Customer Reviews

Primitive Love

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is such an incredible album that I don't know where to start. Gloria Estefan's voice just carries you away! I remember hearing "Conga" for the first time and it made be want to get up and dance. But my favorite was "Bad Boy". There was just something about that song that makes me want to jump in my car and go cruising with the sound turned wayyyyyy up. By the way both of those songs are used in the movie "Three Men And A Baby" at the opening of the show. Marvin Hamlich scored the music for the movie, good job Marvin! I mean it totally went along with the flow of this 80's classic. I mean what could be better with an 80's movie than 80's music? Also one small note, if you bought Gloria Estefan's greatest hits cd that came out in 1993, then your missing two great songs from the "Primitive Love" album. They are "Bad Boy" and "Uh-Oh Falling In Love". Which doesn't make any sense to leave those off the cd. They are truly 80's sounds and if you like Gloria then you have to purchase "Primitive Love" as well.

BODY TO BODY-1/5-This is song is quite definitely the only bad cut on the album. It is makes you feel embarrassed just to listen to it, and why bother when the other songs are a million times better?

PRIMITIVE LOVE-5/5-This is a very unique song and it is very hard to sum it up, but as soon as you start listening to it you start to feel a tropical breeze surround your body. This song definitely transports you, mostly due to its irresistable tribal theme, and little to do with its lyrics or purpose.

WORDS GET IN THE WAY-5/5-A song even non-MSM/Gloria fans like. An indispensable ballad with a good story to it. Gloria sings her heart out on this one (as she usually does), and it works out fantastically. Charted at #6.

BAD BOY-5/5-An excellent dance song with a great, danceable beat. (The club mixes of the song are hard to track down, but it's very much worth the try!) Song is still a staple on radio stations, in clubs, and with DJs. Charted at #8.

FALLING IN LOVE (Uh Oh)-5/5-An excellent, smooth song. This is just one of the many kinds of songs this woman shines at, but she really proves it here. with this haunting, stirring ballad! Charted at #25

CONGA-5/5-Need I say more? This is definitely the best song of its kind ever written! (Actually, it is truly a category all its own!) It is the only song ever to make it into the top 10 of three different Billboard Charts at the same time; Pop, Latin, Soul, and African. Charted at #10 on the Pop charts, lower than Words Get In the Way and Bad Boy. How did that happen?

MUCHO MONEY-4/5-This song is so silly and makes itself seem cheap, but oh well! I find it quite enjoyable. The tribal theme of it is as irresistable (as is the one in PRIMITIVE LOVE) and pretty much lays down the foundation for this interesting latin-dance tune.

YOU MADE A FOOL OF ME-5/5-Nice calm ballad and a good example of Gloria's writing ability-and yet she didn't write it. Fans will immediately think she wrote it, but she didn't.

MOVIES-5/5-Has the same all-around idea of BODY TO BODY, but is actually good, in fact, better than good! The song makes you want to get up and dance, and is very lyrically clever, if not slightly reminiscent of other 80's songs loaded with those plonkety-plonk synths.

SURRENDED PARADISE-5/5-The best song on the album.

"Tropical breeze carressing me
Moonlit stars are offering their love to me...."

This is definitely one of the most romantic songs ever recorded! This song should be on every romantic songs compilation there is, though, unfortunately, I doubt that it's on any. It should have been promoted as a single.

Quite frankly, if you don't have this album, (especially you lingering Gloria fans that still haven't gotten their copy of this album yet), then you don't know what you're missing!

Back before Gloria Estefan was known as simply "Gloria Estefan", it was the Miami Sound Machine. This album, Primitive Love, was the one in which she came out of the dark and started to really make a name for herself.

I've always liked a lot of Estefan's music, so I was wanting to buy her Greatest Hits cd awhile back. But I noticed something. While eating out at Chili's one day a few months ago, I heard two songs that I hadn't heard in years, and I liked them a lot! I just had to have them, as a matter of fact. The two songs were "Bad Boy" and "Falling in Love (Uh-Oh)". I don't see how anybody could leave those two great hits off of Gloria Estefan's compilation, but I didn't care; I had to have them.

