Face Up [Import]

Lisa Stansfield | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 2, 2004)
• Original Release Date: 2001
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Arista Europe
• ASIN: B0000E5SLK
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #110,302 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. I've Got Something Better

2. Let's Just Call It Love

3. You Can Do That

4. How Could You?

5. Candy

6. I'm Coming to Get You

7. 8-3-1

8. Wish on Me

9. Boyfriend

10. Don't Leave Me Now I'm in Love

11. Didn't I

12. Face Up

13. When the Last Sun Goes Down

14. All Over Me

15. Can't Wait To [*]

16. You Get Me [*]

Editorial Reviews

Long awaited fifth album for the UK soul diva. 14 tracks including the singles, 'Let's Just Call It Love', '8-3-1' & 'I've Got Something Better'. 2001 release. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars She's Back and Hotter Than Ever!!!, July 12, 2001

By 

Soulsafari "soulsafari" (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Face Up (Audio CD)

That's right ladies and gentlemen, she's back and she hasn't lost a thing! After the enormous success of her previous outing, "Lisa Stansfield", Lisa comes back with a bang. "Face Up" is perhaps the most cohesive and adventurous of her albums to date.

The first track, "I've Got Something Better", makes a natural transition from the sound established on previous Stansfield albums, building on the trademark Lisa Stansfield smooth-pop sound. This is standard Lisa Stansfield fare and it hits the mark beautifully. It opens the album like a comfortable old friend with soothing memories of the past.

Then, like a storm out of nowhere, Lisa drops a bomb on us with "Let's Just Call It Love," the albums first single. In what can best be described as trance-disco, Lisa gives us what we never expected- a smooth, hot, sexy club hit that beckons our heads to bob, our hips to move and our bodies groove. This track will surprise Stansfield fans and have them yearning for more.

On "You Can Do That," Lisa gets back to music's `Ol School roots and creates this summers ultimate cruisin' song. Think Kool and the Gang's "Summer Madness" with a baseline right out of Lakeside's "Fantastic Voyage." The song makes you want to sit back, relax, get your lean on and ride around with the top off.

The next three songs do very little to excite the ear, especially after the tasty sampling we've been given so far. "How Could You" is a slow, mediocre track reminiscent of Ms. Stansfield's "Real Love" album, complete with horns straight out of a Broadway tune. If the "Affection" album were recorded today, "Candy" would surely be on it. This is vintage Stansfield magic, given just enough of a millennium touch to keep it from sounding like a rehashed melody. "I'm Coming To Get You" is a typical Stansfield track, with a piano romp right out of a Basia tune.

"8-3-1" is, in my opinion, this albums' standout track and my personal favorite. I must admit that when I first saw this unusual title, my mind ran the gamut of explanations for exactly what "8-3-1" could refer to. Then I got the CD and was treated to one of the most original song ideas to date. 19 seconds into the song's intro I heard "8 letters, 3 words, 1 meaning," and fell in love with this interpretation of the 3 words we all long to hear, "I Love You." This song is a high flying dance groove a la Lisa's remake of "You Know How To Love Me" from the "Lisa Stansfield" album. This is an all out, feel-good rollercoaster of a song that takes us soaring, only stopping briefly halfway through the song for a musical breakdown which had me in mind of Depeche Mode's "Strangelove." I dare you to listen to this track and not love it. Just one taste of this track and you'll be moving to the beat.

Another standout track is "Wish On Me," a beautiful love song that has Lisa telling her lover that, yes, it's time for us to part, but let's remember the best of our time together and wish each other only the best. It's a song of lost love, no regrets, and true emotion, complete with ethereal background vocals that will have you sighing and remembering past relationships. This, I believe, should be the next single.

Next we're treated to more standard Stansfield fare. "Boyfriend", a mid-tempo track with a slight hip-hop beat and funky strings chronicles Lisa's struggle with trying not to "borrow" her best friend's boyfriend while she's out of town.

Listening to the opening of "Don't Leave Now I'm In Love" I would swear that Brian McKnight had a hand in writing it. Then, just as soon as that thought crosses my mind, the track takes a turn and builds with a combination of trance break-beats, melodic background vocals, and great keyboards. A somber, yet upbeat track that I feel will surely be one of my favorites.

"Didn't I", this albums' melodramatic song of unrequited love offers little interest in comparison to previous tracks.

The title track, "Face Up," takes us back into the Barry White territory previously visited by Stansfield. This is a refreshing , welcome drink of water that comes straight from that smooth-pop well that Lisa lets us drink from on occasion.

The final two tracks, "When the Last Sun Goes Down," a lovely song reminiscent of "Tenderly," and the sexy "All Over Me" round out this album nicely. The latter has Lisa begging for more of what she needs from her man, begging "I don't need no money/No uptown time/I just want you to put your hands all over me tonight." It ends the album with a slick groove that cements this album as the most playful, adventurous and consistent Lisa Stansfield offering so far.

The final verdict: Lisa's getting her groove on and I'm grooving right along with her!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Greatest Album To Date from Lady Lisa Stansfield, August 12, 2003

By 

welek (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Face Up (Audio CD)

I will never forget my teen days plugging up my walkman earphone and turned on the radio loud when ALL AROUND THE WORLD came into the air of the local stations...

Even I was 15 I knew and I could tell Stansfield was going to be the new Best Brit Pop Diva, she will only get better and classier than her peers Dina Carroll, Cathy Dennis and Kylie Minogue. (Check out the scene in her latest video LET'S JUST CALL IT LOVE as she steps out of the dark limo in a scarlet evening lace dress and sashays down the street to meet her "Lover in Crime"!)

FACE UP is the 5th full-length studio record and effort in 4 years from Stansfield and her long musical companion/love in life/husband/buddy Ian Devaney, with a few tracks co-written and produced by their musical partner Richard Darbyshire.

The Love Duo proves once again at best with their typical upbeat tempo, outrospectively soulful live jazz dance music in the great opener I'VE GOT SOMETHING BETTER. "Open up show me love turn up the music..." Stansfield pronounces in her deep Rochdale accent with a veteran diva vocal that exudes that kind of energy which makes you jump up straight and tap your feet along every beat as she sings...

YOU CAN DO THAT is a pretty funky number in contrast right after the contemporary upbeat exciting sound of the first 2 tracks.

And yes, the most probably biggest smash hit from this album, EIGHT-THREE-ONE, is the indeniably best classic Stansfield trademark disco rhythm (check out the David Morales mix in the new single) after her self-titled 4th album's single NEVER NEVER GONNA GIVE YOU UP. Sound as if we haven't got enough of great stuff from Stansfield, the follow-up title track FACE UP continues to encho her much Barry-White-defined disco sound.

The European Union edition of this album I owe is a deleted copy which only features up to track 13, WHEN THE LAST SUN GOES DOWN. Ironically, this track is the ultimately sentimental ballad that is rather appropriate to round up the album at last and best for a romantic evening you have shared with your love partner.

You know we lovers or fans love this album and only expect you to do even better, thank you Lady Lisa Stansfield.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Oh my gosh! If this isn't one of her best!, April 6, 2006

By 

LadyBelle (PA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Face Up (Audio CD)

Come on get with it! This is definitely one of "Mrs." Stansfield's best albums to date. This is one of my absolute favorites from Lisa, there are so many of her best, most recent, songs on this album. Lisa's albums only get better with age, and thank goodness for that! Lisa has said that she thought to be one of her best albums, and I agree. Get this CD and be thrilled with the superb vocals(from the one and only Lisa Stanfield) and wonderful songs, you will not be disappointed!