Customer Reviews

Fabulous

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

It has been several years since Sheena Easton has had a major release outside of Japan and it's great to have her back! Her latest is a wonderful feel-good album drawing mostly on remakes of familiar dance and R&B classics of the 1970s and 80s.

It's hard to imagine anyone bringing anything new to such classics like Gloria Gaynor's "Never Can Say Goodbye", Donna Summer's "Love is in Control" or Thelma Houston's "Don't Leave Me This Way", but she does come off as if she is having one heck of a great time!! She also manages to maintain high energy on "Giving up Giving In" (The Three Degrees) and does a quite creditable job on "Best of my Love" ("The Emotions"). There is one duet - "On My Own" (Patti Labelle/Michael McDonald) where she is joined by a quite youthful sounding Terry Donald - coproducer on the album. At first, I thought it sounded like Sheena was duetting with herself!

Interestingly, the two mellow cuts here may actually attract as much attention as the uptempo ones. She obviously has good taste in choosing Deniece Williams' "That's What Friends Are For" (from "This is Niecy") and giving it a smooth, sensual groove. "You Never Gave Me a Chance" (to my knowledge, not a remake) is vintage Sheena. However, the crowning jewel of this collection is the last track "Get Here to Me." This is a wonderful, star-out-slow turning into a high-steppin' disco anthem in the "Last Dance" tradition.

Sheena, the production and arrangements (not to mention the material) are terrific. For Sheena fans, it's quite worth the import price. The only real disappointment is that it all seems to end quite a bit too soon, but then you can just skip back to track 1 and start it all over again. Don't be surprised if you find yourself doing just that!

Oh where do I begin. This cd I just got my hands on and it went straight to play. This music is so disco pop, Sheena has the style and perfection all wrapped up in this cd that is oh so Fabulous. Her version of On My Own may differ than Reba McEntires but still has a good beat her way, other songs are: Dont Leave Me This Way, Giving Up Giving In, Love is In Control, Thats what Friends Are For, Never Can Say Goodbye, Best Of My Love, Cant Take My Eyes Off You, You Never Gave me the Chance and Get Here To me. A great cd to have with all of Sheena's other wonderful music. Fabulous job Sheena, You havent changed 1 bit!

Yes, four stars may seem a bit extravagant. But this album is simply too appealing to deserve anything less. Truly. When was the last time you spent money on a CD that gave your index finger on the FF/REW more of a work out than it did your ears, especially if you're into club music? Probably not too long ago. Granted, this is an album of mostly disco and funk covers, but one thing I've realized in this genre is that fewer musicians have been able to make a meal out of club music technology than have been able to barely use it as a spice. Dance music is still largely the domain of its producers rather than its half-baked songwriters and nameless belters. Here Terry Roland & Ian Masterson prove their prowess in the field as aptly as Metro has with so many other worthy artists. Instead of a perfunctory wash of machines and crystaline techno they've produced a highly stylish and deep sound complete with lush background vocals, swirling orchestra, and a beat that energizes instead of tires. They've easily made standard material sound interestingly fresh. A cover like "Never Can Say Goodbye" sounds as joyful as the first time you heard Gloria Gaynor's chestnut. Although, "Best Of My Love" falls just short of this. Easton proves herself worthy of such glorious surroundings, never sounding overwrought, underwhelmed, nor unenthused. Every reading she gives is personal Sheena, never posed. Given the setting of such diva-tried territory, rarely does she scale a height she's incapable of hitting. Particular high points on 'Fabulous', where producers and artist are hand-in-glove: the frenetic "Giving Up, Giving In", the enormous arena-like sound of "Love Is In Control", the sincere intimacy of "That's What Friends Are For" (Deniece Williams & Johnny Mathis, not Dionne Warwick & Friends) and the funky Tom Tom Club beatbox of "I Need Your Lovin'", the Teena Marie gem. Overall, beginning to end this is an invigorating listen. The two extra tracks on this Japanese issue are the mentioned "I Need Your Lovin'" and the DJ Soma Grow Sound Mix of "Can't Take My Eyes Off You", all 8+ minutes of it. Hopefully this will get a domestic release with a worthy promo campaign behind it, and hopefully with a few more tracks that might be waiting in the wings. But when and if...this price tag is worth it.

Sheena returns to dance music with a smash album of covers of great disco classics (Don't Leave Me This Way, Best Of My Love, Can't Take My Eyes Off of You, Never Can Say Goodbye, Love Is In Control), dance versions of some songs we haven't heard in awhile (On My Own, That's What Friends Are For - by the way this isn't the Dionne Warwick song but a completely different and much better song) and two new songs a decent ballad titled You Never Gave Me The Chance, and a great Last Dance-ish closer titled Get Here To Me, which would make a killer first single for the U.S. market. Just being the singer and letting others do all the thinking on this project seems to have served Sheena well. With last year's sadly underappreciated Home, which she produced herself, and this album, she has delivered two of her best albums since the 80's. Let's hope a worldwide release is in store for this great party record. Bravo!

