Rating:
Genre:
Rock
Release Date: 10/26/2009
For their second children's album (following 2005's
Papa's Dream, made with
Lalo Guerrero),
Los Lobos pay tribute to the
Walt Disney movie musicals, as others have done before them. This version of the
Disney songbook falls in between
Barbara Cook's traditional pop treatment on
The Disney Album and producer
Hal Willner's more imaginative, revisionist take of some of the material,
Stay Awake. (
Los Lobos appeared on the latter, performing
"I Wan'na Be Like You," a song repeated here.) Put simply,
Los Lobos Goes Disney could have been called "
Disney goes
Los Lobos" instead, since the group applies its familiar mixture of musical styles to
Disney songs. At first, that seems more radical than it turns out to be over the course of the disc, as the band launches into a spirited version of
"Heigh-Ho" sung in Spanish. English rules thereafter, as
Los Lobos alternately play the songs in rock & roll (
"The Ugly Bug Ball") and Mexican (
"Bella Notte" in a norteño reading) styles, as is their wont.
"Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" gets a surprisingly relaxed arrangement, with a loping tempo, while
"The Bare Necessities" is taken at a quick 2-step beat with a Cajun/zydeco flavor.
Randy Newman's wistful
"I Will Go Sailing No More" from
Toy Story is as wistful as usual, however, and
"Oo-De-Lally" from
Robin Hood retains its identity as a typical country-folk number from the old "king of the road,"
Roger Miller. It all ends up with an instrumental medley of
"When You Wish Upon a Star" and
"It's a Small World" that sounds like it belongs on a tape of early
Beatles recordings; it even comes complete with the crescendo from
"Twist & Shout." Clearly,
Los Lobos were having fun on this record, as they should have been. The interpretations are hardly definitive, but they are enjoyable and demonstrate the range and adaptability of the music written for
Disney movies over the years.
~William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
;)
Listen
