CD Review: The Best of Perez Prado: The Original Mambo No. 5

The Sony Legacy Recording reissue of Perez Prado's greatest hits is a wonderful collection of tunes that defined a time and were arguably the driving musical force for mambo mania in the U.S. If you like mambo and Prado, this is a first-class compilation. It's also a great introduction to those new to a classic genre.

The sound of the mambo, as performed by Perez Prado and his orchestra, was the soundtrack of the hippest, most livewire parties and events of the 1950s. Prado’s music is mostly instrumental, heavy on the brass, and he uses his voice as an instrument to stress a break in the percussion, with grunts and growls that are his unmistakable musical signature.

To early baby boomers, this music is nostalgic and bound to bring back memories of growing up in what today seems like the kinder, gentler, Eisenhower era (OK, let’s not think about the ‘cold war’ scares). But X & Y-geners won’t feel left out. “Mambo #5” was revived by Lou Vega in 1999; “Quien Sera” (“Sway”, made famous by Dean Martin) is omnipresent in any film featuring Latin dancing, as is “Quizas, Quizas, Quizas” (“Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps”) although the version sung by Doris Day is far more familiar.

Prado’s brand of mambo is less complex than the music of some of his contemporaries, but that might well be the reason it was so attractive to mainstream America. His use of blazing brass to punctuate and startle are unique, although they sometimes serve to overshadow rather than to highlight the melody.

However you might feel about Prado’s stylistic inventions, there is no doubt that his music is seminal and classic to an era. I like this album because it contains just about all of Prado’s classic hits in the version that was the standard on the airwaves of the day. By that standard, this album is exceptional.