Belinda Carlisle – Classic or Dud?

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I can't believe this hasn't been done yet. I heartily affirm Belinda's solo greatness. Those who lament the reification of this SoCal punk haven't listened to their Go-Go's albums recently, whose songs (Charlotte Caffey's mostly) were a couple of degrees removed from Holly Knight-Desmond Child hackwork. The tension between the band's amateurish playing, Belinda's uncertain wobbly voice, and Jane Wieldin's weirdo instincts is certainly what kept them compelling on Beauty & The Beat and Talk Show. And so hiring Rick Nowels to write and produce your solo makeover looks like a refinement rather than an aberration.

And most of those solo singles are pretty great. "Heaven is a Place on Earth" conjures the empyrean climes with a finesse lost upon Bon Jovi and their "You Give Love A Bad Name." "Mad About You" is the Go-Go's "Lust To Love" as written for teens driving down the PCH. George Harrison injects one of his best solos into "Leave A Light On." And so on.

What say you?

Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 13:08 (twenty years ago)

"Summer Rain" = best power ballad EVAH. Full stop. Also, "Leave A Light On" = great power pop classic. "La Luna" delicate and lovely. "In Too Deep" elegant old person's ballad done right.

There was a thread on here a while back that said she never did a bad single. They're right.

edward o (edwardo), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 13:11 (twenty years ago)

Quite a few very good singles. Heartily agree.

I have an album of hers though & it's rubbish, in that totally to be expected appalingly ultra-commercial (in 1985) production and fillerific way so...

fandango (fandango), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 13:13 (twenty years ago)

"Circle in the sand" has at least two plus points. One, it is very very great. Two, it allows Belinda to dance in an endearingly retarded way in the video, if memory serves me right.

brittle-lemon (brittle-lemon), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 13:18 (twenty years ago)

Her records always sound like the aural equivalent of a diary kept by an awkward, ungainly, endearing Southern California teen.

Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 13:32 (twenty years ago)

The way her voice wobbles and wavers uncertainly fits with that perfectly AS WELL.

I am listening to "La Luna" RIGHT NOW and it is making me want to dance a bit in front of a mirror. In a pretty dress. But I don't have the hips. (for a dress, I have them for dancing to Belinda in front of a mirror though).

edward o (edwardo), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 13:36 (twenty years ago)

is belinda carlisle an american version of beverley craven? for some reason i always confuse the two.

ambrose (ambrose), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 13:40 (twenty years ago)

Alfred Soto I knew this was your thread before I even clicked on it.

B.Carlisle: Classic, but kind of boringly classic.

Haikunym (Haikunym), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 13:48 (twenty years ago)

Belinda is Stevie Nicks as a teen: horny, undersexed, a few years away from Jeanne Dixon astrological guides and wicca.

Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 13:51 (twenty years ago)

"Heaven is a Place on Earth" conjures the empyrean climes with a finesse lost upon Bon Jovi and their "You Give Love A Bad Name."

Orbital to thread! (This is intentional, yes?)

I lurv me some "Mad About You" (especially on PCH!), but I don't know that I'm ready to grant solo Belinda classic status. Too much, er, filler. And no extra points for the tasteful Playboy layout.

rogermexico (rogermexico), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 15:47 (twenty years ago)


I vividly remember standing on line at a Burger King in the mid90s, and the in-store television program "video show" was debuting Belinda's failed comeback single, something about love being a 'big scary animal'. i don't know why i held on to that memory. why do i feel like she was dating evan dando in the 90s?

PeopleFunnyBoy (PeopleFunnyBoy), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 15:52 (twenty years ago)

"Big Scary Animal" was/IS a classic.

David Merryweather Goes To Far (scarlet), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 16:38 (twenty years ago)

There was a Dando connection around that time - he wrote "I'll do it anyway" for her but she didn't use it so The Lemonheads recorded it and it ended up on Come on Feel...

Belinda is way classic. So many great, great singles.

wombatX (wombatX), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 02:30 (twenty years ago)

four years pass...

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/showbiz/2010/06/03/behar.belinda.carlisle.intv.cnn?hpt=C2

30 years!

Otherwise you're kinda being comp-lit in his racism. (kkvgz), Friday, 4 June 2010 16:51 (fifteen years ago)

three years pass...

I had no idea that this existed until today:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-0NwHBwNbQ

Belinda's voice is probably a bit too sweet for this song (and I doubt that anyone's voice is more suited to this than Marianne's anyway), but, fuck it, it's one of my very favourite singers ever singing one of my very favourite songs ever!

the vineyards where the grapes of corporate rock are stored (cryptosicko), Thursday, 10 October 2013 23:44 (twelve years ago)

I am listening to "La Luna" RIGHT NOW and it is making me want to dance a bit in front of a mirror. In a pretty dress. But I don't have the hips. (for a dress, I have them for dancing to Belinda in front of a mirror though).

