I had to loosen the subframe bolts to get the struts out when I changed mine. I loosened all of them some, but I took the ones on the side I was working on out to where there was only a couple of turns left holding them in. Then I pried the control arm down with a big 'ol prybar.
Oh, and while you have it torn apart that far, you might as well replace the sway bar bushings with some urethane ones. You need to drop the rear of the subfame to get at one of the bolts for the bushing mount, so you're pretty much there already. And you don't want to go through all of this AGAIN anytime soon, do you?!?
You might check your control arm bushings for cracking/tearing too, for the same reason.
Marty
