Vivo Por Ti

Simply terrific salsa. Rivera manages to update his sound for the urban Latino crowd without sacrificing the music's catchiness or sensuality, or his own inherent elegance. Granted, the grafts of hip-hop/R&B culture onto the proceedings are ever so slightly awkward in their spotty placement, if not in their execution. Their uselessness to the actual meat of the disc is obvious to the older listener. But they give the disc just enough urban ambience to stamp it as a contemporary work. And it may also be that the tunes just outshine the production. As meat-and-potatoes salsa offerings go, this is among the best — nothing groundbreaking, mind you, but just excellent conception, variety, and execution. Honestly, there isn't a boring track on the disc. ~ J. Chandler, Rovi