News

Cherry Red is wasting no time following its first anthology of Sheena Easton’s EMI recordings with its follow-up this fall.

Strut – The Complete EMI Recordings Vol. II, due from Cherry Pop on October 31, picks up where its predecessor Modern Girl left off, following the same structure: most of the discs offer expanded and slightly altered programs covering the albums A Private Heaven (1984), Do You (1985) and No Sound But a Heart (1987). The inclusions of alternate versions or mixes in place of or beside some originals makes for even more unreleased tracks on this set: 40 unissued cuts to Modern Girl‘s 25, along with several tracks that have only been available on vinyl or digitally. Strut sweetens the deal by not only including a revised version of the “uncut” sessions version of Do You released as a deluxe set by Cherry Red last year, but offering the newly-constructed album Shockwave, comprised of non-album and unissued material recorded in 1986, plus a newly-curated collection of 12″ mixes and a DVD offering over two dozen music videos. A 48-page booklet offers new liner notes (featuring insight from Easton’s collaborators including Narada Michael Walden, David Leonard, Greg Mathieson and Adele Bertei) and rare photographs.

Where Modern Girl showcased the rise of Easton’s formidable career, Strut features a bit more experimentation and collaboration. Already known for upbeat and occasionally torchy, hit renditions of pop fare like “Morning Train (9 to 5),” the James Bond theme “For Your Eyes Only,” a duet on Bob Seger’s “We’ve Got Tonight” with Kenny Rogers and others, she’d follow 1983’s Best Kept Secret with A Private Heaven the following year. An edgier, sexier album than anything she’d recorded, it was also a smash in America thanks to the Top 10s “Strut” and the eye-popping “Sugar Walls” (written and performed by Prince, working pseudonymously as “Alexander Nevermind”). She followed that project with Do You, a club-oriented album produced by a post-Like a Virgin Nile Rodgers.

While it appeared to the casual fan at the time that Easton mostly took 1986 off, she in fact spent time in the studio with a variety of producers including smooth soul-pop maven Narada Michael Walden, Trinidadian producer Keith Diamond (fresh off a spate of hits with Billy Ocean) and even a rising Shep Pettibone, just starting to make his name as a club mixer. Few of these tracks were released at the time: two ended up on the soundtrack to romantic dramedy “About Last Night…”, while “Shockwave” – evidently, the planned title track of an unrealized LP – became a standalone single. Other songs, cut mostly with Diamond and Walden alongside Phil Ramone and David Leonard, formed her final EMI album, 1987’s No Sound But a Heart. (Another Prince composition, “Eternity,” kicked off the album; Easton spent part of the year in the upper reaches of the pop charts as Prince’s vocal foil in the killer Sign O’ the Times cut “U Got the Look.”) She would next move to the MCA roster, recording another seven albums between 1988 and 2000 – one might imagine the basis for another box set or two…

Amazon links for Strut – The Complete EMI Recordings Vol. II are starting to populate and can be found alongside the track list below. (As an affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.)

Strut – The Complete EMI Recordings Vol. II (Cherry Pop CR6POPBX292 (U.K.), 2025) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

* previously unreleased
** previously unreleased on CD

CD 1: A Private Heaven

1. Strut
2. Sugar Walls
3. Hungry Eyes
4. Hard to Say It’s Over
5. Swear (Single Version)
6. Love and Affection (Alternate Version) *
7. Back in the City (Alternate Mix) *
8. You Make Me Nervous
9. All by Myself (Long Version) *
10. Double Standard
11. Have You Ever Been in Love
12. Letters from the Road
13. Straight Talking
14. Fallen Angels (Alternate Version) *
15. Have You Ever Been in Love (Alternate Version) **
16. Hungry Eyes (Remix) **
17. Hard to Say It’s Over (Rock Mix) *
18. Love and Affection (Acoustic Version) *
19. You Make Me Nervous (Alternate Mix) *
20. Have You Ever Been in Love (Piano Version) *

Tracks 1-4, 8 and 10 and original versions of Tracks 5-7 and 9 released as EMI 1C 064 24 0229 1 (U.K.)/EMI America ST-17132 (U.S.), 1984
Track 5 released on EMI America single B-8263, 1985
Track 11 released on A Private Heaven (Deluxe Edition) – Cherry Pop/RT Industries CRPOPD243 (U.K.), 2022
Track 12 released on “Strut” U.S. single – EMI America B-8227, 1984
Track 13 released on “Sugar Walls” U.S. single – EMI America B-8253, 1984
Tracks 15-16 released on A Private Heaven – The Studio Sessions digital EP – RT Industries (no cat. #), 2024

CD 2: Do You – The Uncut Nile Rodgers Sessions

1. Do It for Love (Break Mix)
2. Don’t Break My Heart (Alternate Mix) *
3. Magic of Love
4. Don’t Turn Your Back
5. Jimmy Mack (Alternate Mix) *
6. Can’t Wait Till Tomorrow
7. Young Lions (Alternate Mix) *
8. Kisses
9. Money Back Guarantee (Alternate Mix) *
10. When the Lightning Strikes Again (Alternate Mix) *
11. Do It for Love (Single Version)
12. Jimmy Mack (Edited Version)
13. Magic of Love (Edited Version)
14. Can’t Wait Till Tomorrow (Single Version)
15. Money Back Guarantee (Edited Version)
16. Magic of Love (Long Edited Version)

