Few performers have ever enjoyed such widespread success in so many areas of the entertainment world as has Ricky Martin. From his early beginnings as a young teen singer and dancer in the group Menudo to his success in mainstream American pop music, Ricky Martin is a singer that people either love for his exuberance and vitality, or hate as mainstream pablum. In between doing concerts and cutting CDs, he's appeared on Broadway, Mexican telenovelas, and even done a stint on U.S. daytime television's "General Hospital." The guy gets around!

It's hard to find anyone who doesn't have an opinion about Ricky Martin -- one way or the other, and harder yet to find anyone who doesn't know who Martin is; after all, this is a guy who performed before a worldwide television audience of more than 2 billion people when he delivered the World Cup Soccer theme song "La Vida Loca" in 1998 and who turned around the next year with one of the hottest performances ever seen on the Grammys.

I want to get down to the nitty-gritty review, but first, I want to dispell some of the nasty and undeserved comments that people make about Ricky Martin...

Martin Is No "Flash In the Pan"
What a lot of critics overlook is that Martin's success didn't just land in his lap overnight and it wasn't just handed to him on a silver platter. Martin did not just magically burst onto the scene when he came to attention of U.S. audiences in 1998. He worked hard to get where he is. After all, his Menudo days started in 1984 -- 15 years before he'd make the cover of "People" magazine or appear in MTV interviews. A guy can get a lot of hard knocks over 15 years.

Martin's first big successes as a solo act in the international marketplace actually came in the early 1990s when he signed with Sony Records and put out his first solo CD, Ricky Martin in 1991. Two years later Me Amaras became a smash hit throughout Latin America and Europe, and that CD gave him the opportunity to work with such internationally known stars as Luis Miguel, Placido Domingo, and Boyz II Men. Then there was the CD A Medio Vivir, which a lot of people think really started to define Martin's modern sound, and which included "Maria" -- one of Martin's biggest hits to date with it's vibrant chorus of "un, dos, tres..." -- ranking right up there with other Martin hits like "Livin la Vida Loca," "La Bomba," and "She Bangs".

What I'm trying to say is that Ricky Martin did a lot of work before he came to the attention of American audiences, he's worked with a lot of great talent throughout the world -- he developed himself into a pop star with his own unique sound. This is not a guy we should just summarily dismiss out of hand as a male version of Christina Aguilera.

Now Back to Vuelve...
Vuleve is the album that defines Ricky Martin. You can't know his music without listening to it. It would be like claiming to understand Springsteen without ever having listened to Born to Run. This CD captures the essence and vitality of Ricky Martin's music -- and that is the bottom line right there!

This is an album that rocks -- it just does. From the moment you turn it on and hear "Por Arriba Por Abajo" you just feel the raw energy coming through the speakers, not raw and unrefined like a ponderous freight train, but svelte and polished like a high-speed German bullet train.

Of course the greatest song on this CD is also the best known -- "La Copa de la Vida" (the cup of life), which was the World Cup theme song and the song that everyone and his grandmother has seen Ricky grinding his hips to. To say this is an upbeat danceable tune is like saying Babe Ruth was a guy who enjoyed sports.

The album isn't all fast-paced dance songs though.

Martin is a heart-throb whose bread and butter has always been his slow, romantic ballads sung with soft conviction. He melts the hearts of teenage girls everywhere with songs like "Perdido Sin Ti" (lost without you), which is just velvety soft and smooth and calls to mind images of great balladeers singing to posh couples in smoky nightclubs.

Tracks On Vuelve
1. Por Arriba, Por Abajo
2. Vuelve
3. Lola Lola
4. Casi un Bolero
5. Corazondado
6. La Bomba
7. Hagamos el Amor
8. Lo Copa de la Vida
9. Perdido Sin
10. Asi es la Vida
11. Marcia Baila
12. No Importa la Distancia
13. Gracias por Pensar en Mi
14. Casi un Bolero (instrumental mix)

How 'Bout a Little Respect, Eh?
The bottom line is that Vuelve is an excellent album in its own right -- it's an album that really defines the essence of Martin's musical style. I don't like seeing so many negative (and I think unfair) reviews of this album just because the guy has worked hard his whole life and finally managed to get the fame and fortune he's wanted.

Sure Vuelve popular...in fact, it sold over 660,000 copies in just one week in the United States. Sure Vuelve is ubiquitous, after all, it won a Grammy. Sure Vuelve is an easy target for potshots given Martin's exuberance on stage (I haven't seen that much hip grinding since Elvis movies went out of fashion). But at the same time, Vuelve is popular and wins awards for a reason -- because it's good!

Vuelve is an album that appeals to a wide pop audience. It's upbeat and lively with a lot of salsa dance tunes, yet it's also got a mix of some of the slower, romantic ballads that reach into the hearts of Martin's adoring female fans. Hard to go wrong with that, eh?




Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Driving