Customer Reviews

Isla Bonita / Gambler / Crazy for You

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This cd is Very good, except that all the songs, you can get on other collections/Cd's. It would have been nice if there was some songs that were not on other collections, here, but oh well it is still hot!!

1)La Isla Bonita (Extended Mix): A very good mix of this song, I love the song and an Extended mix is great, but it could have been longer, like 10 minutes.

2)Open Your Hear (Extended Mix): I really like this version, it is a good mix of the orginal. And it also sounds a little differnt than the orginal.

3)Gambler: I adore this song and it is wonderful that is song is on an easily to obtain EP. Truly a marvelous 80's classic.

4)Crazy For You: The classic ballad appears here to accompy the other Vison Quest, song. This is a Madonna classic. This version is a little bit longer than the one that appaers on the Immaculate collection.

5)La Isla Bonita (Instrumental): A nice ending to this EP. I love the song and the Music. This is not a real true instrumental, it has a few background vocals. This is the instrumental to the Extended Remix, not the album version, so that is a plus

This is a very good cd, to complete you collection and is priced better than the True Blue Ep @19.99.

Flashback:1986. Madonna records a song entitled, "La Isla Bonita", a mid-tempo, care-free and somewhat meloncholic tune laced with latin sounds and instruments.
Fast-Forward:1999. Ricky Martin wins the Grammy for Best New Artist. His album was a cross-over smash brining the "latin" sound into the mainstream. Miss Martin becomes "THE ONE WHO BROUGHT LATIN MUSIC TO THE FOREFRONT OF POPULAR MUSIC"???!!!
Flashback:1989. Madonna records a track entitled, "Pray For Spanish Eyes". Yet another song with a strong Latin-sound and absolutely gorgeous.
Fast-Forward:1999-2001. Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony and most of American Pop artists jump on the band-wagon "embracing" the latin sound and get praised for it!?
Why do people so often forget that Madonna was one of the pioneers in brining the latin flavour to the consciousness of the Western world? Many of her songs, including spanish versions of "You'll See" and "What It Feels Like For A Girl" has been released without any fanfare?
I guess that's what makes Madonna a pioneer in the TRUE sense:
Unselfishly bringing a style and/or idea to the forefront without any ego or gain.
An ICON of our time, ahead of her time.

La Isla Bonita was the fifth and final single to be released from Madonna's multi-million selling No.1 third album True Blue. The song went straight to No.1 in the UK in April 1987 where it spent 11 weeks on the chart. The song is a much-loved Madonna classic, is known throughout the world and was a massive global chart success, making Madonna a more credible artist with a more interesting and mature sound through lyrics and an overall more interesting texture to her work.

La Isla Bonita opens with the tapping of drums to a very Spanish beat. This then breaks out into a heavier, more striking beat complete with some interesting instruments that make the song what it is and give it that distinctive freshness and quality. Madonna begins singing her first verse with the lyrics, "Last night I dreamt of San Pedro. Just like I'd never gone, I knew the song. A young girl with eyes like the desert. It all seems like yesterday, not far away." These lyrics are perhaps the most descriptive and vivid of Madonna's 1980's period. They are very good lyrics as well, considering Madonna was singing songs about virgins and angels but two years ago. Madonna then moves into the excellent chorus. "Tropical the island breeze. All of nature, wild and free. This is where I long to be, la isla bonita. And when the samba played, the sun would set so high, ring through my ears and sting my eyes, your Spanish lullaby," sings Madonna in the chorus, her vocals strong and filled with feelings of a lost lover from way back. The second verse then kicks in, complete with the second chorus. Madonna then sings a great section of the song with the lyrics "I want to be where the sun warms the sky. When it's time for siesta you can watch them go by. Beautiful faces, no cares in this world. Where a girl loves a boy, and a boy loves a girl." This is then followed up with an excellent guitar solo that breaks free shining its radiance upon the song, making it even more enjoyable. Madonna then sings her choruses a few more times as the backing singers gracefully take over bringing the chorus to a close with Madonna whispering Spanish words to the listener.

The video to La Isla Bonita is excellent, and one of Madonna's best of this particular stage in her career. A man plays his Spanish guitar in the street as Madonna watches from her bedroom window. She dances around in her room, too shy to face the man. He then beckons her down and she dances in the street in a colourful red dress with many other people to the beat as she thinks about her long lost lover. Overall, La Isla Bonita is one of my top Madonna songs of the 1980's and will always have a special place within me because of the memories it brings back to me everytime I hear it. Another classic.

