{"id":41852,"date":"2010-01-18T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-01-18T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/let-it-loose\/"},"modified":"2010-01-18T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2010-01-18T00:00:00","slug":"let-it-loose","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/let-it-loose\/","title":{"rendered":"Let It Loose"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cuban-born chanteuse Gloria Estefan, her husband Emilo, and their band the Miami Sound Machine had been chipping away at the pop charts for years without much success for close to a decade by the time they scored their first hit \u201cConga\u201d in 1985, from their ninth LP, Primitive Love<\/i>. That single, along with a short tour to promote the album, gave the Latin community their first genuine pop star in the pretty and talented Gloria. With the Epic label now desperate to capitalize on their newfound stars, they encouraged the band to begin work on a record that they hoped would become a hit in both the mainstream and Latin markets.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

This record would also be credited with Gloria\u2019s name as opposed to just the band\u2019s name in a bid to give the likes of Madonna and Cyndi Lauper a run for their money. Following the massive success of Let It Loose<\/i> (a.k.a Anything For You <\/i>in Europe), all future albums would simply be credited to just Gloria. They would also feature more of Gloria\u2019s self-penned ballads, which were perfect for the video market and showcased her rather impressive singing voice.\u00a0 <\/o:p><\/p>\n

The album opens with a couple of spicy pop songs, \u201cBetcha Say That\u201d and \u201cLet It Loose,\u201d both of which are full of exuberance and an infectious energy that carries right through to the record\u2019s end. As much fun as dance\/pop gems like \u201cLove Toy\u201d and \u201cSurrender\u201d are, they merely fill the space between some genuine first-rate pop songs that would go on to become the big hits the band needed.\u00a0 <\/o:p><\/p>\n

Of those four hit records, two are highly infectious dance tracks that still sound as energizing as ever, while two are Gloria\u2019s own love songs. As great as the dance tracks are, for me, the most memorable moments here are the ballads. Gloria has a knack for writing incredibly honest and heartfelt love songs that never come across as mushy or unnecessary. That\u2019s one of the things I love about her most, and there\u2019s no better evidence of it than a song like \u201cAnything For You,\u201d which I believe was the album\u2019s biggest hit and the one that really put the group on the map.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Musically, it\u2019s a standard synth-laden ballad of its time, but lyrically it\u2019s a direct and touching ballad that Gloria sings with passion and soul (\u201cI\u2019d still do anything for you, I\u2019ll play your game \/ You hurt me through and through, but you can have your way\u201d). I\u2019m sure we\u2019ve all been there at some point in our lives, and I know this song always takes me to a place and time that wasn\u2019t so pleasant, but I never tire of hearing it. The other love song is \u201cCan\u2019t Stay Away From You,\u201d which was also a sizable hit, and I believe the Spanish versions of both these songs were huge throughout South America.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Of the two dance tracks, \u201c1-2-3\u201d is a joyful and bubbly song that has become a real fan-favorite over the years and it still gets a vigorous workout during Estefan\u2019s live shows. \u201cRhythm Is Gonna Get You\u201d is the one that really solidified the success of this disc. It\u2019s one of the great pop songs of the \u201880s and was also a massive crossover hit for the group. <\/o:p><\/p>\n

The only flat spots on this exceptional record are the rather daft, fluffy pop of \u201cGive It Up\u201d and a horribly sappy love song (not penned by Gloria) \u201cI Want You Bad.\u201d Those two songs were written by the group\u2019s main songwriting team at the time, who also produced the record with Emilio. However, after the four songs written (or co-written) by Gloria all became hit singles, she went on to take more control of future albums. In addition, this was the last record to feature the group\u2019s name, as all future projects would be credited simply to Gloria Estefan.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Let It Loose <\/i>made Gloria a star and she has never looked back since. This record still sounds fabulous and the hits still get major airtime on classic pop radio stations both here in Australia and around the globe. It remains one of the group\u2019s strongest efforts and one of the most fun and infectious pop albums of the \u201880s.<\/o:p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":30206,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[8517],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-41852","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-gloria-estefan-and-the-miami-sound-machine","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41852\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41852"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=41852"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=41852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}