Despite appearances, Mambo Santa Mambo: Christmas From The Latin Lounge (Rhino Records, 2000) isn't about Latin music, per se. Rather, it's about the Latin music craze that gripped American pop like a tropical fever during the 1950's - think of Ricky Ricardo and Carmen Miranda. This was Latin music smartly packaged for an urbane, white market. To wit, several artists on Mambo Santa Mambo are Anglos (Billy May, Hugo Winterhalter), and most sing mainly in English. Plus, the release closely followed a lounge music revival that sprung up during the post-grunge 1990's. All the same, Mambo Santa Mambo is a bona fide riot, alternating slinky grooves with goofy novelties ("How can Santa come to Puerto Rico," asks little Ricky Vera, "when there isn't any snow?"). Luckily, Rhino also makes time for some salsa muy authentica, courtesy Celia Cruz, and even a little rock 'n' roll, most notably the Enchanters' doo wop classic that lends Mambo Santa Mambo its name.

Perhaps the most entertaining moments, though, are the straight-ahead dance numbers - most of them simply applying Latin rhythms to Christmas standards. We are treated to "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer," for instance, arranged as both a mambo (Billy May) and a cha cha (Hernando Hopkins). We also get "The Christmas Song," "Snowfall," "Here Comes Santa Claus," and "Jingle Bells" (three times!), all underpinned by a variety of spicy Latin beats.

With this sort of Latin music, you see, it's all about the dance - how you move it is as important as what you move it to. The first priority of a good Latin record is to get your hips shaking, and though some of these artists (Steve Allen?) are about as Latin as mayonnaise, Mambo Santa Mambo gets that part right.

As has become their practice on compilations like these, Rhino lamentably includes one pointlessly out-of-place modern song, the Flashcats tasteless "December Twenty 5" (1999). Falling nearly 30 years after the next-most recent track, this synthesized piece of crap plays off two contemporary hits, "Mambo No. 5" (Lou bega) and "Livin' La Vida Loca" (Ricky Martin). Not only does the joke fall flat as a tortilla, it all but ruins the festive mood set by the rest of the tracks. Ai, carumba! [top of page]