POP MUSIC REVIEW : Gloria Estefan, Sound Machine: Too Much Polish Spoils the Image

Gloria Frankenstein.

An appropriate name for the show-biz monster--better known as singer Gloria Estefan--that was stalking around the Greek Theater stage Wednesday night, supported by her nine-piece band, the Miami Sound Machine.

What have the image-makers done to her?

Estefan used to be warm and wholesome until the Dr. Frankensteins who package her decided that wasn’t enough--that her image needed juicing up. OK, warm and wholesome can be boring. But was it really necessary to take her to the other extreme?

They’ve turned this lovely, refreshing, exceptionally talented singer into a hip-swinging, finger-popping bombshell, tawdrily decked out in skin-tight black leather. What’s wrong with a happy medium?

That flip, flashy persona can work if the performer is comfortable with it. But Estefan, the biggest female Latin star in pop music, never seemed at ease playing the Latina leatherette. There was a forced, unnatural quality to her performance.

With all that hip patter and that insufferably breezy manner, at times she seemed like a parody of a second-rate lounge singer. She was roaming all over the stage, relentlessly trying to generate excitement, mistakenly equating perpetual motion with high energy.

The show, the first of four in a sold-out engagement, was basically a disappointing, up-and-down affair--a good number here, three schlockly ones there. Some of the best songs--like “Betcha Say That,” “Rhythm Is Gonna Get You” and “Anything for You”--suffered from lame instrumental support.

Based on the marvelously produced dance remix version, her current hit, “1-2-3” should have been a show-stopper. But it added up to zero, mainly because the band clumsily executed the arrangement. The level of musicianship wasn’t particularly high. The musicians played much more snappily at the end, with the first two-thirds of the show seeming like a warm-up session.

Estefan, by the way, is a very capable singer--with a respectable range and a knack for pleasing phrasing. But her vocal skills were generally overshadowed by her tireless efforts to make that sassy, sexy persona work.

Some of problems weren’t the group’s fault. The sound system was generally horrendous, with far too much bass and shrill highs. Too often the horns sounded tinny, undermining their role in the arrangements.

The group was also victimized by bad lighting. Lights can energize a number by underscoring emotional tones, occasionally turning an average song into something memorable. But in this show, the lights were working against performers--particularly Estefan--creating unappealing shadows and muddy colors, illuminating the wrong thing at the wrong time.

A few years ago, Estefan was unpolished and unaffected. Her potential was obvious--though it was clear that to make it she had to become slicker. She’s just gone overboard with the slickness. It would be wise for her to slide back into the other direction a bit.