Tracks 1, 3-4, 6, 8 and 16 and alternate mixes of 2, 5, 7 and 9-10 released on Do You (Deluxe Edition) – Cherry Pop/RT Industries CRPOP2D283 (U.K.), 2024. Original mixes of those tracks first released as EMI 1C 064 24 0454 1 (U.K.)/EMI America ST-17173 (U.S.), 1985. Track 6 first released on EMI U.K. single 5536, 1985
Tracks 11 and 14 released on EMI America single B-8295, 1985
Tracks 12 and 15 released as EMI U.K. single 1C 006 20 1044 7/EMI America single B-8309, 1986
Track 13 released on EMI America single B-8305, 1986

CD 3: Shockwave – The 1986 Sessions

1. So Far So Good (Original Version) *
2. Five Star Affair *
3. Shockwave
4. Is It True *
5. Natural Love
6. Sweet Talker (KD Album Version) *
7. Anything Can Happen *
8. Young Hearts Run Free *
9. Rhythm of Romance *
10. Don’t Wake Me Up From My Dream *
11. Sweet Talker (Shep Pettibone Album Version) *
12. Young Hearts Run Free (Single Version) *
13. Rhythm of Romance (Single Version) *
14. Don’t Wake Me Up from My Dream (Single Version) *
15. The Last to Know (Single Version) *
16. Sweet Talker (Alternate Version) *
17. It’s Christmas All Over the World

Original version of Track 1 and Track 5 released on “About Last Night…” (Music from the Motion Picture) – EMI America SV-17210, 1986
Track 3 released on “Shockwave” single – EMI EM 9 (U.K.)/EMI America B-43011, 1987
Original versions of Tracks 7 and 11 released on The Definitive Singles 1980-1987 – Cherry Pop CRPOPT234 (U.K.), 2021
Track 17 released on Santa Claus: The Movie (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) – EMI America SJ-17177, 1985

CD 4: No Sound But a Heart

1. Eternity
2. Still Willing to Try
3. Still in Love
4. Wanna Give My Love
5. The Last to Know
6. No Sound But a Heart
7. What If We Fall in Love (Duet with Eugene Wilde)
8. No Ordinary Love
9. Floating Hearts
10. Eternity (Original 7″ Version) *
11. Wanna Give My Love (Alternate Version) *
12. No Sound But a Heart (Alternate Version) *
13. Eternity (Original 12″ Version) *
14. Wanna Give My Love (Acoustic Version) *
15. No Sound But a Heart (Acoustic Version) *
16. Eternity (Alternate Version) *
17. Still Willing to Try (Piano Version) *

Tracks 1-9 released as EMI 064 24 0789 1 (U.K.)/EMI America 17228 (U.S.), 1987

CD 5: The 12″ Mixes

1. Telefone (Long Distance Love Affair) (Club Mix) (from EMI America 12″ 7814, 1983)
2. Strut (Dance Mix) (from EMI U.K. 12″ 1C K 062-20 0414 6/EMI America U.S. 12″ V-7837, 1985)
3. Sugar Walls (Long Version) (from EMI U.K. 12″ 12 EMI 5517/EMI America 12″ V-7852, 1985)
4. Swear (Dance Mix) (from EMI America 12″ V-7847, 1985)
5. Do It for Love (Dance Mix) *
6. Jimmy Mack (Extended Version) (from EMI America 12″ promo SPRO-9588, 1986)
7. So Far So Good (Long Mix) *
8. Anything Can Happen (12″ Extended Version) (released on The Definitive Singles 1980-1987 – Cherry Pop CRPOPT234 (U.K.), 2021)
9. Sweet Talker (12″ Version) (released on The Definitive 12″ Singles 1980-1987 – Cherry Pop CRPOPLP233D (U.K.), 2022) **
10. No Sound But a Heart (KD Mix) *
11. Wanna Give My Love (12″ Version) (released on The Definitive 12″ Singles 1980-1987 – Cherry Pop CRPOPLP233D (U.K.), 2022) **
12. No Ordinary Love (12″ Version) (released on No Sound But a Heart limited edition LP – Cherry Pop CRPOPLP287 (U.K.), 2024) **
13. Eternity (Shep Pettibone Alt Mix) *
14. Ice Out in the Rain (12″ Remix) *

DVD: The EMI Video Collection 1980-1987

1. Modern Girl
2. Morning Train (9 to 5)
3. One Man Woman
4. Take My Time
5. When He Shines
6. For Your Eyes Only
7. Just Another Broken Heart
8. You Could Have Been With Me
9. Machinery
10. Are You Man Enough
11. I Wouldn’t Beg for Water
12. Ice Out in the Rain
13. We’ve Got Tonight (Duet with Kenny Rogers)
14. Telefone (Long Distance Love Affair)
15. Almost Over You
16. Back in the City
17. Strut
18. Sugar Walls
19. Swear
20. Do It for Love
21. Jimmy Mack
22. Magic of Love
23. So Far So Good
24. Eternity
25. Me Gustas Tal Como Eres (Duet with Luis Miguel)
26. Magic of Love (Alternate Version)
27. Ice Out in the Rain (Remix)
28. Best Kept Secret TV Advert
29. A Private Heaven Interview