Marc Anthony heats up this companion album to his first Latin Pop album (Amar Sin Mentiras) by putting lots of salsa on it. 

• Latin Grammy’s Tropical album of the year winner.
• Produced by Estefano (Estefano Production Group)
• Released on Sony Discos (Sony International)

Just a few months after his first Latin Pop album, Amar Sin Mentiras , was released, a new Marc Anthony album arrived on the music shelves. Different title, different picture, but turn it over and it sure looked like the same songs as on the previous CD. So, what was this? A marketing scam? Are you going to end up buying the same album twice? Not quite.

Valio La Pena (Worth the Pain) is the companion CD to Amar and is spiced-up with Anthony’s reliable blend of brass and percussion. Was it worth the pain to make two albums, the second being a faster, hotter, more energetic remix of the first? For die-hard salsa fans, the answer is a resounding “si, senor!”. The arrangements and production on Amar are somewhat better than Valio’s, where it sounds like he spent less energy jazzing up the beat.