La Vida Mickey
Walt Disney Records, 2000
REVIEW BY: Christopher Thelen
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 03/31/2001
It's a shame my four-year-old doesn't know how to read or write yet.
You see, I've just finished listening to La Vida Mickey, a disc aimed at kids meant to capture the popularity of the Latin music explosion, and the more I listened to it, the more I realized I'm not the most qualified person to judge its merits.
La Vida Mickey is not a disc meant for grown-ups' ears. It's targeted strictly for the kiddies, who probably care more about happily bopping around to the music and listening to the occasional appearance of Mickey Mouse and Goofy on this disc. Despite all my protestations that I'm nothing more than an overgrown kid, all I can hear are remakes of the original songs... and I realize I'm not as hip as I once was.
So, I have to try and put myself in the mindframe of, say, an eight-year-old to listen to La Vida Mickey, and forget about songs staying true to their original versions. Once you drop back to an age where all you cared about was getting your homework done so you could play street football, it's not a bad disc at all.
Let's face it, the kids don't really care who Lou Bega is, or what the original version of "Oye Como Va" sounded like. They want stuff they can listen to and dance to. I haven't had the chance to try this yet, but I'm going to put this disc on in the living room to see how my daughter reacts to it. I'm willing to bet, dollars to donuts, that she'll be bouncing around the room when songs like "Mickey's Cup Of Life," "Guantanamera" and either version of "Magic Carpet Ride" comes blaring from my wife's boombox. (Note to the adults: MDO's "Magic Carpet Ride" is not the Steppenwolf song of the same name. Myra's "Magic Carpet Ride" is her take on the classic. Just helping you keep your musical scorecard straight.)
Not everything that hits the CD bins at Best Buy is aimed for an adult's ears - and maybe that's the way it should be. Discs like La Vida Mickey are released for one sole purpose, and it ain't to make money. It's to let kids be kids and to have fun, convention and adult reasoning be damned. If the kids get a thrill out of La Vida Mickey, that's really all that matters. I think it's a safe bet that this disc will pass that one all-important test with flying colors.