Let It Loose (CD - 1987)

Also available in a 3-pack with CUTS BOTH WAYS and INTO THE LIGHT.

Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine: Gloria Estefan (vocals); John DeFarria (guitar); Ed Calle (saxophone); Randy Barlow, Teddy Mulet (trumpet); Jim Trompeter, Clay Ostwald (keyboards); Jorge Casas (bass); Enrique Garcia (drums); Emilio Estefan, Jr., Rafael Padilla (percussion).

Producers: Emilio & The Jerks, Lawrence Dermer, Joe Glado, Rafael Vigil.

Recorded at Criteria Studios, Miami, Florida.

& Miami Sound Machine.

Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine: Gloria Estefan (vocals); John DeFarria (guitar); Ed Calle (saxophone); Randy Barlow, Teddy Mulet (trumpet); Jim Trompeter, Clay Ostwald (keyboards); Jorge Casas (bass); Enrique Garcia (drums); Emilio Estefan, Jr., Rafael Padilla (percussion).

Producers: Emilio & The Jerks, Lawrence Dermer, Joe Glado, Rafael Vigil.

Recorded at Criteria Studios, Miami, Florida.

Master Sound releases are 24-karat gold CDs remastered from first-generation masters.

Personnel: Gloria Estefan (vocals); John de Farria (guitar); Ed Calle (saxophone); Randy Barlow, Teddy Mulet (trumpet); Clay Ostwald, Jim Trompeter (keyboards); Enrique "Kiki" Garcia, Enrique Berro Garcia (drums); Emilio Estefan, Jr., Rafael Radilla, Rafael Padilla (percussion).

Recording information: Criteria Recording Studios, Miami, FL.

Arrangers: Clay Ostwald; Jorge Casas.

PRIMITIVE LOVE (1985) was the Miami Sound Machine's breakthrough, but 1987's LET IT LOOSE is the album that established Gloria Estefan as a star. (The cover relegated the band's name to tiny print under Estefan's name; after this album, their name was permanently retired.) Fully half of the album's 10 songs were Top 40 singles, with four hitting the Top 10, including Estefan's first Number One, the dramatic ballad "Anything For You." However, the dance songs "1-2-3" and "Rhythm Is Gonna Get You" were more typical of the album's Latin-pop vibe, a giddy mix of bubblegum hooks, slick radio-ready production, and songwriter/producer Emilio Estefan's knack for Latin beats that were exotic without being too forbidding for pop radio. After this album, Gloria Estefan started moving further into the adult contemporary ballad arena foreshadowed here by "Anything For You" and "I Want You So Bad," which makes LET IT LOOSE something of a farewell not only to her old band, but to the first stage of her career. minimize