(Rock / Soft Rock) Lobo - The Very Best of Lobo - 1993, MP3 (tracks), VBR 206-261

The Best Of Lobo CD June 15, 1993
Rhino R2 71254 U.S.A.
The sound quality of this GOLD CD is noticeably superior
to the standard issue.
Producer: Phil Gernhard
Bill Inglot
Mixer: Bill Inglot
Ken Perry
Playing Time: 63:10
Me And You And A Dog Named Boo
(Kent "Lobo" LaVoie) (2:59)
She Didn't Do Magic
(Kent "Lobo" LaVoie) (2:55)
I'm The Only One
(Kent "Lobo" LaVoie) (3:18)
California Kid And Reemo
(A. Michael Gatley / Robert John) (2:49)
A Simple Man
(Kent "Lobo" LaVoie) (2:56)
I'd Love You To Want Me
(Kent "Lobo" LaVoie) (4:04)
A Big Red Kite
(Kent "Lobo" LaVoie) (4:04)
Don't Expect Me To Be Your Friend
(Kent "Lobo" LaVoie) (3:35)
It Sure Took A Long Long Time
(Kent "Lobo" LaVoie) (3:09)
How Can I Tell Her
(Kent "Lobo" LaVoie) (4:20)
Rock And Roll Days
(Kent "Lobo" LaVoie) (3:50)
Goodbye Is Just Another Word
(Kent "Lobo" LaVoie) (3:35)
There Ain't No Way
(Kent "Lobo" LaVoie) (3:16)
Love Me For What I Am
(Kent "Lobo" LaVoie) (4:03)
Standing At The End Of The Line
(Kent "Lobo" LaVoie) (3:53)
Rings
(Alex Harvey / Eddie Reeves) (3:31)
Don't Tell Me Goodnight
(Kent "Lobo" LaVoie) (3:08)
Would I Still Have You
(Kent "Lobo" LaVoie)
Description:
Personnel includes: Roland Kent LaVoie [a.k.a. Lobo] (vocals, guitar).
Compilation producer: Bill Inglot.
Includes liner notes by Wayne Jancik.
All songs written by Kent "Lobo" LaVoie except "California Kid And Reemo" (A. Michael Gatley/Robert John) and "Rings" (Alex Harvey/Eddie Reeves).

Don Krider's Full Review: The Best of Lobo (Rhino) by Lobo:
Roland Kent Lavoie is better known by his stage name of Lobo. During the 1970s, Lobo hit the Billboard Hot 100 with 16 singles, including the million-seller "I'd Love You To Want Me."
Lobo's music remains a staple of adult contemporary and classic rock radio playlists. The Florida native had played in an early '60s band called The Rumors, a band that featured, for a short time, future Byrds member Gram Parsons and future country hitmaker Jim Stafford.
By 1964, Lavoie was recording as a member of The Sugar Beats, but success eluded him. A 1969 solo single on Laurie Records, "15 Days To New York City"/"My Friend Is Here" actually featured backing vocals by The Left Banke ("Walk Away Renee") on both tracks.
In 1970, Lavoie was playing in a Tampa bar band called Me And The Other Guys. He was trying to come up with a rhyme for "me and you" when a four-legged inspiration standing outside a sliding glass door appeared. It was a dog named "Boo."
Lavoie wrote the tune "Me And You And A Dog Named Boo." His mentor was Phil Gernhardt, who had worked with him before. Gernhardt had an amazing track record, producing hits for The Royal Guardsmen ("Snoopy And The Red Baron"), Maurice Williams & The Zodiacs ("Stay") and Dion ("Abraham, Martin and John").
Gernhardt knew the song would be a hit, but he advised Lavoie to do something so he didn't become typecast as a novelty act. Lavoie decided to record as Lobo, a word that he says means "lone wolf" in Spanish, so he could hide his real identity.
His plan almost worked too well. Music critics hearing the single praised the "group" Lobo, not knowing it was actually a solo artist.
"Me And You And A Dog Named Boo" is one of the most catchy, likeable tunes you're likely to hear, something that sounded wonderful on AM radio in 1971.
"Me and you and a dog named boo / travelling and a living off the land / Me and you and a dog named boo / How I love being a free man..."
