First off, Gloria Estefan is just one amazing artist. Words cannot express how good she is. However, as a huge fan, I believe many other fans and myself would have rathered the tracklisting include a particular 4 more songs. This is my version of an improved tracklisting for this CD:

1. Dr. Beat (ISN'T ON THE CD)
2. Words Get In the Way
3. Can't Stay Away From You
4. Bad Boy (ISN'T ON THE CD)
5. Conga
6. 1-2-3 (remix)
7. Rhythm Is Gonna Get You
8. Anything For You
9. Here We Are
10. Get On Your Feet
11. Cuts Both Ways (WASN'T AS BIG A HIT AS THE REST, BUT WAS
STILL A HIT and SHE RECEIVED a MAJOR SONGWRITING
AWARD FOR IT, ISN'T ON CD)
12. Don't Wanna Lose You
13. Coming Out of the Dark
14. Live For Loving You (ISN'T ON CD)
15. Christmas Through Your Eyes
16. I See Your Smile
17. Go Away
18. Always Tomorrow

This would have been perfect. There is an ample 21+ minutes left to add music to this CD, but these 4 hits, among others, aren't here. Incidently, LIVE FOR LOVING YOU is my favorite, a huge hit that they still play on the radio, that isn't here. Maybe that's what really fueled my criticism. However, songs like CAN'T STAY AWAY FROM, HERE WE ARE, and I SEE YOUR SMILE, among others, truly make this CD 5 Stars!!!!! Don't these songs just make you feel like you're on some tropical island? Its so perfect its just amazing. No one has ever and will ever create music so versatilly (I hope I spelled that right) as Gloria Estefan.

Take my advice, get this CD anyway. And pick up copies of CUTS BOTH WAYS, INTO THE LIGHT, PRIMITIVE LOVE, and THE EYES OF INNOCENCE, eventually. LET IT LOOSE is the only predecessing album covered here, but you might want to get it anyway, since it has the album version of 1-2-3 on it. (THE REMIX IS HERE). The others have undispensable songs on them. Whether you get them used or new from AMAZON, they are worth the investment. One listen, and you will know.

Gloria Estefan's "Greatest Hits" charts an unwelcome transformation from energetic lead singer of a clever, sharp pop band to that too common creature, "the pop diva."

Gloria, her husband Emilio, and their band Miami Sound Machine (remember them?) wrote, produced and recorded a string of sharp singles melding salsa and club rhythms with Motown/girl group vocals. The result was ear candy: "Conga," "Rhythm's Gonna Get You," (the omitted) "Bad Boy." Their ballads "Words Get In The Way," and the #1 "Anything For You" were more sensual, less mushy than most. For a time, Gloria Estefan may have been the sexiest pop singer in America.

Break point came with her first solo single, 1989's "Don't Wanna Lose You." It was a good song and charted high, but the die was cast. Melodramatics began: a tragic bus accident and valiant recovery, vanilla ballads dominating the spiky fast songs over the next few years, as would outside collaborators (Diane Warren on the sappy Christmas song, Larry Dermer on the campy, worthless movie song, "Go Away").

Now as Estefan's music weakened - in subsquent years by an oldies set and bombastic Olympics themed-album (and, to be fair, a fine Spanish-sung album)- its presentation became flashier with extravagant costumes and appearances with one-named pop goddesses (Cher, Tina, etc.). Miami Sound Machine, which once described a style as much as a band, now was marquee small print.

Here's hoping the Estefans heeded 1999's remarkable success of Ricky Martin and Carlos Santana. The energy of singles like "Smooth" and "Livin' La Vida Loca" recall how exciting Latin-based music can be, incorporating other styles without losing its identity. Now would be perfect for Miami Sound Machine to remind a new generation where at least some of that R&B/pop/salsa energy stemmed from. "Greatest Hits" is recommended for its first 10 songs; not its last four.

Here we have it: a retrospective of a hit factory featuring one of the most untalented singers ever to dominate the charts. Estefan's voice is severely limited in range and power. She would never have passed an audition for even the local church choir. He talented producer husband is solely responsible for her success as she lacks a voice, is only average looking, can barely dance, and is easily upstaged by any other female singer that she appears with (her singing with other "divas" shows how limited her talent is to an embarassing degree). So what is it about this era that allows people without talent to rise to the top? I think it is the incredible synthetic production technology available that can make a star out of anyone. Remember the old disco single, "More, More More"? The producer on that one took a frog voiced porn star and gave her a number one hit with plenty of help from the control dials. On her follow up he eliminated her voice completely and just used her name. Think the audio equivalent of digital special effects. There is no stopping a decent, catchy melody, however, and not even Estefan's thin little straining voice could keep some of these numbers off the charts. ANYONE could have sung these and made them hits. Estefan brings nothing to them as her voice has nothing to add.

Great CD! IF you want to hear the songs that make Gloria glorious, just get this CD and you'll see. It has a great compilation of love songs as well as pop tunes that will get you moving. The radio doesn't even play all of these selections....

The Miami Sound Machine started out as a band, then became Gloria Estefan and The Miami Sound Machine and ultimately became the Gloria show. This volume of Gloria's best chronicles that arc; beginning with the exuberant "Conga," which introduced her to the masses, to the Adult Contemporary balladress who sang the gospel inflected "Coming Out Of The Dark;" you can follow her from pop-novelty to one of those 80's divas who could be called by her first name. (Think Madonna, Cher, etc.)

It is interesting to note how the fun, latin pop was so tongue in cheek (Gloria's husband, Emilio, even called his production team 'Emilio and The Jerks') until a sense of seriousness began to bland the songs into superstar predictability. Oddly enough, it's those early dance singles that hold up the best. When it came time to do a guest spot on "Dancing With The Stars," it was "Rhythm is Gonna Get You" that was the crowd pleaser. (MIA from the dance singles: "Dr Beat" and "Bad Boys.") Her voice was one of the first to really make inroads into the English Language Latin Pop scene.

As such you can hear the maturation process. She became a richer and more nuanced singer by the time this 1991 best of appeared, which stops at the album Into the Light. At times, her purity recalls Karen Carpenter ("Here We Are") and the production is very 80's-centric. Heavy keyboards dominate, along with synthesized percussion. The drama attached to "Coming Out of The Dark," the near-tragic 1990 bus crash along I-80 in Northern Pennsylvania, added to the Diva mystique and helped elevate Gloria into the iconic status she enjoys to this day. Just bear in mind that, the more manipulation that was going into making Gloria into a Diva/Superstar (and in the late 80's, she had few rivals for popularity), the less vital the music became. Her ballads are wonderful, but the frothy fun of "1.2.3" or "Betcha Say That" is missed from the later albums. However, as an enjoyable collection of Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine's best radio pop, this collection flows solidly.

If you need more, go to The Essential Gloria Estefan, which follows her entire career.