Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Dr. Beat
2. Rhythm Is Gonna Get You
3. Heaven's What I Feel [Radio Edit]
4. Everlasting Love [Video Version]
5. You'll Be Mine (Party Time) [Rosabel's Fiesta Edit]
6. Get on Your Feet
7. Go Away [Single Remix]
8. Don't Let This Moment End [Radio Edit]
9. No Me Dejes de Querer
10. Bad Boy [Single Version]
11. 1-2-3 [Single Remix]
12. Oye Mi Canto (Hear My Voice) [English Version]
13. Live for Loving You [Single Remix]
14. ¡Sí Señor!
15. Oye [Pablo Flores English Remix Radio Edit]
16. Turn the Beat Around
17. Mi Tierra
18. Conga
19. Doctor Pressure [Miami Sound Machine vs. Mylo] - Gloria Estefan, Mylo

Disc 2:

1. Can't Stay Away from You
2. Don't Wanna Lose You
3. Anything for You
4. Falling in Love (Uh Oh)
5. Words Get in the Way
6. Cuts Both Ways
7. Here We Are
8. If We Were Lovers
9. Nayib's Song (I Am Here for You)
10. Reach
11. Music of My Heart
12. I See Your Smile
13. I'm Not Giving You Up
14. Wrapped
15. Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me
16. Along Came You (A Song for Emily)
17. Coming out of the Dark
18. Always Tomorrow

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16229 in Music
• Brand: Sony
• Released on: 2006-10-03
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .25 pounds

Album Description
UK only 2 CD pressing packaged in a metal tin. Features the same 37 tracks as the US equivalent. Sony. 2009.

Customer Reviews

Glo's best Greatest Hits comp yet
Well worth the wait...now only Celine Dion seems to remain among Sony superstars not yet included in the "Essential" series. This nicely-done compilation fills two discs with 37 career highlights, including rare single mixes of "Live For Loving You" (much livelier than the LP version), "Bad Boy" (the glaring omission, along with "Dr. Beat," from the first GH set), and "1-2-3", among others. "Dr. Beat" is here as well, along with a recent/bizarre Eurohit remix called "Doctor Pressure".

Disc 1 has the fast ones, Disc 2 has the slow ones, both with plenty of high points. All three of Mrs. Estefan's pop #1's were ballads and are on the 2nd disc: "Anything For You" (my favorite), "Don't Wanna Lose You", and the inspirational "Coming Out of the Dark."

All but three chart hits are here, hope they're not deal-breakers for you, gentle reader: "Betcha Say That", "Seal Our Fate", and "Can't Forget You".

I lived in North Miami Beach when even the lower-charting Gloria/Miami Sound Machine releases became radio staples. My sister and I heard "Conga" on the car radio a full year before it hit in Billboard. It was hard to stay inside the lane on I-95 when that one came on. I always thought Gloria Estefan handled her stardom with class, and her recovery from that terrible bus accident was inspirational. I'm really glad the label did a good job on this for the artist and her many fans.