So that's how I became an owner of Primitive Love. "Bad Boy" (I like singing along to this song and replacing 'boy' with 'girl') and "Falling in Love (Uh-Oh)" are still my two favorites from the album, but Primitive Love has more to offer. Also included are two more songs that were hits back in the day, including the slow ballad, "Words Get in the Way", and the rapping, danceable (even though I don't dance) "Conga".

Many of the non-hits also feature good listening. The title track has unique background sounds and a nice beat; "Surrender Paradise" has nice vocals, and "Movies" can be downright catchy. Unfortunately, I don't like all of the songs. I'm not a fan of "Body to Body" at all, and I'm not too crazy about "Mucho Money" or "You Made A Fool of Me".

However, when it all boils down to it, Primitive Love is a great album for Gloria Estefan fans and fans of 80's pop/dance records to have in their collection. If you have her Greatest Hits, but you don't have "Bad Boy" and "Falling in Love (Uh-Oh)" in your collection, you're missing out!

After the failed success of their 1984 album, Eyes Of Innocence, Miami Sound Machine went back into the studio one year later and released their 1985 album, Primitive Love. This was the album that got them the stardom they were longing for. And this is the album that is my favorite. There are so many great songs on this album, that every Gloria Estefan fan should listen to it constantly.

BODY TO BODY
A song that I could listen to, but not constantly.

PRIMITIVE LOVE
This is much better than Body To Body. Great arrangements, great vocals. It's just great all around.

WORDS GET IN THE WAY
The first single from the album. This song is what made the band famous and is one of my favorites. The song is also my mother's favorite. This one just take me back to my childhood days.

BAD BOY
The second single from the album. I love this one because of it's catchy lyrics, it's catchy harmonies and melodies, and it's catchy beats and arrangements. This one should sound familiar to everyone if you all saw the hit film, Three Men And A Baby.

FALLING IN LOVE (UH-OH)
The third single from the album. This yet another one of my absolute favorites. I can't turn on off this album without listening to this song.

CONGA
The fourth and final single from the album. This song will remain a classic song for all eternity. It has been doing so ever since its release. It has appeared in many films over the years, but the only movie I know this song appeared in was The Birdcage.

MUCHO MONEY
I get a kick out of this one because of it's lyrics and it's sound. My favorite part of the song is when you hear Gloria sing, 'E-bah, E-bah, E-bah'!

YOU MADE A FOOL OF ME
I love this one because of how soothing it sounds.

MOVIES
Not bad.

SURRENDER PARADISE
Not bad.

This is one of the best albums ever made and if you are a Gloria fan, then you should have this album.

Primitive Love was one of the first crossover albums by the Miami Sound Machine. After I heard this CD, I immediately fell in love with Gloria Estefan, and her sound. This album really defines the sound of MSM and Gloria. The album goes from heartfelt ballads such as "Words Get In The Way," "Falling In Love," "You've Made A Fool Of Me," to "Surrender Paradise." The album provides the listener with cheerish pop music such as "Body to Body," "Movies," and "Bad Boy." I liked the tribal theme in, "Primitive Love," and the beat of "Mucho Money." Finally, my favorite song on the CD, "Conga." I believe that this is the best song Gloria Estefan has ever done. The beat and salsa sound is so contangeous that it makes you want to get up and "do the conga." Gloria's voice is so great in this song, it's unbelievable. This is the ultimate Estefan song, and album.

