The Very Best Of Gloria Estefan

There was a brief time around 1989 when Gloria Estefan was, to my eyes, the sexiest thing alive; a title that was subsequently nicked by Cathy Dennis (again for a brief period). There is no real point to telling you that, but I thought I might as well share that with you given that a) we have this newly released VERY Best Of to contend with and b) it might explain the warm feeling that you might gauge from this review.

Of course by the time the 10 year old Icon was falling in love with her, she'd got 10 years of recordings behind her. Still, the triple whammy of the albums Anything For You, Cuts Both Ways and Into The Light will always bring back memories of those lazy days when the grass was greener and the sky was bluer and all that.

Even now the best tracks from those three albums can cheer me up. Rhythm Is Gonna Get You and 1-2-3 are the most memorable from Anything For You, Cuts Both Ways gave us Get On Your Feet and Oye Mi Canto whilst Into The Light served up the delightful Coming Out Of The Dark (which might, might, be the only track off that album on this collection).

Throw in the likes of Dr Beat (and yes, the Mylo version is tagged onto this collection too), Bad Boy and Turn The Beat Around you have an enjoyable run-through of her greatest hits. It's not really an essential album, but for anyone who ever liked her its a nice trip down memory lane. And it does mean I can finally put the cassette versions of her albums into the loft! :D