The tune went to # 5 in Billboard, spending 13 weeks in the Hot 100. Unfortunately for Lobo, Big Tree Records followed the hit with three singles that didn't crack the Top 40: the double-sided hit "She Didn't Do Magic"/"I'm The Only One" (# 46), "California Kid And Reemo" (# 72) and "A Simple Man" (# 56).
Lobo began to fear he'd been typecast after all as a novelty act by the success of "Me And You And A Dog Named Boo." Around this time he'd been listening to hits by Nilsson (his hit cover of Badfinger's "Without You") and Mac Davis ("Baby Don't Get Hooked On Me").
Those songs inspired him to adopt "a slow, droning guitar sound," as he called it, for his next single, "I'd Love You To Want Me." The ballad was the opposite of the bright, uptempo feel of "Me And You And A Dog Named Boo."
"Baby / I'd love you to want me / The way that I want you / The way that it should be / Baby / You'd love me to want you / The way that I want to / If you'd only let it be..."
Lobo offered the song to The Hollies, who turned it down, so he recorded it himself. It was Lobo's good fortune that The Hollies rejected the song --- it would revive his career.
"I'd Love You To Want Me" became Lobo's biggest hit, rising to # 2 for two weeks with 14 weeks in the Hot 100. The single became Lobo's first, and only, Gold Record when it sold over a million copies.
He followed that with his third Top 10 hit, "Don't Expect Me To Be Your Friend," which peaked at # 8 in 1972. It was in the Hot 100 for 13 weeks.
"I stopped sending flowers to your apartment / You said you weren't at home much anymore / I stopped dropping by without an appointment / 'Cause I'd hear laughter coming through your door / Sometimes, late at night, you'll still call me / Just before you close your eyes to sleep / You make me vow to try and stop by sometime / But baby that's a promise I can't keep / I love you too much to ever start liking you / So let's just let the story have an end / I love you too much to ever start liking you / So don't expect me to be your friend..."
In 1973, Lobo scored two Top 40 hits with "It Sure Took A Long, Long Time" (# 27) and "How Can I Tell Her" (# 22). He finished the year with a minor two-sided hit, "There Ain't No Way"/"Love Me For What I Am" (# 68).
He charted twice more in 1974 with "Standing At The End Of The Line" (# 37) and "Rings" (# 43). In 1975, he returned to the Top 40 briefly with "Don't Tell Me Goodnight" (# 27), then vanished from the charts until 1979.
Lobo had found a new love ("How Can I Tell Her" is a true story, he says) and, according to him, "the hits stopped coming when I found happiness and the wife I'm now with. No more sad songs, no more hits."
In the late '70s Lobo recorded with Warner Brothers with no luck, but then he signed with MCA and had a brief comeback on the pop charts in 1979. That year he had his final Top 40 hit with "Where Were You When I Was Falling In Love" (# 23). His final Hot 100 hit was also released in 1979, "Holdin' On For Dear Love" (entering the charts just before Christmas 1979 and remaining on the charts through early 1980, it peaked at # 75).
Lavoie/Lobo formed Boo Publishing, Lobo Records and Evergreen Records in the 1980s. He also went into record production, producing country chart hits for Jim Stafford, Joe Stampley and Christy Lane. He even recorded a country chart hit as a member of Wolfpack (a band that included Kenny Earle and Narvel Felts) called "Bull Smith Can't Dance The Cotton-Eyed Joe."
The CD:
A very nice 8-page CD booklet with several photos. Liner notes by Wayne Jancik, author of "The Billboard Book Of One-Hit Wonders." The quotes from Lobo about the songs are interesting, but I wish they would have made the booklet a bit longer and included the lyrics to the songs.
The album clocks in at over 63 minutes in length with 18 tracks: "Me And You And A Dog Named Boo," "She Didn't Do Magic," "I'm The Only One," "California Kid And Reemo," "A Simple Man," "I'd Love You To Want Me," "A Big Red Kite," "Don't Expect Me To Be Your Friend," "It Sure Took A Long, Long Time," "How Can I Tell Her," "Rock And Roll Days," "Goodbye Is Just Another Word," "There Ain't No Way," "Love Me For What I Am," "Standing At The End Of The Line," "Rings," "Don't Tell Me Goodnight" and "Would I Still Have You."
None of Lobo's 1979 hits are included. This album concentrates on his career on Big Tree Records through 1975.