An Aptly Titled Album
"The Essential Gloria Estefan," a two-CD retrospective on the English-language career of Gloria Estefan (with a few Spanish highlights such as the anthemic "Mi Tierra" thrown in for good measure) presents the singer as something more than the pop songstress she has been labeled as. Disc one, the fast disc, highlights most of Estefan's dance hits, opening with the 80's kitch of the sadly underrated "Dr. Beat" (which also closes the disc in a remixed form that topped European dance charts again last year, twenty years after its initial release). And all the Miami Sound Machine songs that brought Gloria to the top of the charts are accounted for: the timeless and wonderfully Latin-tinged "Conga," which not only opened the door for crossover success but broke it down, "1-2-3," "Rhythm Is Gonna Get You," and "Get On Your Feet." ("Essential" also marks the first time that "Bad Boy" and "Falling In Love (Uh-Oh)" appear on an Estefan compilation, righting some of the wrongs committed on 1992's "Greatest Hits.") But more than just solidifying Gloria's status as an 80's pop icon, the disc showcases her transcendence from bubblegum to progressive. 1989's "Oye Mi Canto (Hear My Voice)" is a delightful and poignant commentary on acceptance that breaks into full-on flamenco guitar; "Turn The Beat Around" and "Everlasting Love" (a duo of songs from 1994's covers album, "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me"), the former going all-out in Latin percussion and the latter unabashedly celebrating the glory days of disco, typify recreation; and 1998's "Heaven's What I Feel" (from the buoyant "Gloria!" album) is perhaps her most mature concoction of dance-pop to date. And then there's the caliente-ness of "Oye," a dance-floor throw-down with an undeniable salsa rhythm, that arguably bridges the gap between American and Latin flavors better than "Conga" did. Disc two, the slow disc, however, is the one that presents Gloria in perhaps her best light-as a songwriter who possesses the gift of capturing the most complex of human emotions with the simplest of words. All those broken-hearted love songs that you remember well are here (including "Words Get In The Way," "Can't Stay Away From You," "Cuts Both Ways,' the superior "Here We Are" and the number one smashes "Anything For You" and "Don't Wanna Lose You"), but it's the post-prime material that beckons for a second listen. "I See Your Smile" (previously only available on "Greatest Hits") is a stunning, piano-driven, tear-jerker; "I'm Not Giving You Up" (from 1996's sorely under-appreciated masterpiece, "Destiny") combines the Afro-Cuban rhythms explored on her Spanish albums with English pop sensibility; and the folkloric "Wrapped," the only song representing her most recent, and most personal, output from 2003's autobiographical "Unwrapped," is, with its poetic lyrics and unique use of mandolin and panpipes, unlike anything you will hear elsewhere. But it's the anthemic songs, such as 1991's gospel-infused "Coming Out Of The Dark" and 1996's Olympic theme "Reach," as well as the poignant "Always Tomorrow," that perhaps best represent Estefan as an artist: they are hopeful and inspiring, and they speak to the resiliency of the spirit, which is something Gloria Estefan has done effortlessly for the past two decades. "Essential" is the long-overdue musical portrait of an woman who rose to fame with an infectious dance ditty and then went on to redefine herself as a viable and serious voice of her generation.

Music From The Heart
There have been numerous hits collections that really have made an artists career seem definitive, or somebody feel like there career could've used more improvement. That has been the same with so many of the younger female artists like Jessica Simpson, Beyonce', and Ashanti. Although they've tried to stretch themselves into so many positions as singers, actresses and other positions, they don't seem to really have the organic feeling of what great music is all about. For somebody like Gloria Estefan, she is somebody who has been through hell and back from a nearly fatal accident in 1989, to being told she couldn't have kids. She had beaten all those odds, and now a definitive hits collection shines out of Gloria's music.

The 2006 Essential Gloria Estefan is a very long, overdue definitive hits collection taht spotlights her longevity as the most successful crossover female Latin/Pop artists ever. The double album does a very good job at highlighting her career throughout 3 decades in the spotlight. The collection though is similar to other greatest hits records like Whitney Houston's 2000 hits collection, where one disc is all about the dance tracks and the other disc is all about her pop ballads. The collection here highlights her career very well, and includes all of her big hits from the classic covers Turn The Beat Around and Everlasting Love, to dance beats from the classic Conga, Mi Tierra and Heaven's What I Feel from the movie Dance With Me, all the way around her soulful ballads such as Music Of My Heart with N'sync and I See You Smile. All in all, the songs for the record have all been remastered very well, and highlight each song beautifully. The only disadvantage with the record is that the songs weren't in chronological order for each track, which makes it a bit confusing for those who haven't heard her music, or newcomers who don't own a Gloria Estefan album yet.

Despite one major flaw, The Essential Gloria Estefan is one of the very few greatest hits record released this year that really has delivered as good as the greatest hits album has defined. I love her songs a lot, and I just wish a lot of people who seem more interested on who has to be hot on MTV, could try a change of pace, and listen to Gloria Estefan's magic. I absolutely recommend this hits album a whole lot. The rhythm will still get you.

Album Cover: B+

Songs: A-

Price: A-

Remastering: B+

Overall: B+