Search - Sheena Easton :: Lover in Me

Confession Of A Traitor (or Trader)...

Armando M. Mesa | Chandler, AZ | 08/04/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I regret having traded in this c.d years ago at a used c.d. shop. But first, listen to the reasoning: It was the late 80's and pop, dance- R & B music was starting to lose it's shine and become stale; There was a multitude of Paula Abdul, Janet Jackson, Madonna commercialized wannabes. By no means was Sheena Easton a novice singer; She was in the music business with genuine talent long before Paula or Madonna. Also, The Lover in Me was right before the major hip-hop,alternative,grunge, techno, whatever movement. There were so many Paula Abdul, Janet Jackson clones that even a genuine artist like Easton would get lost in the shuffle ! I quickly grew tired of the Lover In Me (despite being an Angela Winbush and Prince fan). The right artist, song material, producers and writers were at hand (Winbush, Baby Face, and Prince)---It was just the wrong timing for some listeners who were already burnt out by the sugar flavored synthesized dance pop music of the 80's...Is this c.d. worth 5 hills of beans ? In retrospect, YES---Especially when our brains, eyes, ears, are bombarded with the new trend of repetitive teeny bopper boy bands and sugar coated risque teen "divas" (loosely used term nowadays). It's artists like Sheena Easton who could probably show them how it's really done !Songs like 101, Fire and Rain, No Deposit, No Return, and Cool were smoldering off of this project with intense atristry and sensuality !"

First-Rate 'Lover'

Chris S. | atlanta, ga United States | 08/16/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Possessed of one of the more glorious voices in pop music during the '80s, Sheena Easton was coming off the disappointment of her underwhelming, though musically solid,DO YOU album(as well as lack of release in the states of her NO SOUND BUT A HEART project) when she signed with a new label and released what remains her creative benchmark, THE LOVER IN ME. Beautifully melding pop, R&B, funk, and adult contemporary, it remains her most musically diverse and fully realized project thirteen years later. L.A. and Babyface, in the middle of one of their most successful periods, produced half the album, chief among those tracks being the title cut, as well as 'Days Like This' and 'No Deposit,No Return'. Angela Winbush provides the utterly beautiful 'Without You', as well as one of Easton's most R&B-oriented tracks ever in 'Fire And Rain'. The standout though is the Prince-produced '101', a stunning pop-funk workout that exquisitely showcases Easton's vocal range and remains a creative watermark in her career--it should have been a huge hit. Unfortunately, her record label was MCA, which in case you don't know, ruins careers(see the equally career-maligned Belinda Carlisle and Pebbles for further proof). This should have been a massive crossover album, rather than the mild success it ended up being."

For the Sheena Easton lover in all of us ...

W. Wilkinson | Colonie, NY United States | 02/19/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

""The Lover in Me" was released in December of 1988, and for a minute there it looked as if the 2nd phase of Sheena Easton's career was going to bear fruit. It was a good idea that didn't really pan out.



In the last three years or so of the 1980s, "R&B" music was becoming less and less obscure, and was being thrust into the mainstream pop scene. After 7 generic pop albums, the final 2, of which, were poorly received, Sheena signed with a new label, in this case MCA, and sexed up her image and sound. "The Lover in Me" features that "new" R&B sound. Unfortunately, however, it was widely considered contrivance, as Sheena was merely jumping onto a bandwagon (which isn't her fault because she had NO control over her career at this point).



Contrivance or not, many of the songs are very glossy, exquisitely produced, and are a lot of fun. There were 4 singles: "The Lover in Me," "Days Like This," "101," (written by Prince) and "No Deposit, No Return." Sadly, "The Lover in Me" was the only hit, and it charted all the way up at #2 pop. "Days Like This" and "101" were hits on the R&B chart, but "No Deposit, No Return" was dead on arrival.



As usual, we get the standard Sheena Easton fare, from the danceable and catchy "If it's Meant to Last," to the adult-contemporary-friendly "Without You," to the tender ballads "Follow My Rainbow" and the sexy "Fire and Rain." Sex is a big key with this album. Sheena's vocals were always sleek and seductive, and this time the seductiveness is shoved right out front for all the world to witness (and if you look at the cover of the album you'll see exactly what I mean: the "hot" late 80s perm, the "hot" red dress, the "hot" red lips, the "hot" cleavage).



As usual, my favorite song is one of the singles that didn't chart very high, or in this case not at all, the Price-penned "101." This single song is everything Sheena had solidified throught the 1980s; it has a terrific, ominous beat; interesting, thoughtful, pondering lyrics; and, of course, Sheena's oustanding vocal, with sex thrown in for good measure. In this song, Sheena sings mostly in her lower-register, and this is something we don't hear very often.



Perhaps unfortunately, this album is NOT a reissue (because Sheena had signed with a different label, remember), so that means we don't get any bonus-previously-unreleased songs. It's interesting to wonder what else Sheena and the moneymakers at MCA might've come up with.



By the way, I mention a "2nd phase" in Sheena's career. This album was the first of that phase, and 1991's "What Comes Naturally" was the second."