Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Sheena Easton: The Singles of 1985-1986 | 'Do You'

In 1984, Sheena Easton was riding a tidal wave of success from platinum top 15 album A Private Heaven, her best-selling ever, with top 10 hits "Strut" and "Sugar Walls." You'd think that at last, she'd catapult to the A-list among pop singers of the '80s, now that she had two Grammys and five top 10 singles in her pocket. She had also evolved into one sexy mama.

Sadly, her 1985 seventh LP Do You not only inexplicably marked a bizarre turn toward a lesbo-punk appearance with an asymmetrical hairstyle that was anything but flattering, while the album, wholly produced by Nile Rodgers from Chic fame, was overproduced to the point that Sheena's vocals became secondary to many of the songs.

First single "Do It for Love" was a fine track, with danceable tempo and a great chorus, but listening in retrospect, it is so cluttered with background vocals and production tics that Sheena is more or less lost in the mix. Radio indulged the release, but it peaked at No. 29 on the pop chart, No. 39 at AC and its remix at No. 21 at dance—not a good sign.

The accompanying music video, meanwhile, was supposed to have a complex storyline that Sheena explained on "Entertainment Tonight," but when all was said and done, it was basically nothing but her performing in a club, while Billy Zane seemingly stalks her and is, for some reason, tossed out of the venue at the end. Huh?

Follow-up "Jimmy Mack," a cover of Martha and the Vandellas' 1967 Motown No. 1 R&B hit, was delightful, with a cute as shit video featuring Sheena in a retro dance sequence (keenly edited, since Sheena herself admits she can't put three steps together). Radio paid it little mind, peaking at No. 69 on the singles chart and No. 30 at dance. Sigh...

EMI was divided on the choice for a third single: either the midtempo "Cant Wait Til Tomorrow" or lush ballad "Magic of Love." I believe they made the right choice with the latter, a wonderfully atmospheric song that possessed an ethereal modern ambiance quite distinctive from her typical AC-type ballads. Again, the video featured Billy Zane, though its slow-mo imagery was a lot of nonsense—with water washing across Sheena's face and a bizarre thematic cross between true love and deception, which had nothing to do with the lyric. The song never charted... anywhere.

There were obvious missed opportunities on Do You: synth-pop "Don't Break My Heart" is cutesy but catchier than "Do It For Love," while midtempo "When the Lightning Strikes," co-written by Dan Hartman, arguably offered the best vocal performance on the disc, albeit so heavily produced. I remember listening over and over to Sheena singing the line, "Call it fascination, with the way our love survives another niiiiiiight..." It was the lowest note she had ever recorded and just filled me with glee. Yep, obsessive... and proud as can be. Do You reached No. 40 on the album chart and sold gold, but it wasn't enough to move her career in a forward direction, for sure.

In late 1985, Sheena contributed a song to obscure British/American holiday flick Santa Claus: The Movie, which starred Dudley Moore and John Lithgow—the soaring ballad "It's Christmas (All Over the World). Just gorgeous, and a return to the pure soprano vocals she was best known for... It never charted, but satiated followers who were afraid that Sheena might be lost to oblivion.

And in 1986, the soundtrack for huge hit film About Last Night, about love and war between a gang of 20-somethings that included Rob Lowe, a budding Demi Moore, James Belushi and Elizabeth Perkins (trivia: with Catherine Keener as a cocktail waitress), included two Sheena songs, "Natural Love" and appreciable uptempo pure pop song "So Far, So Good," both featured in the movie.

The latter was released as a single (with a music video: Sheena's a redhead!), and came oh so close to making the top 40, peaking at No. 43. Other acts on the ST included John Oates, Jermaine Jackson, J.D. Souther, Bob Seger, John Waite and Paul Davis.

Not the best of times for Sheena, but things were about to become downright dastardly, as her next album was denied release by EMI. It's Prince to the rescue.

