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Sacred Heart by: Shakespear's Sister

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Publisher: London
Release date: 1st May, 1992
Media: Audio CD

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Track List

• Heroine
• Run Silent Run Deep
• Dirty Mind
• Sacred Heart
• Heaven In Your Arms
• Twist The Knife
• You're History
• Break My Heart
• Red Rocket
• Electric Moon
• Primitive Love
• Could You Be Loved
• You Made Me Come To This

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Average rating -

Rating: - "And in these prison walls I see an open door...."

Siobhan Fahey and Marcella Detroit sing
their songs in a brilliant way and in a
nice harmony. It is a mixture of ballads
and electro-dark-pop. The highlights on this
album are "Run silent", "Dirty mind",
"Sacred heart", "Could you be loved?" and
"You made me come to this". All song are
good and represent their individual touch
and lyrics. Two sympathic ladies.
A nice comeback for Siobhan after Bananarama.

Rating: - Brilliant!

Sacred Heart was Shakespears Sister's debut album released in October 1988. On it's release, it did not fair well in the charts, however, after the release of the successful 'You're History' it did accordingly rise for a worthy period. Writing began at the end of 1987 when Siobhan was planning to leave Bananarama. Richard Feldman began writing with Siobhan and it was he who introduced Siobhan to Marcella of whom he was also a friend. Initially, Marcella was not part of the band but after persuation by Dave Stewart the pair, with the help of Feldman formed Shakespear's Sister.

Dave Stewarts involvement in the debut album is hidden in order for it to look like Siobhan was doing it without her husband's influence, however much speculation oversaw this. The first single released from the album was a double a-sided 'Heroine' and 'Break My Heart' but, it was not a success. After You're History, two other singles were released Dirty Mind and Run Silent - neither were a success.

Generally, all tracks have that classic 80's pop sound although later You're History was often being referred to as the flip-side to Stay. However, it would seem that both fans and critics take a dislike the the Bob Marley cover 'Could You Be Loved?' and in an interview in 1989 Siobhan also made clear she didn't like the track either "...It wasn't intended to be on the record...much as it's a beautiful song and I love the sentiment, I felt that it was an expression of Bob Marley's spirit and not my own, and that it didn't belong on the album." But, as Siobhan revealed, it was to be used by the Record Company as a 'back-up' or 'safety net' incase any of the singles failed, though some did (Run Silent & Dirty Mind) Siobhan maintained that she wouldn't never promote it and so it wasn't released as a single. Interestingly, a slighly different version of 'Could You Be Loved' features on the US version of the album with an additional verse sung. The CD version features the bonus track 'You Made Me Come To This' which was used as a b-side for some single releases.

A 'Sacred Heart' video was also produced which included scenes from the bands visit to Russia, where they made their debut live performance performing to over 10,000. Two tracks from this performance were included as B-sides on You're History and on a Promo tape 'The History of Shakespears Sister' which included a small biography booklet which claimed "the album is a collection of material diverse in influence, but united in quality and originality". A Promo video also including these two performances and other material from the bands visit to Russia was issued. Another promo CD 'Sacred Heart Sampled' was also issued and features You're History, Run Silent, Primitive Love and Sacred Heart and comes with a picture sleeve (see left).

A large number of remixes for several of the tracks were made, which featured on both single releases at the time and those issued from 1991-1993. A Live Version of Dirty Mind is included on the 'My 16th Apology' EP (Feb 1993) of which was performed during the 1992 Summer Tour. Of course, the song with the largest number of remixes is 'You're History', however 'Dirty Mind' comes a close second. A 1990 Extented Version of this song was issued (and promo video made) but did not enjoy any success. A number of promo's also feature several remixes ie: the US 12" Break My Heart which includes five versions of this song including an instrumental version.

Sacred Heart is distinctly different from Hormonally Yours and anyone who got to know about Shakespears Sister through Hormonally Yours may not automatically like Sacred Heart. Sacred Heart still very much encompuses that 80s sound and overall is much more Siobhan-dominated than Hormonally Yours (the initial arrangement was that it was a solo project). Never-the-less, any die-hard Siobhan fan will like the album. The best tracks were probably those issued as singles: You're History, Run Silent, Dirty Mind. Personally, I think the Bob Marley Could You Be Loved cover is great and would have made a good single. In addition, You Made Me Come To This is also a great track.

If you want to obtain this album it is generally easily obtained from second-hand dealers or in larger town record stores although less easy to obtain than Hormonally Yours as it has now been deleted by Warner (who now own London Records). The video however, is far rarer, and, when it does turn up can be quite expensive. The promo tapes mentioned are also very rare as is the 12" format, which comes in a gatefold cover. The US sleeve and picture disk (CD) are also slightly different from those of the UK version - the sleeve features the track times on the back sleeve and the inner pictures are in black and white; the CD features a picture of Siobhan (similar to that of the album sleeve) and the SS logo. Album Picture Credit: Background artwork is taken from the CD booklet to Sacred Heart. Artist - unkown.

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