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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I will forever be mad about Belinda, July 23, 2002
From the moment I first heard Mad About You, I was a Belinda Carlisle fan for life. It is one of the quintessential songs of the 1980s, yet it still remains fresh and vibrant today. I have more memories invested in that song than any other from my teenaged years. While there is a significant amount of collaboration with Charlotte Caffey on the album as a whole, this music is distinctly superior from that of the Go-Go's. Belinda's style and sound would continue to grow and mature over time, but clearly the public connected most strongly with this and the subsequent Heaven on Earth releases. While Mad About You was a pretty big hit, the only other track to achieve any success was the catchy, feel-good song I Feel the Magic. However, there are some other real gems on this album that I think could have been big hits. Gotta Get To You is a pretty rocking song that does have an air of the Go-Go's to it, but it surpasses even the best song from the old group. I love Belinda's voice; every word she sings sounds sincere and heartfelt. Her voice also has a unique undercurrent of passion to it at times that makes her slower, sadder songs much more appealing and emotional. Without a doubt, the most powerful song on this album is Since You've Gone; mixing verses of soft regret and heartache with pumping choruses of forceful anguish, it's a song to treasure and seek comfort in. I Never Wanted a Rich Man and From the Heart are two slow, beautiful songs, but even they cannot compete with Stuff and Nonsense. Belinda had a habit of including a slow, melancholy ballad at the end of her early albums that differed significantly from the more beat-driven songs leading up to it. Stuff and Nonsense showcases the wonderful, passionate, underappreciated voice of this singer; the sound is far removed from the often meaningless lyrical stylings of the late Go-Go's period. Belinda Carlisle can sing love ballads with the very best of them. With less than 38 minutes of music, the album may seem relatively short now, but 38 minutes was a typical running time for albums released in the mid-1980s. I cannot help picture Belinda Carlisle as she appeared in the two videos for this album whenever I listen to these tracks--blonde, beautiful, and happy. In a pretty short period of time after the breakup of the troubled Go-Go's, she had turned her life completely around, and the obvious happiness she felt comes through clearly in her singing. I think this CD captures the essence of Belinda Carlisle better than any other (although I don't consider this her best album). As one song says, "it's all from the heart," and I can say that Belinda definitely captured my own heart with this wonderful album.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Been mad about Belinda from her first album onward, November 4, 2001
Out of the ashes of the Go-Go's, came Belinda Carlisle, fresh from rehab and ready to conquer the pop music world with the opening bass beats in "Mad About You". Result? An unqualified success.When I first saw her in the "Mad About You" video, I'd never even heard of the Go-Go's. Fortunately, I was able to catch up in time. Now there was a woman I found unimaginatively beautiful! Anyway, those opening basslines. And that's Duran Duran guitarist Andy Taylor doing that guitar solo in the song's middle. The bouncy "I Need A Disguise" is another singleworthy song, co-written by Susanna Hoffs that's got a tight slick beat. "Shot In The Dark" is another song that's an even better candidate for the dance floor. Case of singles chart injustice No. 103039: "I Feel The Magic" is another one of those singles that deserved to enter the Top Ten, much less the Top Forty. As it turns out, it didn't. This despite a familiar and welcome sugary voice on background vocals: Susanna Hoffs. Sheesh! In watching a documentary on the making of this album, bandmate Charlotte Caffey remarked on Belinda's perceptive ability to notice song similarities. According to her, "I Never Wanted A Rich Man" sounded like something Rod Stewart would do. Yes, Belinda, it sure does. She does a tasteful cover of Freda Payne's 60's classic, "Band Of Gold" As for ballads, she does best on "Since You've Gone" and "Stuff And Nonsense". Belinda gets a lot of help from a lot of big names. Much of it comes in songwriting credits. Her ex-bandmates, Charlotte Caffey and Paula Brown (Jane Wiedlin's Go-Go's successor), come to the rescue here, as does Susanna Hoffs. All three help out on backing vocals as does Jane Wiedlin. So, is this CD great? Hey, I ended up not speaking to a then-good friend because he dissed it. That was back in 1986, and this album has survived its potency with age.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The First Step, March 14, 2001
Released about a year or so after the Go-Go's broke up (for the first time) Belida's eponymous album was supposed to be a collaboration with former bandmate Charlotte Caffey. Even though Caffey decided at the last minute that she didn't want this album to be released as a duo, it is very much a collaboration. The single "Mad About You" written by Go-Go Jane Wiedlin's replacement Paula Jean Brown would have made the top 10 for Carlisle and Caffey's former band. Instead it became a tribute to Carlisle's new husband Morgan Mason. Songs like "Band of Gold", "I Need a Disguise" and "I Never Wanted a Rich Man" are tributes to the girl groups of the sixties. The highlights of this album are without a doubt "Since You've Gone" a perfect torch and "Stuff and Nonsense". Both songs display not only Carlisle's growing talents and confidence, but also Caffey's return as a major songwriter and arranger. Carlisle is no longer the powerhouse in the US that she was back in the late 80s, but she still retains a strong fan base in the rest of the world. Caffey on the other hand has remained in the background working with other bands/artists including Jewel, Hole, That Dog and Susanna Hoffs.
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~ Belinda Carlisle
~ Belinda Carlisle
~ Belinda Carlisle
~ Go-Go's
~ Belinda Carlisle
by Belinda Carlisle 
