1100 Bel Air Place was designed as
Julio Iglesias' breakthrough to the American audience, finding the Latin superstar recording with producer
Richard Perry -- the architect behind blockbusters by
Barbra Streisand,
Ringo Starr and
Harry Nilsson -- and duetting with such established American superstars as
Diana Ross,
Stan Getz,
the Beach Boys and
Willie Nelson. The latter, of course, provided
Iglesias with the key to his crossover with a duet on
Hal David and
Albert Hammond's "To All the Girls I've Loved Before," a song that became ubiquitous in 1984. If
1100 Bel Air Place is a bit too tied to that year -- not just through the presence of its blockbuster hit, but also through
Perry's cavernous '80s production, a brittle affair where even studio pros sound like synthesizers -- it is nevertheless a testament to the commercial savviness of all involved.
Perry captured the sound of adult contemporary radio circa 1984 just perfectly, creating the ideal vehicle for
Iglesias' smooth vocals, which skirted just on the edge of being schmaltzy but never went over that edge. The material was well selected -- heavy on
Hammond songs, including his other signature song "The Air That I Breathe" and "Moonlight Lady," and it was expertly executed according the conventions of mid-'80s soft rock. As a matter of fact, apart from "Me Va, Me Va" (also written by
Hammond) and the accent in
Iglesias' voice, this could pass as a straight-up adult contemporary record from the '80s -- which is why it was a hit, turning
Iglesias into a true star in America, the one market he hadn't conquered -- but it's also why
1100 Bel Air Place may sound a little too dated to some ears: it is truly, thoroughly, an artifact of its time. But according to those standards, it works very well, and even if the sound of the record don't necessarily hold up, it's still easy to listen to this and realize exactly how it made
Julio Iglesias a star in 1984. [
1100 Bel Air Place was reissued in 2006 in a remastered version containing a bonus track, "I Don't Want to Wake You."] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine