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Stacey Q's 1986 debut album was titled Better Than Heaven, and listeners were inclined to agree with that assessment as its lead single "Two of Hearts" ascended the charts in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and throughout Europe. On September 16, Cherry Pop will reissue the Hi-NRG classic as a deluxe 2-CD expanded edition with a whopping 20 bonus tracks, almost every one of which is new to CD.
Show business was in Stacey Lynn Swain's blood since childhood. She trained as a dancer, modeled, performed at Disneyland, and joined the circus (!) before beginning her pop career. Her musical tastes were eclectic, including Kraftwerk, David Bowie, and The B-52's, and it was while impersonating Joan Jett and The Go-Go's on L.A. radio that she was "discovered" by Jon St. James. The producer-songwriter teamed with Swain to form the synthpop group Q, named after the James Bond character. Q encountered a bump in the road when legendary producer Quincy Jones took umbrage at the band's use of his initial, so their first full-length release was issued under the moniker of SSQ. But despite a strong full-length debut on the Enigma label, it became clear that Stacey was the breakout star. A record deal was inked with her as Stacey Q - the bandmates had all adopted Q as their stage surnames - with SSQ (St. James, Rich West, and Skip Hahn) accompanying her.
Stacey's debut EP appeared on the freestyle/hip-hop-oriented label On the Spot in 1985 and included the John Mitchell/Tim Greene/Sue Gatlin composition "Two of Hearts." It did well enough regionally to attract the attention of Atlantic Records; with their promotional muscle behind it, the urgent anthem anchored by Stacey's coquettish vocal climbed to No. 3 in the U.S. and the top ten around the world. Atlantic ushered Stacey and producer St. James into the studio to record the album that became Better Than Heaven.
Though the members of SSQ penned most of the material on the dance/synthpop-oriented album, other songs came from the pens of Utopia's Willie Wilcox, the Paul McCartney band's Rusty Anderson, and Berlin. Released on October 17, 1986, Better Than Heaven would eventually be certified Gold in the United States. Second single "We Connect" earned a not-unimpressive top 40 placement, and its follow-up "Insecurity" shot to the top of the U.S. Dance chart. "Music Out of Bounds" became a top 20 Dance entry, too, and Stacey's career took off with appearances on television's Hollywood Squares as well as sitcoms The Facts of Life, Full House, and Mama's Family. Two more albums would ultimately arrive on Atlantic through 1989, at which point Stacey took a brief respite from the pop scene. She's still recording today, and even reunited with SSQ for a 2020 album.
Cherry Pop's reissue adds 20 bonus tracks, rounding up various mixes released at the time including versions of "Two of Hearts," "We Connect," "Insecurity," and "Music Out of Bounds." These include radio edits, dance mixes, extended versions, instrumentals, and more. The original CD mix of "Two of Hearts" is also included.
Better Than Heaven is packaged in a six-panel digipak (though one panel is oddly devoid of any artwork or photography) with a 16-page full color book featuring liner notes by Michael Silvester. An Atlantic discography of Stacey's albums and singles makes for a nice addition to the booklet. Tom Parker has remastered the audio. Look for this 2-CD deluxe reissue on September 16 from Cherry Red's Cherry Pop imprint. You'll find order links and the track listing below.
Stacey Q, Better Than Heaven (Definitive Edition) (Cherry Pop QCRPOPD229 (U.K.), 2022) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
Disc 1: Original album and bonus tracks
- Two of Hearts
- We Connect
- Insecurity
- Better Than Heaven
- Don't Let Me Down
- Music Out of Bounds
- Love or Desire
- Don't Break My Heart
- He Doesn't Understand
- Dancing Nowhere
- Two of Hearts (Q-Mix Edit)
- We Connect (Dance Radio Edit)
- Insecurity (Guitar Mix)
- Music Out of Bounds (Edit)
- Dancing Nowhere
Tracks 1-10 released as Atlantic 81676, 1986
Tracks 11 and 15 released as Atlantic 7-89381, 1986
Track 12 released on Atlantic single 7-89331, 1986
Track 13 released on Atlantic 12" 0-86716, 1986
Track 14 released on Atlantic single 7-89207, 1986
Disc 2: Bonus tracks
- Two of Hearts (European Dance Mix)
- We Connect (European Mix)
- Insecurity (USA Dance Mix)
- Music Out of Bounds (Out of Bounds Mix)
- Two of Hearts (Q-Mix)
- Two of Hearts (Original Mix)
- We Connect (Safari Mix)
- Insecurity (Instrumental)
- Music Out of Bounds (Instrumental)
- Two of Hearts (Instrumental)
- Insecurity (Bonus Beats 1)
- Insecurity (Bonus Beats 2)
- Stacey's Dream (A Capella)
- We Connect (12" Dance Radio Edit)
- Two of Hearts (CD Album Version)
Tracks 1, 10 and 13 released on Atlantic 12" 0-86797, 1986
Tracks 2, 7 and 14 released on Atlantic 12" 0-86757, 1986
Tracks 3, 8 and 11-12 released on Atlantic 12" 0-86716, 1986
Tracks 4 and 9 released on Atlantic 12" 0-86669, 1986
Track 5 released on Atlantic U.K. 12" A9381T, 1986
Track 6 released on Atlantic 12" promo DMD 959, 1986
Track 15 released on Atlantic CD 9 81676-2, 1986
Release Round-Up: Week of September 16
The Weekend Stream: May 29, 2021
Good news, this. Stacey Q is one of those artists who works on record quite nicely, but has absolutely zero stage appeal. In her videos she was great at looking cute, like a plush kitten, but exuded personality deficit. Better Than Heaven has some prime tracks, Insecurity in particular. I do think radio kind of gave up on her after We Connect arrived as a cookie cutter of Two Of Hearts, leaving Insecurity abandoned by Top 40 programmers Anyway, I'd like to see her entire Atlantic catalog reissued by Cherry Red...But what I'm really hoping this release indicates is that Regina's Curiosity might be getting the same treatment! Regina has an entire sophomore album still in the vault--primo bonus material!
I work for Regina and unfortunately, Atlantic no longer owns the rights to Regina’s music. You may know her album was on DSP about 4 years ago and was later pulled— this is why. I would love to get the rights owner involved with Cherry Red and get the ball rolling on this. I’ve heard her follow-up and it’s spectacular as well. Regina holds some of those songs as her best work and we both hope fans can hear them soon.
I'm thinking this is being re-released due to "Two of Hearts" being used in every episode (sometimes multiple times per) of "The Flight Attendant", featured as Kaley Cuoco's ringtone. It made me laugh each time she got a call. I remember seeing her on that episode of "The Facts of Life" and she did seem like an alien creature, so skinny and tarted up, with no stage presence But so glad to see anything somewhat obscure from the '80s being released.