''A Woman & a Man'' is the sixth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by American singer

Belinda Carlisle Belinda Jo Carlisle ( ; born August 17, 1958) is an American singer. She gained fame as the lead vocalist of the Go-Go's, the most successful all-female rock band of all time, and went on to have a prolific career as a solo artist. Raised in ...

, released in the United Kingdom on September 23, 1996, by

Chrysalis Records Chrysalis Records () is a British record label that was founded in 1968. The name is both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders' names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis. It started as the Ellis-Wright Ag ...

(then part of the

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

Group, like Carlisle's former label

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldwid ...

). The album contains songs written by

Rick Nowels Richard Wright Nowels Jr. is an American songwriter, record producer, multi-instrumentalist and arranger. He has co-written and co-produced over 90 hit singles with multiple artists Maria Vidal Maria Elena Vidal (born August 1, 1960) is an American singer songwriter. She is known for her hit single "Body Rock", which reached No. 8 on the US Dance Charts, No. 48 on the Hot 100, No. 5 on the Springbok Charts in South Africa, and No. 11 i ...

, Ellen Shipley,

Charlotte Caffey Charlotte Irene Caffey (born October 21, 1953) is an American guitarist, best known for her work in the rock band the Go-Go's in the 1980s, including writing "We Got the Beat". Career Caffey began her musical career playing bass guitar in the ...

Neil Finn Neil Mullane Finn (born 27 May 1958) is a New Zealand singer-songwriter and musician who is known for being a member of Crowded House, Split Enz (which he co-fronted with brother Tim), and Fleetwood Mac. Finn rose to prominence in the late ...

and

Roxette Roxette was a Swedish pop rock duo, consisting of Marie Fredriksson (vocals and keyboards) and Per Gessle (vocals and guitar). Formed in 1986, the duo became an international act in the late 1980s, when they released their breakthrough second a ...

co-founder

Per Gessle Per Håkan Gessle (; born 12 January 1959) is a Swedish singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known as the male half and primary songwriter of the Swedish pop rock duo Roxette, which he formed with Marie Fredriksson in 1986 and which was d ...

who also produced one of the tracks. It was released in the United States in 1997 (see

1997 in music This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1997. Specific locations * 1997 in British music * 1997 in Norwegian music Specific genres * 1997 in classical music * 1997 in country music * 1997 in heavy metal music * ...

) on the

Ark 21 Records Ark 21 Records was a record label established by Miles & Stewart Copeland in 1997, based in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, California, United States. Artists *Kathem Al-Saher * Ragheb Alamah * Aswad *The Badlees *The Beautiful South * John Berry * ...

label. There was special DTS (surround sound) version released with a slightly different track listing compared to the original; it was only ten tracks long and did not include "Listen to Love", "Love Doesn't Live Here" and "

Always Breaking My Heart "Always Breaking My Heart" is the second single from American singer Belinda Carlisle's sixth studio album, ''A Woman and a Man'' (1996). The song was written by Per Gessle from Swedish band Roxette, and a demo of the song recorded by Gessle was ...

" but instead had covers of the songs "

Jealous Guy "Jealous Guy" is a song written and originally recorded by English rock musician John Lennon from his 1971 album ''Imagine (John Lennon album), Imagine''. Not released as a single during Lennon's lifetime, it became an international hit in a v ...

" by

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

and "

The Ballad of Lucy Jordan "The Ballad of Lucy Jordan" is a song by American poet and songwriter Shel Silverstein. It was originally recorded in 1974 by Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show, with the name spelled "Jordon". The song describes the disillusionment and mental deter ...

" by

Shel Silverstein Sheldon Allan Silverstein (; September 25, 1930 – May 10, 1999) was an American writer, poet, cartoonist, singer / songwriter, musician, and playwright. Born and raised in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, Silverstein briefly attended universit ...

Reception

Critical reception

The album received mixed reviews.

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...

rated the album four stars out of five saying it is a "mature collection of adult pop, with cool keyboards and subtle arrangements that often make the record sound like background music". However, he also noted that "Carlisle has rarely been in better voice". ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

s Steven Mirkin gave the album C− saying that "Carlisle has neither the voice nor personality to overcome her album's cold, emotionally sterile core."

Commercial reception

The album entered the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

at No. 12. It outsold Carlisle's previous album, ''

Real Real may refer to: Currencies * Brazilian real (R$) * Central American Republic real * Mexican real * Portuguese real * Spanish real * Spanish colonial real Music Albums * ''Real'' (L'Arc-en-Ciel album) (2000) * ''Real'' (Bright album) (2010) ...

'', and was certified Gold by BPI for sales in excess of 100,000 copies. The album revived Carlisle's career in the singles chart – producing three top twenty hits (two of them top ten). It was released in the US but failed to chart on the ''Billboard'' 200 album chart with a total sales of 17,000 copies.Keith Caulfield "Ask Billboard"
''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

''. Retrieved September 23, 2007. The album charted on the Australian

ARIA Albums Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

on November 11, 1996, at No. 31 with only one single released to radio at the time. It only spent ten weeks in the top one hundred making the album her last charting album on the charts. It was Carlisle's last album to chart in Austria, peaking at No. 36 and stayed in the charts for two weeks. It was Carlisle's lowest charting album in Sweden, peaking at No. 44 and only spending one week in the charts. In Italy, the album peaked at No. 35. The singles had some success in various countries. " In Too Deep" was the first song released from the album and became a top ten hit in the UK and a top twenty in Australia. "Always Breaking My Heart", written and produced by

, was the second song released from the album; it also reached the top ten in the UK. "Love in the Key of C", the third song released, became Carlisle's tenth top twenty UK hit. The fourth single, "

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

", was Carlisle's final UK Top 40 hit.

