Top 10 Alert!
Gold Record Alert!
Song#: 2650 Date: 03/08/1986
Debut: 76
Peak: 8
Weeks: 19
Genre: Dance-Pop
Pop Bits: This Gloria Estefan-led Latin-pop band broke through to the masses with the infectious #10 hit "Conga." It was from their second English-language album, Primitive Love. Next up for release was this second single. The straight-ahead pop tune was a fit for both Pop and AC radio and the song made it to #8 on both charts. It also got to #10 at Dance. The crossover action helped the single sell extra copies and it ended up being the band's second consecutive gold record.
ReduxReview: I think the remix helped to sell this song (see below). The sound is crisper, the skittery original opening is ditched, the horns are more emphasized throughout, and the song had more of a dance feel to it. The embellishments made it perfect for Pop radio. At the time I wasn't a big fan of the song and kind of ignored it, but I appreciate its Motown-ish feel much better now. However, it still wouldn't rank high on my list of favorite Gloria Estefan songs.
ReduxRating: 7/10
Trivia: This tune got a bit of a makeover for its single release. Producer/remixer Shep Pettibone was hired to spruce up the ditty and he came up with a remix that would be issued out instead of the original version found on the Primitive Love album. The fresh take on the tune was a winner and it handed Miami Sound Machine a second Top 10 hit. Throughout the 80s and 90s, Pettibone was a sought after remixer and did work for many of the top artists of those decades. He did no less than fifteen remixes for hits from Madonna along with several for Pet Shop Boys, Janet Jackson, David Bowie, Whitney Houston, and many others. His tenure with Madonna certainly pushed his name into the limelight and along the way he would also co-write and co-produced a few of Madonna's songs including one of her biggest hits, 1990's #1 "Vogue."
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Kind of hard for me to hear much difference in the remix. If I didn't know about it, and I heard the album track, I'd just assume it was the same thing I heard on the radio in 1986...
ReplyDeleteBack in the day I didn't have the album, so I only knew the single remix. The differences are subtle, but I think the right things were emphasized in the remix and it popped more than the LP track.
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