The tracks are great, but as a collector, it's frustrating when you're not sure where the items come from. This happens with European CD's sometimes when they say "Made In U.K." and "Made in Germany" on the same disc!! This is another instance of that. It is claimed to be from Australia. I got it today, and the disc itself and even the jewel case says "Made In Australia", but the back insert says "Made In Japan" and even has Japanese writing on the side! So, where is it from?!!? Anyway, aside from that, the mixes are decent. It also includes "Gambler" which is now scarce.

Ok, I already had every single song on this CD single on MP3 already, courtesy Amazon.com and a friend who owned a CD of the "Vision Quest" soundtrack, except one -- the remix of "Open Your Heart."

This song was released as a single waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in 1986, fall. By that time, I'd been 13 for a whole 2 months. I also already owned the album True Blue, so I'd heard all the singles from the album long before their release. I liked most of them -- the whole thing was almost every single that Madonna released for a good 2 years afterward. Till "Like A Prayer" and then that awful Dick Tracy movie.

I love all the songs on this single because they're little buddies of mine that I met way back in the early 80's that make more sense than the drivel Madonna shoves at her fans today and that is played on the radio.

No thanks, I'll just keep burning CDs from my vast (10.6GB) 80's MP3 collection and playing those in the car when I drive and just not even turn on the radio. I like this stuff a lot better (well, this and a lot of metal). I'll be happier this way than without my 80's and my happy little Madonna MP3s that I made from this CD last night around 4AM US Central Time.

Thanks for the import/export. Us de Beaulieux/Bewleys couldn't have done it better. (Long, 1,000-year-old story involving a cousin of mine, known to the whole world as Richard I, "the Lion-Heart," the royal house of Normandy and quite a few twists and turns that take one from Norman France to Britain in the 14th century to Ireland during the Penal Times to the US during the Famine and made us Catholic-Protestant-Catholic and Irish. Suffice it to say that the Tudors weren't quite successful in their campaign to slaughter all the Plantaganets. They missed a few of us -- like the surviving thousands living in the world today. That includes ME, the Trekkie/Madonna freak/Selena webmaster. Who happens to love American 80's pop and dance music.)

Thanks for reading, and NO, I'm NOT making it up. ANY of it. (I wish I could say I was.)

'La Isla Bonita' is to me one of Madonna's greatest hit singles. It's the type of song which remains a pleasure to listen to. The instrumental is great.

I love this CD so much. La Isla Bonita the extended remix from the True Blue album is beautifully remixed and powerful. This remix gives the song so much power. I am glad they included an instrumental version so I can sing to it. She sang this song at the Drowned World Tour beautifully dressed up in black. Open Your Heart is also from the True Blue album and the extended version is breathtaking. It nice and long and such a beautiful song!! She even talks at the end of it for a minute and she sounds so cute. This song also went to #1 in the USA. Gambler is a great fast song by itself and it is very 80's you can recognize it from the sound. Crazy For You is the beautiful slow ballad that went to # 1 in the USA. Crazy For You was sang at then Reinvention Tour. Both songs are from the movie "Vision Quest". I highly recommend this album to Madonna fans you will dance all night to Open Your Heart and Gambler and gracefully move across the dancefloor to La Isla Bonita!!

This 5 song EP is a must have for anyone who likes pop music.
Sadly enough it's only available as an import, so you could'nt just walk into a record store and buy it (remember those good old days in the 80's when we could do that?!).

"Open Your Heart" remix is FANTASTIC! (its better than the original if you could imagine that). The remixed versions of "La Isla Bonita" are also well done (beautiful melodies!), though the instrumental version is very similiar to the first remix on this same album. "Crazy For You" is a wonderful Madonna classic tune and it works well as an addition to this EP.

Buy this EP off Amazon.com. It's probably the only way to get a new copy, other than Ebay.com. This remastered classic song "La Isla Bonita" is a remarkable Madonna classic, the remixes are a MUST HAVE for any Madonna fan. Great pic of her on the cover even though there is no insert. Buy this gem for the "Music".

This is a great collection of some of the best Madonna songs. La Isla Bonita extended version, Open Your Heart extended version, Crazy For You and the very hard to get Gambler. If you don't have Gambler in your collection - here's where you get it alongside some other great songs and remixes.

1) La Isla Bonita- I believe this is an extended version. Very good.
2) Open Your Heart- my all-time favorite Madonna song. This is also an extended version. EXCELLENT!
3) Gambler- I love this cheesy '80s song and I'm glad it was included.
4) Crazy For You- gorgeous ballad. Reminds me of my boyfriend.
5) La Isla Bonita instrumental- a tad boring, but good for karoake