Track listing

American DTS (Surround Sound) version

(The regular American version had the same track listing as the UK version)

Personnel

– vocals, backing vocals (6, 9) * Rory Kaplan – keyboards (1-5, 7-11), acoustic piano (4, 8), drum programming (10) *

Red Young Don Michael "Red" Young is an American keyboard, piano, synthesizer and organ player. Beginnings and early success He grew up in Fort Worth, Texas, United States. He began playing piano at age 3 and did his first classical recital at age 8. ...

–

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

(5) *

Clarence Öfwerman Clarence Öfwerman (born 22 November 1957) is a Swedish record producer, best known as the longtime producer of Roxette, having been with the band from their debut album ''Pearls of Passion'' in 1986 through to 2016's ''Good Karma'', Roxette's l ...

– keyboards (6), programming (6) * Phil Grande – guitars (1, 2) *

Davey Johnstone David William Logan Johnstone (born 6 May 1951) is a British rock guitarist and vocalist, best known for his long-time collaboration with Elton John as a member of the Elton John Band. Career Johnstone's first work was with Noel Murphy in 1 ...

–

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

(1) * Louis Metoyer – guitars (3, 5, 9), acoustic guitar (4), electric guitar (4) * Chrissie Schefts – guitars (5, 10),

electric sitar An electric sitar is a type of electric guitar designed to mimic the sound of the sitar, a traditional musical instrument of India. Depending on the manufacturer and model, these instruments bear varying degrees of resemblance to the traditional ...

(10) *

– electric guitar (6), backing vocals (6) * Jonas Isacsson – acoustic guitar (6), electric guitar (6) * Steve Farris – acoustic guitar (7, 8, 11), electric guitar (7, 8) *

Nick Beggs Nicholas Beggs (born 15 December 1961Larkin, Colin (1997) ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Eighties Music'', Virgin Books, , p. 270-271) is an English musician, noted for playing the bass guitar and the Chapman Stick; he is a member of the Mute Go ...

– bass guitar (1–5, 7, 8, 10),

Chapman stick The Chapman Stick is an electric musical instrument devised by Emmett Chapman in the early 1970s. A member of the guitar family, the Chapman Stick usually has ten or twelve individually tuned strings and is used to play bass lines, melody lines, ...

(4, 9, 11) * Andres Herrlin – bass guitar (6), programming (6) * Steve Wren – drums (1-5, 7-11) * Paulinho da Costa – percussion (1-5, 8-10) *

Caroline Dale Caroline Dale (born 1965) is a widely recorded British cellist who currently plays principal cello for the English Chamber Orchestra and London Metropolitan Orchestra. She has also performed music for numerous films and played with a wide range ...

– string arrangements (3, 10) * Andy Brown – conductor (3, 10) * David Sabee – string coordinator (3, 10) *

Northwest Sinfonia The Northwest Sinfonia is a session symphonic orchestra based in Seattle, mostly renowned for recording soundtracks to motion pictures and computer games. It was founded in 1995 and is credited with over 100 recordings. It draws its members mostl ...

– strings (3, 10) *

Ellen Shipley Ellen Shipley (born March 24, 1949 in New York City, New York, United States) is an American musician and songwriter. Career At sixteen years old, Shipley got a NYC Cabaret license. She performed a duo act in Greenwich Village in the early 70's ...

– backing vocals (1, 3, 4, 5, 7-10) *

Maria Vidal Maria Elena Vidal (born August 1, 1960) is an American singer songwriter. She is known for her hit single "Body Rock", which reached No. 8 on the US Dance Charts, No. 48 on the Hot 100, No. 5 on the Springbok Charts in South Africa, and No. 11 i ...

– backing vocals (1, 3, 4, 5, 7-11) *

Brian Wilson Brian Douglas Wilson (born June 20, 1942) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer who co-founded the Beach Boys. Often called a genius for his novel approaches to pop composition, extraordinary musical aptitude, and m ...

– backing vocals (2) *

Susanna Hoffs Susanna Lee Hoffs (born January 17, 1959) is an American singer and guitarist, best known as a co-founder of the pop-rock band The Bangles. Hoffs founded The Bangles (originally called the Bangs) in 1981 with Debbi and Vicki Peterson. They re ...

– backing vocals (11)

Production

* Producers – David Tickle (Tracks 1-5 & 7-11); Per Gessle and Clarence Öfwerman (Track 6). * Executive producer – J. F. Cecillon * Recorded and mixed by David Tickle * Assistant engineers – Brian Lapin and Randy Wine * Design – Stylorouge * Inside photography – Lorenzo Agius and Ellen Von Unwerth * Front cover photo – Ellen Von Unwerth * Management –

Miles Copeland III Miles Axe Copeland III (born May 2, 1944) is an American music and entertainment executive and former manager of The Police. Copeland later managed Sting's musical and acting career. In 1979, Copeland founded the I.R.S. Records label, producin ...

and Simon Watson

Charts

Certifications and sales

Release history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Woman And A Man, A 1996 albums Belinda Carlisle albums Chrysalis Records albums Ark 21 Records albums EMI Music Japan albums Albums produced by David Tickle