Belinda Carlisle
Access All Areas

Recently diving into the discography of the Go-Go's, it felt natural to delve into Carlisle’s solo career, which, to be completely honest, I had always snubbed until I learned that George Harrison lent his slide guitar to Belinda on "Runaway Horses" from 1989. Knowing George's difficult tastes and his tendency to be sparing with his collaborations, I took the plunge and frankly changed my mind. The 1989 album is Carlisle's best solo album, filled with beautiful pop-rock songs played by a highly respectable band, but it's live where the Californian recovers her most genuinely rock essence and truly shines. This live performance from '90, part of the "Access All Areas" series, captures a snapshot of Birmingham from the gritty tour supporting the album; a perfect setlist of 17 tracks that naturally draw mainly from "Runaway Horses" and the previous album "Heaven on Earth" from 1987, home to the megahit "Heaven is a Place on Earth”, with only "Mad About You" from "Belinda" and two Go-Go's tracks as the first encore, the two must-hears "Our Lips Are Sealed” and "We Got the Beat" played slightly too heavily by the band. Carlisle has always had an impressive voice, raspy capable of delivering sharp, quick cuts alternated with warmer and more soothing moments. It's precisely her slightly gritty voice that made the Go-Go's an extremely effective punk rock band, aside from a rhythm section that paired a very pragmatic Gina Schock with a bass player as melodic as Kathy Valentine. As a solo artist, often during the "magical" '80s, her voice was more polished and pop, but live, it regains its original colors and this fine live performance proves it—a concert with light content, it's true, but performed masterfully and rich with excellent sounds supporting authentic chart-busting hits like "Leave a Light On” (unfortunately, George Harrison's original solo is unreplicable by anyone), the notable and hypnotic "Circle in the Sand,” the purely rock "Nobody Owns Me,” and more intimate moments with "Vision of You,” "La Luna,” and the finale with the beautiful, I’ll go out on a limb here but it’s true, "Shades of Michelangelo” written with former Go-Go's Charlotte Caffey.

A fine live album that also includes the concert DVD, bringing Carlisle back to her natural environment, alternating punk bursts with microphone in hand, barefoot surf dances, and plenty of energy without ever a dip in performance quality. Nothing to say, an impeccable professional of a type now practically vanished.