Customer Reviews

Belinda

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

The songs on Belinda's first solo album was as good of a success as any of the Gogos albums. It hit #13 on the charts and spawned the number 3 hit 'mad about you' i recommend this cd to anyone who likes Belinda or the gogos, or especially 80's music.

Five stars all the way.

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.

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.

I bought this in 7th grade after I'd collected her other 2 albums from that time, Heaven On Earth and Runaway Horses. It was different from her other 2 albums and I fell in love with it. Her voice is awesome and so is the wind instruments and keyboards. I took Belinda with me to the Oregon Coast camping that summer and I'd play it in my walkman on the way down there, and in the camper sleeping that night. Awesome!

First Belinda's album,but so different from all the things that Go-Go's had been doing.I always take this album on a walk on sunny little streets.It makes me smile and feel a lot of joy and peace inside.Lovely melodies,soft instruments,harmonical voices - all like birds in rays of light.Can't describe it in other way.My number 4 of BC's albums if I must choose,but needn't do it,'cause have all of them and love all of them!

Belinda is thirty-seven minutes and eight seconds long and was released on June 3, 1986. Belinda reached #13 on the Billboard 200 Album charts and went Gold. The cassette released three singles from it and only two hit the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. If you are looking for the Go-Go sound in this cassette, it is not there. This is truly Belinda Carlisle doing her own music. So some of the songs don't have that pop beat to it. Still this is a great cassette to listen to. Belinda gets a B+.

Side One

Mad About You
#3 U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Singles
#29 U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary
#21 U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play
#19 U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales
I Need A Disguise
Sine You've Gone
I Feel the Magic
#82 U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Singles
I Never Wanted A Rich Man

Side Two

Band of Gold
#26 U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play
#38 U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales
Gotta Get To You
From the Heart
Short In the Dark
Stuff and Nonsense

This is the awesome 1986 debut solo album by the great Belinda Carlisle. Also the last on the I.R.S. record label, the label that she had been with on the GO-GO's first three albums,(1981-84). This album is short and sweet, clocking in at just under 38 minutes. The first song is the classic smash 'Mad About You', upbeat and cheerful, a personal fav of mine. She displays her great vocal range very well on that song. 'Gotta Get To You' is catchy, with a cool saxophone solo in the bridge. 'I Need A Disguise' is a cool song, with a great beat, also Susanna Hoffs from the Bangles co-wrote and sang backup on this song. 'I Feel The Magic' is just plain fun and cheerful. 'Shot In The Dark' has a cool synthesizer rhythm, and great guitar fills. There is also a great mix of slow ballads, 'Since You've Gone', 'Stuff And Nonsense'(simply angelic vocals on that song) and 'From The Heart'. This one has it all, Great musicianship, arrangements, song writing, and Belinda Carlisle with her beautiful, fantastic vocals. Complete lyrics to all songs are included in the booklet. Also, most songs were co-written by her fellow GO-GO Charlotte Caffey. This album is also hard to come by, so don't pass up a chance to buy it. It is truly a great travesty that this album is out of print now. If you don't have it, get it, ROCK ON!!

Since You've Gone is the best song and the others I like too.

I'd have to say that out of all of her CD's including the one's she's done with the Go-Go's, this one was true magic. My fave song was "Stuff and Nonsense," because of the way it started, and the way she finished it. It was, and is the most beautiful song I've ever heard along side the "Unchained Melody." Belinda does the coolest music!!!