoo in. Just good to great everywhere. Made the world a better place and me much better at my job.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
This was the album that really consolidated Los Lobos' name as a modern rock band that was on level with contemporary trends, wrote great songs and who played their instruments sang their songs to pure delight.

The album is once again produced by T-Bone Burnett. This time the group decided, with one exception, to stick to the English lyrics, and the traditional Tex-Mex style is not very prevalent.

The songwriting is strong and inspired. The songwriting team David Hidalgo and Louie Perez delivers a string of beautiful songs like "One Time, One Night," "All I Wanted To Do var Dance," "The Hardest Time," "Tears of God" and not least the beautiful acoustic "River of Fools ". Several of these fine songs could really have been written or arranged by Tom Petty.

Cesar Rosas, who often delivers for the rawer and bluesy songs contributes the fine "Set Me Free", besides the very bluesy "My Baby's Gone" and the upbeat "Shakin 'Shakin' Shakes"

This one of the group's most complete and most successful albums, however, it would be surpassed by the band themselves a couple of times within the next few years.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Tex-Mex band with great rockabilly sound. (If you've heard "La Bamba", you will know what they're about)Highlights on this record include "One Time, One Night", "Shakin'" and "River of Fools".
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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