A Woman and a Man

A Woman and a Man (styled A Woman & a Man) is the sixth studio album by American singer Belinda Carlisle, released in the United Kingdom on September 23, 1996, by Chrysalis Records (then part of the EMI Group, like Carlisle's former label Virgin Records). The album contains songs written by Rick Nowels, Maria Vidal, Ellen Shipley, Charlotte Caffey, Neil Finn and Roxette co-founder Per Gessle who also produced one of the tracks.

For the 1971 Egyptian film, see A Woman and a Man (film).
A Woman and a Man
Studio album by
Belinda Carlisle
ReleasedSeptember 11, 1996 (1996-09-11)
RecordedThe Journey Room, Malibu, California
GenrePop
Length43:14
Label
ProducerDavid Tickle
Belinda Carlisle chronology
Real
(1993)		 A Woman and a Man
(1996)		 A Place on Earth: The Greatest Hits
(1999)
Singles from A Woman and a Man
  1. "In Too Deep"
    Released: July 1, 1996
  2. "Always Breaking My Heart"
    Released: September 9, 1996
  3. "Love in the Key of C"
    Released: November 18, 1996
  4. "California"
    Released: February 17, 1997

It was released in the United States in 1997 (see 1997 in music) on the Ark 21 Records 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" but instead had covers of the songs "Jealous Guy" by John Lennon and "The Ballad of Lucy Jordan" by Shel Silverstein.

Reception

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Entertainment WeeklyC− [2]

The album received mixed reviews. Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine 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".[1] Entertainment Weekly'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."[2]

Commercial reception

The album entered the UK Albums Chart at #12. It outsold Carlisle's previous album, Real, 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.[3]

The album charted on the Australian ARIA Albums Chart on November 11, 1996, at #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 #36 and stayed in the charts for two weeks. It was Carlisle's lowest charting album in Sweden, peaking at #44 and only spending one week in the charts. In Italy, the album peaked at #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" was the second song released from the album, written and produced by Per Gessle of Roxette, which was also a top ten hit in the UK. "Love in the Key of C" the third song released, became Carlisle's tenth top twenty UK hit. "California" was the fourth single released and was Carlisle's final UK Top 40 hit before retiring.

Track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."In Too Deep"Rick Nowels4:05
2."California"Rick Nowels, Billy Steinberg, María Vidal2:59
3."A Woman and a Man"Robbie Seidman, María Vidal5:12
4."Remember September"Rick Nowels, Ellen Shipley4:32
5."Listen to Love"Christopher García, John Ingoldby, Ralph McCarthy4:09
6."Always Breaking My Heart"Per Gessle3:12
7."Love Doesn't Live Here"Per Gessle4:09
8."He Goes On"Neil Finn3:13
9."Kneel at Your Feet"Charlotte Caffey, Tom Caffey, Belinda Carlisle4:18
10."Love in the Key of C"Rick Nowels3:50
11."My Heart Goes Out to You"Anders Bagge, Rick Nowels, Allen Rich3:35
Japanese bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
12."The Ballad of Lucy Jordan"Shel Silverstein3:50
13."Love Walks In"Charlotte Caffey, Tom Caffey3:19

American DTS (Surround Sound) version

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

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."In Too Deep"Rick Nowels4:08
2."California"Rick Nowels, Billy Steinberg, María Vidal2:56
3."A Woman and a Man"Robbie Seidman, María Vidal5:10
4."Jealous Guy"John Lennon4:07
5."Remember September"Rick Nowels, Ellen Shipley4:21
6."He Goes On"Neil Finn3:12
7."Kneel at Your Feet"Charlotte Caffey, Tom Caffey, Belinda Carlisle4:25
8."Love in the Key of C"Rick Nowels3:59
9."My Heart Goes Out to You"Anders Bagge, Rick Nowels, Allen Rich3:24
10."The Ballad of Lucy Jordan"Shel Silverstein3:50

Personnel

Production
  • Producers – David Tickle (Tracks 1-5 & 7-11); Per Gessle and Clarence Ofwerman (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 and Simon Watson

Charts and certifications

Release history
Region Date Label Format Catalog
Japan September 11, 1996 EMI CD TOCP-50002
United Kingdom September 23, 1996 Chrysalis Records 724385354526
Australia October 16, 1996 853545-2

References
  1. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. A Woman and a Man at AllMusic
  2. Mirkin, Steven (August 1, 1997). "Entertainment Weekly Review".
  3. Keith Caulfield "Ask Billboard". Billboard. Retrieved September 23, 2007.
  4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on September 21, 2012. Retrieved June 24, 2011.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link). australianchart.com. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
  5. FIMI
  6. "Japan Chart Position". Retrieved August 2, 2007.
  7. "UK Chart Position". Archived from the original on July 5, 2008. Retrieved October 26, 2006.
  8. "British album certifications – Belinda Carlisle – A Woman and a Man". British Phonographic Industry. Select albums in the Format field. Select Gold in the Certification field. Type A Woman and a Man in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
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