demonoflight:

When Miguel is a famous musician, with several albums under his belt and many beloved hits, he releases a double cover album – The Best of Héctor Rivera. It has each and every song Ernesto de la Cruz ever recorded that was written by Héctor, sung by Miguel. He releases by complete surprise, a la Beyoncé, and everyone goes absolutely wild.

It’s actually a very anticipated album for Miguel’s fans and the music industry as a whole. Over the years, everyone keeps asking if he will ever reclaim his famous great-great-grandfather’s work by doing a cover album. Miguel would always flash that precious, crooked, one-dimpled smile and say, “we’ll see”. The truth is, he wants to establish himself as a musician in his own right first. He’s not going to become rich and famous off Papá Héctor’s work – someone did that already, and he would rather not follow that man’s footsteps. He does play some of his favorites in concerts; Un Poco Loco is always a real crowd pleaser. But he doesn’t record the songs until he’s sure they would be appreciated properly.

The cover art features Miguel’s own painting of the famous skull guitar (it’s a very good painting – he’s always been artistic as well as musical). There are sleeve notes for each song, describing both Miguel and Héctor’s thoughts (based on the letters). Some songs, like The World Es Mi Familia, are recorded as acoustic versions. Others feature a full mariachi band, true to Miguel and Héctor’s musical origins in Santa Cecilia’s Mariachi Plaza. There are no remixes and no deviations from

Héctor’s original songbook and letters, and Miguel sings each song with as much soul and love as you can expect.

But the biggest highlight is Remember Me. After the Riveras secure the rights for Héctor’s songs, they insist on a clause that Remember Me must never be re-recorded by a non-Rivera, as it was a personal family song. But the de la Cruz version (and its many covers) is already out there, and Miguel feels that he should correct this by sharing how it was meant to be. So he records it for the album – just him and the guitar, singing softly, with special guest Socorro Rivera joining him for the final part. Nearly everyone vastly prefers it to the de la Cruz version, and are disappointed when Miguel says in an interview that he would never sing Remember Me in concert; in the end, it’s still Mamá

Coco’s song.

Of course, all proceeds go to charity. And not too long after, on the next Día de Muertos, Miguel proudly leaves a copy of the CD on the ofrenda. 

Bonus track: Everyone Knows Juanita, with Héctor’s edited-on-the-spot lyrics.