Belinda Carlisle: Heaven on earth LP 1987 glossy inner with Killer pictures + lyrics. MASTERPIECE. Check videos of “Heaven Is a Place on Earth”, “Circle in the Sand”, “I Feel Free” (Cream cover), “I Get Weak”, etc.

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Description

Heaven on Earth is the second solo album by Belinda Carlisle and her most successful to date. Released in late 1987 it featured three singles that made the Top 10 charts in the United States, including the #1 hit “Heaven Is a Place on Earth”.

Allmusic wrote “such memorable songs as “Heaven Is a Place on Earth,” “Should I Let You In?,” and “I Get Weak” show that the Angelino still had plenty of spirit”.
“Heaven on Earth” is Belinda Carlisles most successful studio album of her career, in terms of chart performance and copies sold. The album was certified 3 times Platinum in the United Kingdom (U.K.). “Heaven on Earth” was also certified Platinum in many other countries, among them the United States (U.S.), Canada, and Australia. The first single released, “Heaven Is a Place on Earth”, reached the number 1 position throughout the world making it a classic song. The second song released was “I Get Weak” written by the famous songwriter Diane Warren. “I Get Weak” reached the number #2 spot in the U.S. and garnered a top 10 placing in Canada and U.K. The third single, “Circle In The Sand”, reached the top 10 position in many countries among them U.K. (#4), U.S. (#7) and Canada (#5). From the fourth single on, the singles released from the album were different in different territories. The Cream cover “I Feel Free” was released only in the U.S., the song reached only #88 on the Billboard Hot 100. This was the final U.S. single from the album. In Europe, the song “World Without You” (another Diane Warren song) was released, where it reached the top 40. A fifth and final single in the U.K. was the ballad “Love Never Dies” which reached number #41.

Label: Virgin ‎– V 2496, Virgin ‎– V2496
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album + inner with Killer pictures + lyrics
Country: UK
Released: 1987

Track listing:
No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. “Heaven Is a Place on Earth” Rick Nowels, Ellen Shipley 4:06
2. “Circle in the Sand” Nowels, Shipley 4:26
3. “I Feel Free” Jack Bruce, Pete Brown 4:49
4. “Should I Let You In?” Charlotte Caffey, Mark Holden 4:16
5. “World Without You” Diane Warren 4:44
6. “I Get Weak” Warren 4:52
7. “We Can Change” Caffey, Nowels 3:45
8. “Fool for Love” Robbie Seidman 3:55
9. “Nobody Owns Me” Caffey, Holden, Clyde Lieberman 3:13
10. “Love Never Dies” Caffey, Tom Caffey, Nowels 5:13

Personnel:
Belinda Carlisle – vocals, guitars
John McCurry – electric guitars
Dan Huff – electric guitars (from Giant)
Charles Judge – keyboards, drum programming, acoustic piano
Rick Nowels – keyboards, drum programming, acoustic and electric guitars
Rhett Lawrence – Fairlight
John Pierce – bass
Kenny Aronoff – drums
Curly Smith – drums

Additional players:
Thomas Dolby – keyboards
Mike Landau – guitars
Jimmy Bralower – percussion
Paulinho DaCosta – percussion
Tim Pierce – guitar
George Black – guitar

Certifications
Country Certification Sales/ Shipments
Australia Platinum 70,000+
Canada 2× Platinum 200,000+
United Kingdom 3× Platinum 900,000+
United States Platinum 1,000,000+


Belinda Carlisle – Heaven on earth:

 

There’s little chance that anyone who has ever heard an 80s ‘best of’ compilation, or watched the likes of MTV, has ever escaped the epic sound of Belinda Carlisle. This 10 track album is home to 6 singles alone!

It’s no surprise to find that Heaven Is A Place On Earth is the opener, and it sets the stage perfectly for a complete 1980s belter of a 10 track album. Sleeve notes reveal that Belinda is joined on vocals by Michelle Phillips, formerly of 1960s group The Mamas And The Papas.

Next up is a beautifully mellow and catchy Circle In The Sand, which served as the third single from the album, giving Belinda another top ten UK hit. The pace and rich vocals from Belinda make this a wonderfully warm song.

I Feel Free is the third track, and it’s a cover of the Cream track. It opens with bass drums and a male vocalist. It’s harder than the other two tracks, and whilst it is familiar to me, it just feels a bit oddly placed here. This was released in the US only as the fourth single, but only reached #88 on the singles chart. The song ends with a fade, as horses gallop by.

Bass drum and acoustic guitar usher in Should I Let You In? before Belinda’s vocals arrive. This feels like a great companion to Heaven Is A Place On Earth, but was one of the few songs that wasn’t picked as a single. Belinda’s belting lead vocals, and the backing vocals, make perfect duelling partners against the lead guitars.

The brilliant 80s power ballad World Without You is up next, and this is a great little song that rarely gets a mention when you ask someone to name a Belinda hit. This song is really catchy, and has some great lighters-in-the-air-and-sway moments to it. Perfect. And unsurprisingly, Diane Warren was the writer.

Up next is another Diane Warren track – I Get Weak, and this was the second single from the album. It’s slower in pace than Heaven.. but this is a well written track, and the perfect follow-up. There’s some great vocals in here from Belinda (I always like her belting ‘I GET WEAK!’ moment part way through).

This is followed by We Can Change, and this is one of the four Rick Nowels tracks on this album. There’s some fantastically 80s guitar solo at about 2m 45s, followed by a key change with choir singing ‘oh! we can change‘, which is clearly evident.

Bursting in with guitars, is Fool For Love. This has a great 80s beat to it, accompanied with those roaring guitars throughout, but lyrically it’s definitely an album track.

Backed with what reminds me of the intro to Livin’ On A Prayer guitar, thrashing beats punctuate Belinda’s belting message that Nobody Owns Me. I would be very surprised if this song has never been covered. It’s a hard rock track, and certainly paired with the vocals and lyrics, this is a song not to be argued with. I think that this could probably have fared well as a single, but when 60% of the album was already a single, I guess they had to stop somewhere.

The album closes aptly with final single Love Never Dies. Whilst Belinda’s vocals here are flawless, the song is a bit weak. It’s slow, and lacks the energy of her previous songs. It stalled in the UK singles charts at #54, but thankfully by this point, she’d sold so many singles and albums, and a sell-out tour, that this wasn’t the end of her career.

The sleeve notes (which I always enjoy reading with CD and LP albums, and miss reading with modern digital music) reveal that Belinda is credited amongst the ‘Players’: ‘Belinda Carlisle: Air Guitar‘. I can imagine her rocking like hell.

This album deserves all five stars, twice over.

Rated 5 stars - Essential listening.
  • RATING: 5 / 5
  • 1987 UK CHART POSITION: #4, certified 3x Platinum.

Additional information

Weight 0.25 kg

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