Now that review title is definitely not an original sentiment but it does sum up exactly how I feel about this album. Basically marking the second full on English language album by Gloria/Emilio Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine,this album differs in so many important ways from the last. Gloria was always a gifted vocalist,with a strong and expressive sound capable (as so many of her female contemporaries were not) in handling primarily uptempo/rhythmic tunes extremely well. Also Eyes of Innocence found her and the band essentially re-recording some of their earlier music with English lyrics along with a couple new singles. This represents an entirely new and fresh album. With a fresh sound to boot. In latin communities of all sorts around the country in the mid 80's a new style of dance-pop was emerging in much the same way it had in the rock community in the 60's and early 70's. It was called freestyle. And this presents the 80's end of that. It could be many things in many peoples hands. What it represented in this case was a pop friendly,melodic sound were rhythm and Emilio's percussion would be the order of the day.

We start out right in that area with "Body To Body". This and "Movies" are both hyperactive 80's latin freestyle dance jams if I ever heard them. And they represent the era kindly. Honestly,from this point on the album is more potent and diverse than you might expect from the surface. The title song comes in closer to being 80's boogie funk/pop,with even a mild Italo disco influence. This really showcases how the band wish to showcase music for every kind of dancing in this particular generation. Of course the song most will tend to come into this album for is "Conga",probably the song they'll always be known for. And considering how much of a freestyle classic it's become.....nothing could be better on this end. As far as the ballads go this has four excellent ones. "Words Get In The Way" is a song melodically challenging enough to showcase Gloria's emotive voice to it's best ability. On "Falling In Love (Uh-Oh)" it's more of a mid tempo and there's a firey quality to the presentation,along with the updated latino doo-wop flavor from the previous album."You Made A Fool Out Of Me" has a subtle,folksy and almost non mid 80's presentation. The same could be said for the closing "Surrender Paradise",a lovely song with song great jazz styled chords Gloria just takes to the limit!

"Bad Boy" takes on the Holland/Dozier/Holland Motown soul shuffle to the best possible effect. The lyrics definitely reflects Gloria's more youthful sensibility than the more adult themes found elsewhere on the album. "Mucho Money" is a smoking,funky early hip-hop/freestyle number with some breakdance friendly beats and a prominent cuban flavor to boot. Generally in the world you have two types of pop music-the kind where the artists intentions are respected and the kind that sound like committee thinking. Not that people in the mid 80's were thinking HALF as much about WHERE the music they listened to came from. But this album certainly has the flavor of an eager to please band at the ready,offering up songs that could appeal to many sorts of personalities. But ones that also represented their Cuban heritage as well. This pretty much took the Miami freestyle scene from the dance/club scene onto the radio and onto MTV. And it did so by presenting songs with enough timeless melodies to make it hold up well as years passed. There are all too many out there who seem to go hog wild on criticizing 80's pop music just to do it. And once and awhile this album has fallen under that spell. Every decade has some contains some embarrassing pop music. On the other hand,it depends largely on the person listening how one defines that. And in this listeners opinion,this album could easily be just as creative and commercially workable today as it was in 1985.

GREAT CD IT IS HARD TO FIND IN RETAIL STORES I LIKE THE MUSIC ESPECIALLY FROM THE 1980S IT WAS VERY GOOD BACK THEN UNLIKE TODAY I DEFINITELY LIKE THE ALBUM

Length:: 1:04 Mins

I had the cd within a time i could wait.So when it was there i listened.It was good music.I enjoyded it .I will order more from Gloria .

This is definitely the best version of Primitive Love on the market, despite the high price tag. The album comes housed in a cardboard sleeve like an album cover, but the selling point her are the five bonus tracks. You get the 12" version of Conga, labeled as "La Conga" here, but it is indeed the full length English language 12" mix. Bad Boy is featured in both its 12" version AND dub version. On top of that, you get extended versions of non-hit tracks "Body to Body" and "Primitive Love." The ONLY 12" mix missing from this album is the 12" version of Uh-Oh(Falling In Love). Logically, that should have been here instead of the dub of Bad Boy, however, you can find the 12" of Uh-Oh on the Japanese mini album "Miami Sound Machine Best Remixes". The only other important thing to note here is that while the liner notes on the inserts are written in Japanese, the titles of the songs are also included in English...ACCEPT for the bonus tracks! So you really don't know what you're going to hear until it starts!