Live Your Life Be Free – 1991
Live Your Life Be Free is the fourth studio album by American singer Belinda Carlisle, released in the United States in 1991 by MCA Records and in the UK by Virgin Records. This was the first of Carlisle’s albums not to chart in the United States and the last album of hers to produce a U.S. Billboard Hot 100 single (“Do You Feel Like I Feel?”, number 73). The album fared better in the UK, where it peaked at number seven.
Carlisle co-wrote two of the tracks on the album: “Loneliness Game” and “Little Black Book” (which went to number 28 in the UK Singles Chart).
The song “You Came Out of Nowhere” begins with a sample from the opening of “Nobody Told Me”, a song by John Lennon that was released in 1984.
The reception of the Live Your Life Be Free album was not as good as her previous albums. Rolling Stone wrote “Carlisle merely stirs up a nostalgia for carefree girl groups singing gooey love songs – giving Live Your Life a certain giddy, pointless coherence” while for Allmusic “Live Your Life Be Free shows the singer to be capable in a variety of musical contexts, and is a pleasing listen throughout”.
The album sold better outside the U.S. and managed to enter the top 10 in the UK where it was certified gold. Outside the U.K. the album charted No. 21 in Sweden for 10 weeks and No. 27 in Australia.
Track listing
No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. “Live Your Life Be Free” Rick Nowels, Ellen Shipley 5:14
2. “Do You Feel Like I Feel?” Nowels, Shipley 5:09
3. “Half the World” Richard Feldman, Eric Pressly, Shipley 4:23
4. “You Came Out of Nowhere” Nowels, David Munday 4:10
5. “You’re Nothing Without Me” Nowels 3:55
6. “I Plead Insanity” Nowels, Munday, Kushla Prasad 4:39
7. “Emotional Highway” Nowels, Shipley 5:20
8. “Little Black Book” Feldman, Marcy Detroit, Belinda Carlisle 4:14
9. “Love Revolution” Nowels 5:09
10. “World of Love” Charlotte Caffey, Jeff McDonald, Steve McDonald 4:13
11. “Loneliness Game” Pressly, Carlisle 4:40
Album credits
Production
Rick Nowels – producer
Richard Feldman – producer
Eric Pressly – producer
David Munday – producer
Sheryl Crow – background vocals