Hi everybody! I heard so many good things about this album...many of them right here on good ole' Amazon.com!!! I could hardly contain my excitement when I heard it for myself...it's all really quite true...it's THAT GOOD! I love the track "Never Can Say Goodbye" and Sheena Easton has taken a gorgeous song "That's What Friends Are For" (originally from Deniece Williams) and made it even more beautiful!!! The production on this album is right on track. Subtle where need be, galloping along where it should AND THE VOCALS ARE FABULOUS.

This album deserves to be released in the US. It could give Sheena Easton the same bounce/bump UP in her career that "The Lover In Me" project did. Almost all the tracks are single-worthy, perfect and delicious. Almost 45 minutes of pure astonishing FUN. Don't wait...get a copy for yourself now :-)

My hat goes off to you Sheena, you have made it to divahood. I think everyone involved in this project said, "let's play." And play is just what they do, this is Easton's best dance project. It's lite, it's thoughtful, it's fabulous! "Don't let me this way", is given a jazzy spanish take, while "can't take my eyes off of you" evokes images of the rocketts kicking away. What makes this disco formula work, is that it's done with such a desire to have fun and pay tribute instead of simply mocking disco. It looks at the music as art first, fun second. And Sheena delivers her vocals as a confident disco diva. She's not interested in making the lyrics sound better or alike. She's interested in making this diva fun and it works. The last number, "get here to me" is a tribute to "last dance" and just as last dance, it's works beautifully. "Fabulous" is a must for your vehicle. Crank up the cd player, take the top down and just sound fabulous.

Sheena Easton gallops back into the mainstream with this big, brassy, florid, string-and-synth drenched disco record, which could be subtitled "...-Ghetto-Fabulous." Unlike a similar effort by Gloria Estefan a few years back, this dance-oriented recording works not only as a valentine to Easton's loyal ... and club following but as a straight ahead footstomping party disc. The mirror ball on the back cover reflects the shimmering, over the top arrangements that surround Sheena's athletic gold lame interpretations of discotheque chestnuts and mainstays, smartly selected and crafted by producers Terry Ronald and Ian Masterson. The team contributes two originals, the uptempo "Get Here to Me" and classic Sheena lament, "You Never Gave Me the Chance," alongside sterling renditions of Thelma Houston's "Don't Leave Me This Way," "Never Can Say Goodbye," "Best of My Love," and, especially, The Three Degrees' "Giving Up, Giving In" and a version of Patti LaBelle's "On My Own" that brings the sadness and bravery of the lyric to the forefront, a Sheena Easton specialty. Whoever decided to let the girl dance was truly inspired.

No one was happier than I was when I just discovered this CD in a record store recently. First, I was shocked because I saw the woman on the front cover and thought, "She resembles Sheena Easton"--but then I saw the word "Fabulous" on the front, and I just thought it was some new group who was using a "hot girl" on the front cover to get prospective buyers' attention. Then, I went into another CD store one block away, and just thought to myself, "I wonder if Sheena has anything new out". When I looked in her section and saw the same "Fabulous" CD again--and actually read "Sheena Easton" in that small, 3-D like, hard-to-see lettering on the front, then I realized that I was right the first time: it WAS Sheena! I did hesitate about the high price tag (since it was an import), but then I figured it had been so many years since I've seen a new SE album, that I just went ahead and pulled out my credit card.

On the drive home, I put the CD in my player and began to listen. Honestly, as much as I adore Sheena Easton, and loved the idea of her having something "new" out, I was disappointed in this release. None of the arrangements are interesting or remotely different than the original versions of these songs. Also, her voice doesn't seem to have the same clarity that it once did--or maybe I am biased because the arrangements are SO similar to the originals, that I keep expecting to hear the original artists singing.

I am giving this CD four stars because at least it is something new from Sheena, but I would really love to see her make the kind of comeback that Cher did back in 1999 with Believe. Sheena needs to do something new, but this is not the vehicle to do so.

Sorry, Sheena. I still love you.

This is a good album. Sheena's voice is best when her voice flows natually & not trying to pull off robust diva-esque vocals.
The best songs & my favourites here are "Giving Up, Giving In", "Love Is In Control", "Get Here to Me", "That's What Friends Are For", and "You Never Gave Me The Chance. Lovers of club/dance music would enjoy this.

My friend Jamie turned me on to this. It led me to Las Vegas to see her live. Sheena Easton is FLAWLESS!