Dick Van Dyke, who all of us loved in "The Dick Van Dyke Show," Disney's "Mary Poppins" "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" and many others, ordered some a cappella CDs from us awhile back and we mentioned the fact on the acappellanews.com news blog. Mike Mendyke, formerly of Five O'Clock Shadow, read this and soon thereafter happened to run into Dick in a Starbucks. One thing lead to another and soon they formed a quartet that would sing on the set of "Diagnosis: Murder". We love stories like this, and Dick Van Dyke looks and sounds great on these 14 cuts! "Put On A Happy Face" from Bye Bye Birdie, Randy Newman's "You've Got a Friend in Me," "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang," "Baby of Mine" from Dumbo, "High Hopes," "Bare Necessities" from The Jungle Book, "Pick Yourself Up," "A Lover's Wuestion," "It's Not Easy Green," "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious," "Ac-cent-tchu-ate the Positive," and the heartwarming "Theme from Dick Van Dyke Show," with unpublished lyrics attributed to Morey Amsterdam. Two bonus cuts are Dick reciting "A Visit from St. Nicolas" (Twas the Night Before Christmas) and "Old Fashioned Christmas" a nice original by Bryan and Michael. Dick Van Dyke is as funny, personable and entertaining as ever, and Eric, Michael and Bryan, the Vantastix, provide great backup vocals, solos, harmonies and stellar arrangements for all the songs. "Put on a Happy Face," obviously a labor of love for Van Dyke, did exactly that for us, and we're sure this gem will be loved by children and fans of all ages! |
