Album Begin The Beguine by Julio Iglesias Review
Having released dozens of albums over more than a decade, all in Spanish, Julio Iglesias' latest at the end of 1981, the album De Nina A Mujer was just another example of a Latin star who appeared to have no interest in crossing over to the wider English speaking market. There was however a cover version on De Nina A Mujer in Spanish of the Cole Porter song from the 1930s, Begin The Beguine, titled Volver A Empezar, a song about a romantic style of dance made famous by Artie Shaw & His Orchestra. The album also included Spanish versions of the songs Island In The Sun (titled Isla En El Sol) and Never Never Never (Grande Grande Grande) but despite a tradition of failure among foreign language singles (only one - Je-T'Aime Moi Non Plus had ever reached no.1 and that had been for very special reasons), radio stations picked up on Volver A Empezar and providing the most romantic sound alternative to the new wave and synth pop music of 1981, Julio Iglesias suddenly found himself at the top of the singles chart. CBS records had a most unexpected hit on their hands from a source they had scarcely imagined when they signed him mainly for Latin American sales in the mid 1970s and they quickly put together a more English friendly album, certainly with an easier title named after the now familiar hit Begin The Beguine of which the title track was moved to track one and even retitled itself to drop the Volver A Empezar to brackets. They also retained the tracks Grande Grande Grande, Isla En El Sol and Como Tu and the whole album was over a hour long, featuring 16 tracks in total and even when he wasn't singing about love, it sounded as if he could have been. Also added onto Begin The Beguine was the title track of one his most popular albums from the late 1970s, Hey and a half Spanish half English language version of a favourite from the 1940s, Yours given the title Quiereme Mucho, which was released as a second single and nearly emulated the title track, reaching no.3 and another standard Latin song Guantanmera. A most unexpected breakthrough from an artist whom one could not imagine selling so well in 1981.Review by allmusic.com
