FEATURE:
I Feel Free
Celebrating Belinda Carlisle's Heaven on Earth at Thirty-Five
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AN album…
IN THIS PHOTO: Belinda Carlisle in 2021/PHOTO CREDIT: Nick Spanos
that fared better in the U.K. than the U.S., Belinda Carlisle’s second solo album, Heaven on Earth, is one packed with hits and great deeper cuts! The Go-Go’s’ lead entered the solo market with 1986’s Belinda. It is a great album that spawned hits like Mad About You and I Feel the Magic. Her third studio album, Runaway Horses, came out in 1989. Another astonishing album, big hits like Leave a Light On, Summer Rain and (We Want) The Same Thing are classics. Between those two very different albums is the amazing Heaven on Earth. One of my most treasured memories of childhood is hearing Heaven Is a Place on Earth for the first time. Something about it instantly resonated. An addictive and phenomenal song, it was the first song from the album. Released in 1987, it was a number one hit. In fact, like many awesome albums, Heaven on Earth was a commercial success but has not got too much press from critics. Not that many retrospective reviews highlighting how strong it is. Whilst it may be front-loaded, the second side boasts more than enough to sustain interest. It is such a confident and accomplished album. I think there was a lot of snobbery and expectation regarding Belinda Carlisle after she went solo. The Go-Go’s had that harder and cooler edge. Maybe feeling her solo material was more mainstream and sweeter – without the rawness and attitude -, they failed to realise she was not trying to continue where The Go-Go’s left off. There is plenty of depth and nuance through Heaven on Earth.
The album was released on 5th October, 1987. I wanted t mark thirty-five years of a stunning album. There was a thirtieth anniversary edition. Carlisle toured Heaven on Earth in 2017. It was a celebration of a classic. It is no surprise that the anniversary edition sold out. There is no thirty-fifth anniversary edition, so try and get a copy on vinyl or CD if you can now. Stream the album if not. Songs from Heaven on Earth like Heaven Is a Place on Earth, I Get Weak, Circle in the Sand and I Feel Free have translated to today and I think still feel fresh. Not overly-dated and of its time, you still hear these songs played on the radio now. In terms of contemporary Carlisle, there is her eighth studio album, Wilder Shores, that came out in 2017. The Go-Go's documentary came out in 2020, and the classic and legendary band did put out new music. They were also inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. I feel 1987’s Heaven on Earth is a brilliant album that deserves a lot of love on its anniversary on 5th October. When Classic Pop were running through Belinda Carlisle discography back in 2020, they highlighted the merits and wonders of her second studio L.P. Heaven on Earth is an undeniable smash:
“If Carlisle’s debut solo album was characterised with a tentative uncertainty about its musical direction, the 1987 follow-up was its mirror image.
Everything about Heaven On Earth oozes confidence. The album is front-loaded with killer tracks but even lesser cuts mark Carlisle out as a force to be reckoned with.
Near-title track Heaven Is A Place On Earth was an irresistible call to arms and topped the charts in the UK and US. Key to the success of the new album were the songwriting chops of Rick Nowels whose gutsy pop-rockers wrung every last drop of emotion out of Carlisle, who was now making the most of her sexy vibrato. Nowels explained: “Since Belinda was not a writer, it was my responsibility to come up with the songs. I asked my friend Ellen Shipley to fly out from Brooklyn to help me write. In the first week we wrote Heaven… and Circle In The Sand. I was looking for a Go-Go’s beat with an anthemic inspirational lyric.”
Carlisle added: “Rick and Ellen knew I didn’t like lyrics that were too literal, they knew I liked lyrics that were more romantic and poetic.”
More than 200 takes were needed to nail Heaven Is A Place On Earth’s master vocal and Nowels also came up with the masterstroke of changing the verses from minor to major key – an 80s anthem was born. Michelle Phillips from The Mamas And The Papas is among the backing vocalists.
The ethereal Circle In The Sand, with an electric sitar chiming away in the background and Thomas Dolby on keyboards, is further proof of this new-found thoroughgoing confidence.
And as if to fully assert her rock credentials, the choice of covering Cream’s iconic I Feel Free feels perfect. The guitars don’t crunch quite as hard as Clapton’s and his solo is replaced by a spooky sci-fi synth but Carlisle sounds feisty here; it’s a nod to rock’s past and a simultaneous jump into the future.
Go-to hit-maker for the stars Dianne Warren serves up a typically lovelorn ballad (World Without You), which smoothes off Carlisle’s rough edges and the more engaging I Get Weak features the singer’s vibrato in full effect.
By now, Nowels had hit upon a winning formula; We Can Change is a tick-box of Carlisle song tricks; the instantly memorable chorus, a wibbly guitar solo and, most pertinently, a key change in the final third to raise the emotional intensity up another notch.
Fool For Love tips its hat to Bruce Springsteen’s Dancing In The Dark on a Bon Jovi-esque chugger but there’s a winning gear change for the most aggressive cut on the album, the punky Nobody Owns Me. It’s another example of Belinda asserting her new-found independence – almost. “Nobody owns me, nobody but you.” That kicker muddies the waters somewhat.
The rather predictable lighters-in-the-air anthem Love Never Dies closes an album which was already making all the right noises, but MCA weren’t taking any chances.
Heaven On Earth remains Belinda’s biggest seller of her career; a multi-platinum behemoth. Six singles were culled from the album, the first three – Heaven…, I Get Weak and Circle In The Sand – were Top 10 hits in multiple territories. Belinda had arrived”.
In 2017, this interview with Belinda Carlisle looked back at her illustrious and successful career thirty years after the release of Heaven on Earth. With successful singles from the album and a big and celebratory thirtieth anniversary tour completed, you cannot doubt the popularity and place this album has! Carlisle was asked about the hectic period in 1987 and all the success she accrued. It must have been such a strange, happy, and also tiring period for her:
“Heaven is a Place on Earth was the first of her 10 top-20 solo UK hits. How does Belinda view that whole period of mega-success now? It must have been mad busy.
“Well, it went really fast, and once you’re on that treadmill … I was pretty much on it until age 40, with an album out every two years. That’s what record companies did to you back then. It was pretty much non-stop. You go to the studio, you make an album, you do press, you go on tour, then back to the studio … That’s how it was for me for the period from the first album, my Belinda album, through to Live Your Life Be Free … pretty much.”
I am going to wrap it up now. I wanted to nod to a magnificent album that ranks alongside the best of the late-1980s. I hope that we hear more from Belinda Carlisle and The Go-Go’s. She is one of the most important artists in the world. A tremendous and influential singer who has released some true diamonds through her career, maybe her strongest solo outing was 1987’s Heaven on Earth. Whilst I feel Runaway Horses comes close, there does tend to be more critical acclaim for Heaven on Earth. Its semi-title track is a big reason why the album sold so well. It is one of those songs that, once heard, imbeds itself in the mind and will not shake. Not that you would want it to! Maybe you have not heard Heaven on Earth or know too much about Belinda Carlisle. I would definitely urge you to listen to her second solo studio album. Instantly uplifting and incredible, the non-hits have strength and their place. Heaven on Earth has been certified triple Platinum in the United Kingdom and Platinum in many countries, including the United States. That does not surprise me at all. Bursting at the seams with quality music, this remarkable album…
STILL sounds great today.