3 comments:

  1. This was Sheena's moment to catapult herself to Madonna level multi-platinum success. So, she ditched Greg Mathieson (who in my opinion was her best collaborator, next to Prince) and hired Nile Rodgers to produce. This was a huge score, as he was by far the hottest producer of that time, coming off multi-platinum efforts with Bowie, Madonna, and Duran Duran.

    So in order to keep Sheena's image current and hip with the likes of her contemporaries (keep in mind both Madonna and Cyndi Lauper were older than Sheena, which her image did not convey), Sheena decided to get a haircut with the lopsidedness of Lauper's one side short, and one side longer, and the greasiness of Madonna's, while throwing in a rat-tail. While the look was cool, it just wasn't Sheena and instead people either thought Sheena was hooked on heroin or putting on a front to be "hip". Either way, although she looked beautiful on her v appearances, she was barely recognizable and the confusion tended to alienate.

    The album itself was also a huge change. Besides taking a more decidedly groove record, with subtle r&b undertones. Gone were the ballads (a staple to her loyal A/C fan-base), and also gone was her high soprano belting, replaced with a newer, sexier, lower register, only explored on previous cuts Sugar Walls and Love & Affection. The new voice again, took some time getting used to. If you played her third album and this one back to back, it's hard to imagine only three years had passed and that it's the same singer. Impressive, but hardly the smart thing to do coming off your first platinum selling album.

    Then there was the single selection, which more than any other album, I think played a part in the radio failure of this album. Do It For Love was not best choice as a single. First, it came off as a second rate Madonna track, replete with the echo-effect of Into The Groove. Second, her vocal was again unrecognizable due to the decision to record these songs in her lower register.

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  2. Next they tried to recover her A/C fan base by releasing the Motown cover Jimmy Mack. While a highlight of the album, it again was such a mismatch to her image, it just left radio programmers scratching their heads. At that point magic Of Love was a contractual third single that certainly was not going to get the attention of label promotion from a label already struggling with gaining traction at radio for any of their artists.

    My choice of singles would have been to start off with "Don't break My Heart" I think it was the best pure pop song on the album, had the feel of fun of Dress You Up, and was certainly more immediate than Do It For Love. After that went top ten, which it would have, radio would have been open to "Can't Wait Till Tomorrow", which was sexy, cool, and current. Why it was wasted as a b-side on Do IT For Love is beyond me. It also fit the image she was portraying. At this point with radio familiar with our new Sheena, 'Do It For Love" would have been a good choice for a third single. My imagination takes me to a place where Sheena becomes Madonna and releases a fourth and fifth single both of which go top ten. The fourth would be the incredibly sexy "Kisses" (with a sexy new look from Sheena for the MTV World Premiered Video). Final single would be a more adventurous one "Young Lions".

    Overall, i remember this album and her voice being confusing to me at the time. But I have to say, over the years it has grown tremendously on me, becoming my third favorite Sheena album. I love the Phil Spector-meets-the -80's production, and I have a new appreciation for Sheena's bold artistic decision to explore her lower vocal range. I still get moments of awe-ness when I hear "Don't Turn Your Back" (did I mention a sixth single?) and relaize only two years earlier this same singler was singing Almost Over You. I love the sexy vocal turns and more soulful phrasing on "Can't Wait "Kisses" and "Lightning". Overall, a fun listen that seems to be enjoyed more over time.

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  3. Love this post. I remember the first time I saw Sheena sporting the "Do You" haircut and yelling at the TV: "What are you thinking?" Since hipness was never her selling point, she just came off as really desperate and trying to catch up, which was bizarre: She was at a point in her career when she didn't need to do that. And musically, she should have stayed with Greg Mathieson at least another album, as he was providing her with a sound that was very identifiable. BTW: I thought I was the only one who remembered that "Entertainment Tonight" segment on the making of the "Do It For You Love" video, and how it was supposed to involve jewel thieves and Sheena doing a bit of acting!

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