― edward o (edwardo), Tuesday, August 2, 2005 9:36 AM

the objections to Drake from non-REAL HIPHOP people (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 10 October 2013 23:47 (twelve years ago)

three years pass...

this industry's gone mad: 5-disc 30th anniversary Heaven on Earth boxset?!

licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Friday, 22 September 2017 11:52 (eight years ago)

Two of the discs have 6/7 tracks!

The 13-CD Debbie Gibson retrospective for £87 looks comparatively good value.

Wag1 Shree Rajneesh (ShariVari), Friday, 22 September 2017 12:05 (eight years ago)

this is a great album! a long way from being the least deserving album to get the 5-disc box set anniversary edition treatment, anyway

The beautiful lift-off lid box contains four LPs, all in individual LP sleeves with inner bags. LP 1 features the original album, while LP 2 features the 7" single versions plus five of the singles performed live on Belinda's 1988 tour. LPs 3 and 4 feature the various 12" single mixes. The CD contains the original album, plus three brand new recordings! An acoustic rendition of "Heaven Is A Place On Earth" (also to be found on new album "Wilder Shores"), is followed by "Why", a new song co-written with fellow Go-Go Charlotte Caffey. The last new recording is Belinda's fabulous version of Leon Russell's "Superstar", a song best-known from The Carpenters' hit version in 1971. The booklet contains annotation based on interviews with Belinda, Rick Nowels, and songwriters Ellen Shipley and Diane Warren, along with all the lyrics, and photos from Belinda's own collection.

I'm probably satisfied with my existing 1-disc edition, but I would like to hear her version of Superstar

soref, Friday, 22 September 2017 12:34 (eight years ago)

this 30th anniversary box set edition of Popped In Souled Out includes 13 versions of Wishing I Was Lucky

https://www.udiscovermusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Wet-Wet-Wet-Deluxe-Edition.jpg

soref, Friday, 22 September 2017 13:07 (eight years ago)

ironically

soref, Friday, 22 September 2017 13:08 (eight years ago)

yeah I saw this a while ago. label barrel scraping for deluxe editions has reached baffling levels.

akm, Friday, 22 September 2017 17:29 (eight years ago)

"Circle in the Sand" is glorious Technicolor pop.

the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 22 September 2017 17:31 (eight years ago)

popped in souled out is a deathless classic tho

-_- (jim in vancouver), Friday, 22 September 2017 17:32 (eight years ago)

What the actual fuck!? That Wet Wet Wet reissue is a real, actual thing!?

more Allegro-like (Turrican), Friday, 22 September 2017 19:55 (eight years ago)

13 versions of wishing i was lucky is probably about how many i desire tbh

-_- (jim in vancouver), Friday, 22 September 2017 20:08 (eight years ago)

Enh, okay but she's no Karen Carpenter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12-0Xkn3WYg

"Celebration" encourages the listener to celebrate good times. (Dan Peterson), Friday, 22 September 2017 20:20 (eight years ago)

Belinda is Stevie Nicks as a teen: horny, undersexed, a few years away from Jeanne Dixon astrological guides and wicca.
― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, August 2, 2005 8:51 AM (twelve years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Also the most obvious 'Used To Be Cheerleader' lead singer EVAH.

to fly across the city and find Aerosmith's car (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, 22 September 2017 21:00 (eight years ago)

As for Belinda's solo stuff, there's one or two tracks that I like... 'Always Breaking My Heart' I've always thought was an underrated one, even though it was a big hit here.

Fucking hell, that Wet Wet Wet box set... I mean, is there any need!?

more Allegro-like (Turrican), Saturday, 23 September 2017 09:07 (eight years ago)

xp if that's meant literally it's way off the mark

Monster fatberg (Phil D.), Saturday, 23 September 2017 10:06 (eight years ago)

'In Too Deep' wasn't too bad either... I couldn't tell you anything she's done since '96, though.

more Allegro-like (Turrican), Saturday, 23 September 2017 10:34 (eight years ago)

She did a French chanson cover album a couple of years ago

licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Saturday, 23 September 2017 12:47 (eight years ago)

Do we have a thread about people doing that?

Merry-Go-Sorry Somehow (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 23 September 2017 13:40 (eight years ago)

Is it a... thing?

licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Saturday, 23 September 2017 13:54 (eight years ago)

Iggy Pop did a couple, Belinda did one, surely there must be others.

Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Saturday, 23 September 2017 14:21 (eight years ago)

ten months pass...

Reviving just because I woke up with "Leave a Light On" in my head and I'm rather happy about it.

Johnny Fever, Monday, 20 August 2018 12:01 (seven years ago)

You looked over at the nightstand and saw you'd left the lamp on overnight.

morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 20 August 2018 12:07 (seven years ago)

Oh, huh...she turned 60 last Friday. One day younger than Madonna!

Johnny Fever, Monday, 20 August 2018 12:58 (seven years ago)

seven years pass...

teenage me, thinking: “i guess that’s an expression - ‘in heaven, love comes first’? never heard anybody say that… like, ahead of what? baseball? huh well i guess i have a lot to learn”

Tracer Hand, Sunday, 11 January 2026 12:41 (one month ago)


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