Lou Bega - Mambo No. 5 (A Little Bit Of...)
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Review #1
    Submitted:  November 9, 2006
    By: Michael McDowell
    rating:  10 (out of 10)
For those who find the concept of musical appreciation and celebration to be inexorably intertwined, there has been every now and then the release of a recording that captures the essence of the latter trait to such an extent that the listener can find themselves immersed in the resultant atmosphere with a tremendous reluctance to any overtures of deviating from the experience. The Pixies Three' 'Party With The Pixies Three' album certainly set the standard for the genre, followed to a lesser extent by the Drifters' marvelous 1965 'Come On Over To My Place' single for Atlantic. But by the late 1990s, celebration had long since given way to self-indulgence and gimmickry in commercial music. That notwithstanding, upon occasion a rare single with intense charisma was able to find its way into the public consciousness without sounding like either a period piece or novelty recording. Lou Bega's monster hit, 'Mambo No. 5' bridged that gap brilliantly with a celebratory atmosphere that was at once both magnetic and aesthetically substantial. That Bega was unable to follow this success in the ensuing years is not surprising, given the standards of mediocrity that have governed the music industry in recent years. But like Desmond Dekker, Dave And Ansil Collins and even Bobby McFerrin before him, Bega's musical integrity remains intact; something that can rarely be said of any of his contemporaries.

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