Sheena Easton bounced back from her unattractive 1987 split from EMI with her most decidedly urban set to date.
Enlisting the help of R&B production heavyweights L.A.
Reid and Babyface -- as well as Angela Winbush, Jellybean and Prince, she came out with a youthful and trend-savvy offering that has some fun moments, but overall is too formulaic to really say much.
The snazzy L.A.
and Babyface number "The Lover in Me" (number two pop, number five R&B) is one of the album's most solid, memorable moments, but it soon becomes hard to distinguish from "Days Like This," "No Deposit, No Return" and "One Love" -- three other selections produced by the duo.
Easton was apparently becoming more of a producer's puppet than she planned early in her career, as further evidenced by the synthetic "Without You," which is too low in the singer's range to be effective to start with.
Luckily, a few saving moments do surface: the Winbush-produced "Fire and Rain," a calming quiet storm ballad that allows Easton to showcase a more vulnerable side of her voice; and the Prince-penned "101," a subtly haunting, understated dance romp with what is one of the singer's most passionate, revealing performances on record.
Otherwise, this is a fun record, but a bit too monotonous.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | No Deposit, No ReturnBabyface, Antonio "L.A." Reid, Kayo Roberson, Daryl Simmons | Sheena Easton | Play | 05:55 | 13 MB | 38 MB |
| 2 | The Lover in MeBabyface, Antonio "L.A." Reid, Daryl Simmons | Sheena Easton | Play | 05:01 | 11 MB | 33 MB |
| 3 | Follow My RainbowBabyface | Sheena Easton | Play | 04:56 | 11 MB | 32 MB |
| 4 | Without YouAngela Winbush | Sheena Easton | Play | 05:37 | 12 MB | 37 MB |
| 5 | If It's Meant to LastDanny Sembello, Allee Willis | Sheena Easton | Play | 04:08 | 9 MB | 28 MB |
| 6 | Days Like ThisBabyface, Antonio "L.A." Reid, Daryl Simmons | Sheena Easton | Play | 05:08 | 11 MB | 34 MB |
| 7 | One LoveAl Anderson, Gary Nicholson, Kimmie Rhodes | Sheena Easton | Play | 04:55 | 11 MB | 33 MB |
| 8 | 101Joey Coco | Sheena Easton | Play | 04:07 | 9 MB | 25 MB |
| 9 | Cool LoveJoey Coco | Sheena Easton | Play | 04:04 | 9 MB | 25 MB |
| 10 | Fire and RainAngela Winbush | Sheena Easton | Play | 05:57 | 13 MB | 38 MB |
| 49 mins | 114 MB | |||||
| 49 mins | 327 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Al Anderson | Composer |
| 2 | Babyface | Composer |
| 3 | Joey Coco | Composer |
| 4 | Sheena Easton | Primary Artist |
| 5 | Gary Nicholson | Composer |
| 6 | Antonio "L.A." Reid | Composer |
| 7 | Kimmie Rhodes | Composer |
| 8 | Kayo Roberson | Composer |
| 9 | Danny Sembello | Composer |
| 10 | Daryl Simmons | Composer |
| 11 | Allee Willis | Composer |
| 12 | Angela Winbush | Composer |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |