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Rating: The Go-Go's were a very turbulent experience in full respect of the "sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll" triad. Belinda Carlisle, negatively influenced by a difficult family and personal history, suffered multiple times from the effects of a handful of years of dissolute living, always on the edge of the abyss. With the end of the band in 1985, following a series of unproductive sessions for the fourth album, Carlisle, along with faithful guitarist Charlotte Caffey, salvaged some pieces from the aborted group album to set the wheels in motion for her solo debut.
"Belinda" was released in 1986, the black year of pop-rock in which some of the most terrifying and terrible LPs ever produced were released, loaded with electronic drums and plastic productions. Compared to the standards of the era, this work is definitely lighter in arrangements and production, with the intent to recover a fresh Motown-flavored sound in stark contrast to the surf-punk-rock that had distinguished the Go-Go's in their career. This is evident in the single "I Feel the Magic", a perfect example of the '60's style of female black music, a fresh song highlighted by Carlisle's always slightly edgy voice. A Motown recovery is "Band of Gold" made famous by Freda Payne in 1970, and Carlisle's version is softer, although it doesn't significantly impact the overall effect of the album. Much better with the hit single "Mad About You" featuring Andy Taylor on guitar, or the powerful track of the album, "Since You've Gone", written with Fleetwood Mac's Lindsey Buckingham. "Belinda" is a light and enjoyable work but with the flaw of perhaps being not very spontaneous, the live album included in the double reissue shows a Carlisle more at ease live than in the studio, especially due to a voice that tends towards the gritty and which will be appreciated by George Harrison, with whom she will collaborate on "Runaway Horses" in 1989.
With the following works, the charts will be conquered by FM tracks in pure late '80s style, powerful and evocative with quick catchy choruses. Honest works, pop works with flashes of class like "Shades of Michelangelo" (beautiful) and "California" in a duet with Brian Wilson, plus other lesser-known compositions that made Belinda Carlisle a distinctly atypical icon of the overseas pop music scene.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Mad About You (03:37)
I'm mad about you
You're mad about me babe
Couple of fools run wild aren't we
Pushing the day into the nighttime
Somewhere between the two
We start to see
Mad about you (Mad about you)
Lost in your eyes (Reason aside)
Mad about love (Mad about you)
You and I
Something 'bout you
Right here beside me
Touches the touched part of me like I can't believe
Pushing the night into the daytime
Watching the sky's first light
While the city sleeps
02 Gotta Get to You (04:06)
Here I go again
Looking to you, you pass me by
Go home and pretend
There's no one else just you and I
To be holding you
Touching you
'Cause I'm dreaming about you
But dreams aren't enough
Gotta get to you
Catch your eye
Gotta get to you
If only I could tell you why
I gotta get to you
Make you see
gotta get to you
If only you'd come 'round to me
See you everyday
You smile my way, light sparks inside
I need the words to say
To open up this heart of mine
Here we go again
So close to you, the moment's now
The chance is wasted when
I wait too long and you slip out
05 Shot in the Dark (03:24)
It's a shot in the dark
But baby I'd like the chance
Fate ain't working
So I'm taking it into my hands
No sad songs not tonight
No slow songs not tonight
It's a shot in the dark
And a chance at real romance
Who'd ever believe
I'd ever see the edge of your tan
But here in the moonlight
Looks like summer is past
You can take me, I'm yours tonight
Make me yours tonight
It's a shot in the dark
And a chance at real romance
Real romance with you, I'd like to see
Romance with you I'd like to feel
Romance with you I'd like to be
The one who does to you what it is you do to me
Shot in the dark and baby I'd like the chance
Fate ain't working so I'm taking it into my hands
Your eyes shine tonight like the first time I saw you dance
I'm gonna get to know you any way that I can
I ain't waiting not tonight
No waiting...
Shot in the dark and a chance at real romance
06 I Need a Disguise (03:59)
There's a mask on the wall
That I should be wearing
To keep you from seeing
How I'm really feeling
I'd like to be cool
And tell you goodbye
I've been such a fool
And now it's written all over my face
That I'm about to cry
I need a disguise
To hide my love
I need a disguise
You've seen too much
I fall apart when you touch me
With your eyes
I need a disguise
Oooh baby
I need to get wise
Oooh baby
I know just where you're going
And I know who you'll be seeing
If I swallow all my pride
There'll be nothing left of me
I'm so confused
It can't be denied (I think you better run now)
Either way I lose
And it's written all over my face
How I hurt inside
I need a disguise
To hide my love
I need a disguise
You've seen too much
I fall apart when you touch me
With your eyes
I need a disguise
Oooh baby
I need to get wise
Oooh baby
07 Stuff and Nonsense (04:34)
Disobey my own decisions
I deserve all your suspicions
First it's yes and then it's no
I dilly dally down to you, oh
But I've got no secrets that I battle in my sleep
I won't make promises to you that I can't keep
And you know that I love you
Here and now not forever
I can give you the present
I don't know about the future
That's all stuff and nonsense
I once lived for the future
Everyday was one day closer
Greener on the other side
Yes I believe before I met you
I assumed that your love was brighter than the stars in my eyes
Now I know how and when I know where and why
And you know that I love you
Here and now not forever
I can give you the present
I don't know about the future
That's all stuff and nonsense
09 Band of Gold (03:48)
Now that you're gone, all that's left is a band of gold
All that's left of the dreams I hold, a band of gold
And the memories of what love could be
If you were still here with me
You took me from the shelter of my mother
I had never known or loved any other
We kissed after taking vows
But that night on our honeymoon
We stayed in separate rooms
I wait in the darkness of my lonely room
Filled with sadness, filled with gloom, hoping soon
That you'll walk back through that door
And love me like you tried before
Now you've been gone, all that's left is a band of gold
All that's left of the dreams I hold, a band of gold
And the memories of what love could be
If you were still here with me
(Memories of what love could be)
(If you were still here with me)
Don't you know that I wait in the darkness of my lonely room
Filled with sadness, filled with gloom, hoping soon
That you'll walk back through that door
And love me like you tried before
Since you've been gone, all that's left is a band of gold
All that's left of the dreams I hold, a band of gold
And the memories of what love could be
If you were still here with me
I wait in the darkness of my lonely room
Filled with sadness, filled with gloom, hoping soon
That you'll walk back through that door
And love me like you tried before
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