Maps of Music

Cuts Both Ways (1989)

Where the lyrics of Cuts Both Ways take you, and where it was really made.

Estefan's first solo album still carries Miami Sound Machine's instrumentation, and the only other original MSM member on it is her husband and producer, Emilio.

Key places

Recorded at Criteria Studios, Miami (1989)

Recording site Criteria Studios — Criteria Studios in Miami is listed as the recording location for Cuts Both Ways. The point marks the studio building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Cuts Both Ways: debut solo album by Gloria Estefan, also released as Doblemente Herida
• Released 10 July 1989
• First release billing Estefan as a solo artist, though Miami Sound Machine still performed the instrumentation
• Sold over 4 million copies worldwide
• Includes the Hot 100 number one "Don't Wanna Lose You" and the Adult Contemporary number one title track
• Also features the hit singles "Get on Your Feet" and "Here We Are"

Background

• 1987: credited above the group name on Let It Loose (Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine)
• Estefan had been lead singer of Miami Sound Machine for a decade
• By 1989 she was one of the most successful female Latin artists in the world
• Marketed as a solo artist, but Miami Sound Machine kept backing her in the studio and on tour
• Besides Estefan, the only original MSM member on the album was husband and producer Emilio Estefan

Recording

• Criteria Studios in Miami is listed as a recording location for the album
• Mixing by Eric Schilling; Phil Ramone mixed tracks 2 and 10
• Mastering by Bob Ludwig at Masterdisk, New York City
• Producers: Emilio Estefan, Jorge Casas, Clay Ostwald

Cover

• Art direction by David Coleman and Nancy Donald
• Photography by Randee St. Nicholas
• Hair and make-up for Estefan by Eric Bernard; wardrobe by Vivian Turner

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Born Gloria María Milagrosa Fajardo García in Havana, Cuba, on September 1, 1957; her family fled to Miami in 1959 after the Cuban Revolution.
• Began as lead singer of the Miami Latin Boys in 1975, renamed Miami Sound Machine when she and her cousin Mercedes Navarro joined.
• Studied psychology at the University of Miami, graduating in 1979.

Career

• Miami Sound Machine's 1985 single "Conga" became her signature song; the 1987 album Let It Loose included the Hot 100 No. 1 "Anything for You".
• Went solo in 1989 with Cuts Both Ways, which produced the Hot 100 No. 1 "Don't Wanna Lose You".
• Suffered a spinal fracture in a tour bus crash near Scranton, Pennsylvania, in March 1990, then recovered fully and returned with Into the Light (1991), whose "Coming Out of the Dark" reached No. 1 on the Hot 100.
• Mi Tierra (1993), her first Spanish-language album, won the Grammy for Best Tropical Latin Album; she later won it again for Abriendo Puertas (1995) and won Best Traditional Tropical Latin Album for Alma Caribeña (2000).
• Received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015 and a Kennedy Center Honors in 2017.
• Her Broadway jukebox musical On Your Feet! (2015) is based on her life with husband Emilio Estefan.

Members

• Emilio Estefan, her husband and longtime producer, co-created much of her catalog.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• The album reached the top ten on the US Billboard 200 chart
• Number 1 in the UK, Australia and New Zealand
• "Don't Wanna Lose You" was the first single and became one of Estefan's biggest hits
• Later singles "Here We Are", "Oye mi Canto" and "Get on Your Feet" were commercially successful
• The title track was released as the final single

Reappraisal

• The source gives no critic review scores for this album
• Its later standing rests on chart and sales records listed below

Records

• Sold over 4 million copies worldwide
• "Don't Wanna Lose You" reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, Estefan's second US number one
• "Don't Wanna Lose You" certified Gold by the RIAA
• "Don't Wanna Lose You" also reached the top ten in the Netherlands, Ireland and the UK
• "Cuts Both Ways" reached number 1 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart
• Emilio Estefan, Jorge Casas and Clay Ostwald received a Grammy nomination for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The Mexican LP edition contains only the Spanish versions of "Oye Mi Canto" and "Don't Wanna Lose You"
• Brazilian editions include Portuguese versions of "Here We Are", "Your Love Is Bad for Me" and "Don't Wanna Lose You"
• Several Hispanic American LP editions other than the Mexican one carry all Spanish and English tracks
• Most Latin American editions rearrange the track listing
• Jon Secada provided background vocals on the album

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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