Favorite Singers III: Sheena Easton
Dec. 30th, 2019 06:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stoutfellowMy first encounter with Sheena Easton came while watching the Bond flick "For Your Eyes Only"; she sang the title song. I didn't find it especially memorable, and I don't remember what prompted me to buy "The World of Sheena Easton", a greatest hits album.
What puts her on my list? Easy: her voice. Oh, my, that voice. This is, of course, highly subjective, but to my ears she has one of the most beautiful voices of any popular singer I've heard. Indeed, my biggest complaint about her is how rarely she sings songs worthy of that voice.
When I did the FB "Thirty Songs in Thirty Days" challenge, I put her up three times: for the exuberant "So Far, So Good", the lovely duet (with Kenny Rogers) "We've Got Tonight", and the anguished "I Wouldn't Beg for Water". Without sacrificing purity of tone - not far behind Patsy Cline, in that respect - she pumps powerful emotion into those songs. Mostly she sings love-cycle songs, but within that limited area she covers all the bases, and (mostly) beautifully. I will admit to disliking some of her songs - "Sugar Walls" for one, "Strut" for another - but I like most of them. In addition to the three I mentioned above, I would name the reproachful "You Could Have Been with Me", the frantic "Telefone", and the desperate justification song, "When He Shines". Those are the songs I like best, but the contrasting pair "Morning Train" and "Modern Girl" bear mention, and her cover of the classic "Jimmy Mack" is IMO better than the original by Martha and the Vandellas - and, coming from an old Motown fan like me, that's a major concession.
Oh, that voice...
What puts her on my list? Easy: her voice. Oh, my, that voice. This is, of course, highly subjective, but to my ears she has one of the most beautiful voices of any popular singer I've heard. Indeed, my biggest complaint about her is how rarely she sings songs worthy of that voice.
When I did the FB "Thirty Songs in Thirty Days" challenge, I put her up three times: for the exuberant "So Far, So Good", the lovely duet (with Kenny Rogers) "We've Got Tonight", and the anguished "I Wouldn't Beg for Water". Without sacrificing purity of tone - not far behind Patsy Cline, in that respect - she pumps powerful emotion into those songs. Mostly she sings love-cycle songs, but within that limited area she covers all the bases, and (mostly) beautifully. I will admit to disliking some of her songs - "Sugar Walls" for one, "Strut" for another - but I like most of them. In addition to the three I mentioned above, I would name the reproachful "You Could Have Been with Me", the frantic "Telefone", and the desperate justification song, "When He Shines". Those are the songs I like best, but the contrasting pair "Morning Train" and "Modern Girl" bear mention, and her cover of the classic "Jimmy Mack" is IMO better than the original by Martha and the Vandellas - and, coming from an old Motown fan like me, that's a major concession.
Oh, that voice...
