Sheena Easton ‘A Private Heaven (Deluxe Edition)’ review: ‘Heaven indeed’
The Scottish singer's 1984 record has been remastered by Cherry Pop and unleashed with 12 previously unreleased tracks.
By Will Stroude
Words: Simon Button; Image: Supplied
When Kathy Burke’s Linda La Hughes revealed on Gimme Gimme Gimme that her sister was none other than actress, singer and gay icon Sugar Walls, only die-hard Sheena Easton fans would have made the connection between the Scots superstar and the fictional character played to catty perfection by Elaine Lordan.
That’s because Sheena’s filthy song ‘Sugar Walls’ (which came out in 1984, 15 years before Jonathan Harvey’s equally filthy sitcom hit the airwaves) only made it to a measly number 95 in the UK and the accompanying A Private Heaven album didn’t chart at all.
In America it was a very different story. ‘Sugar Walls’ was a top ten smash in the singer’s adopted homeland (she relocated there in the early ’80s) and A Private Heaven was her biggest Stateside seller, shifting more than a million copies and reinventing Sheena as a sultry siren with a tougher sound and lyrics to match.
Gone was the girl whose baby took the morning train, worked from nine to five, then came home again. Opening track ‘Strut’ set the tone as Easton hit back at a man who wanted her to strut, pout and put it out – declaring ‘I won’t be your baby doll’ as she headed for the door.
The nation’s sweetheart had become a take-no-prisoners sex symbol and Britain was having none of it. But our loss was America’s gain as her US career flourished, leading to collaborations with Nile Rodgers, duets with Prince, Vegas residencies and Broadway musicals.
Listening to Cherry Pop’s fantastic reissue of A Private Heaven now, it’s baffling to think how spectacularly it flopped over here on its original release. This 2CD set gives the album its due, with 12-inch remixes, B-sides, studio sessions, and an informative essay by former Attitude editor Adam Mattera.
There are also instrumental mixes to sing along to, though not for ‘Sugar Walls’. That’s probably just as well because it’s an ode to vaginal stimulation that earned Sheena a place on the so-called Filthy Fifteen list – a cautionary countdown of supposedly objectionable songs drawn up by the Parents Music Resource Center that also included Madonna’s ‘Dress You Up’ and Prince’s ‘Darling Nikki’.
Madonna would go on to do her own variation on the female arousal theme with ‘Where Life Begins’ on her Erotica long-player and Prince later teamed with Sheena on ‘U Got The Look’. Or I should say teamed with her again, since the Purple One penned ‘Sugar Walls’ under the pseudonym Alexander Nevermind.
You can just imagine him rubbing his hands in glee over the controversy the song caused. And as one of those die-hard Easton fans, I’m rubbing my hands in glee over Cherry Pop’s remastering of A Private Heaven.
Songs like ‘Strut’ and ‘Swear’ have never sounded crisper, ballads like ‘Hard To Say It’s Over’ and ‘All By Myself’ have never reverberated with such passion, the car horns on ‘Back In The City’ have never honked to realistically and the synth drums on ‘Sugar Walls’ have never thudded so strongly. Heaven indeed.
Rating: 5/5
A Private Heaven: Deluxe Edition is out now