Best remembered for soft-rock perennials like "Me and You and a Dog Named Boo" and "I'd Love You to Want Me," Lobo was the alias of singer/songwriter Roland Kent LaVoie, born July 31, 1943 in Tallahassee, FL. At 17 he joined the Rumours, whose ranks also included future luminaries like country-rock pioneer Gram Parsons and country-pop funny man, Jim Stafford.
It was while he was attending the University of South Florida that Lavoie met Phil Gernhard. Gernhard, who had produced Maurice Williams and The Zodiacs big hit "Stay" and would also go on to produce Dion's "Abraham Martin and John", would record Lavoie's first regional hit called "What Am I Doing Here" with the band Lavoie was in called "The Sugar Beats".
By 1969, Phil Gernhard had become an executive with Big Tree Records, and signed his old friend Lavoie to a contract. Here he recorded a song he wrote called "Happy Days In New York City", backed with another original song called "My Friend Is Here". The effort failed, but two years later, the pair came back with "Me and You and a Dog Named Boo". Sensing the song's hit potential, but also wary of succumbing to "one-hit-wonder" novelty status, Lavoie adopted the name "Lobo", which means Wolf in Spanish. After the single cracked the Top Five in the spring of 1971, many assumed the record was the product of a group and not a solo act. The song became his only hit in the UK, where it reached number 4. The album "Introducing Lobo", could only yield minor follow ups, "I'm The Only One" and "California Kid".
LaVoie maintained the Lobo alias for the follow-up, 1972's "Of A Simple Man", and the gamble worked. The album scored his biggest chart hit, "I'd Love You to Want Me," as well as another Top Ten smash, "Don't Expect Me to Be Your Friend." With 1973's album, "Calumet", Lobo earned three more Top 40 hits: "It Sure Took a Long, Long Time," "How Can I Tell Her" and "Standing At The End Of The Line". However, outside of "Don't Tell Me Goodnight," from 1975 LP "A Cowboy Afraid Of Horses", LaVoie's commercial momentum dissipated.
By 1979, Lobo had moved to MCA/Curb Records, and hooked up with producer Bob Montgomery to release his next single "Where Were You When I Was Falling In Love", which made it to #23 on the national charts and was hailed as his "come-back", but it would be short lived. In November, his first album in 4 years, "Lobo", was released, followed in December by a flop single, "Holding On For Dear Love".
MCA/Curb records again moved Lobo, now to Elektra/Curb, and in September, "With A Love Like Ours" again produced by Bob Montgomery was released. In December, "Fight Fire With Fire" was his last single for Curb. Not satisfied with the sound and production of his records, Lobo asked for and was granted a release from his contract.
This was the start of a new era for Lobo. Along with Johnny Morris, LaVoie formed the Lobo Records label in Nashville. His first single "I Don't Want To Want You", written by his brother Roger, was released in November and faired well on the Country music charts, but with the lack of a major distributor it could not go beyond the top 30.
Lobo had a sting of minor hits on the country charts starting with "Come Looking For Me". Then, along with Kenny Earl and Narvel Felts, Lobo, under the group name "Wolfpack" released a single called "Bull Smith Can't Dance The Cotton Eyed Joe" written by LaVoie and his brother Roger. In August, his last single for Lobo Records, "Living My Life Without You" was released.
By 1985, Lobo pulled out of Lobo Records and the label became Evergreen Records. LaVoie then released two singles while with Evergreen. "Am I Going Crazy" in March and "Paint The Town Blue" in June. "Paint The Town Blue" was a duet with Robin Lee and was the song that got her signed to a major label.
Even though his short run as a hit maker was over in North America, Lobo's popularity was on the upswing in Asia, and WEA released his "Best Of Lobo" album on CD in the Asian market. By 1989, with a surge of popularity in Taiwan, Lobo recorded and released his first new album in 10 years. Just before he was to go in the studio to record his next album for Springroll/PonyCanyon, the Asian stock market took a dive and PonyCanyon Singapore was one of the casualties. PonyCanyon shut down their Singapore office and Lobo lost his contract.
Over the next few years, Lobo attempted many more failed recordings, but by 1998, he retired to his home in Florida. His early hits have been re-packaged into countless "Best Of" albums, and in January 2000, he signed a new contract with a German record company. Another album containing a compilation of previously released songs plus a few newly recorded tracks resulted, followed by a Christmas album, and in February, 2001, yet another CD called, "A Simple Man", was released in Europe.