Take My Time

Take My Time
Studio album by Sheena Easton
Released 18 January 1981[1]
Recorded 1980
Genre Pop
Length 40.23 (UK)
32.40 (US)
Label EMI/EMI America
Producer Christopher Neil
Sheena Easton chronology

Take My Time
(1981)		 You Could Have Been with Me
(1981)
Singles from Take My Time
  1. "Modern Girl"
    Released: 29 February 1980 (UK); May 1981 (US)
  2. "9 to 5"
    Released: 16 May 1980 (UK); February 1981 (USA)
  3. "One Man Woman"
    Released: October 1980
  4. "Take My Time"
    Released: 1981
  5. "When He Shines"
    Released: 1981
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [2]

Take My Time is the debut album by UK pop singer Sheena Easton. Released in January 1981, the album reached #17 in the UK and earned her a Gold Disc.[1] Two months later, a ten track version of the album was released in the USA and Canada as Sheena Easton.[3] The album went gold in the USA and platinum in Canada.

Background

After becoming suddenly famous due to her appearance on a television documentary in 1980 and with the hits “9 To 5” (which went gold) and “Modern Girl”, Easton began recording her debut album with producer Christopher Neil. The style of the album was a combination of pure pop (“Take My Time” and “Voice on the Radio”) and sentimental ballads (“When He Shines” and “No-One Ever Knows”). "Prisoner" is a cover of a Sue Saad and the Next song released earlier in 1980.

The album charted in February 1981, just as Easton was finding fame in the US when “9 to 5” (retitled “Morning Train (Nine to Five)” to avoid confusion with a record by Dolly Parton called "9 To 5") took her to No. 1 in the charts there.

In the UK, the album met with favourable response by reaching No. 17 and spent 19 weeks on the charts.[4] In the US, it was released two months later and also made the top 30. By May 1981, three more singles were released from the collection, namely; “One Man Woman”, “Take My Time” and “When He Shines”. The latter being a song she had performed at the Royal Variety Performance in November 1980, and was left off the US version of the album (to be later included on her second album). With four of the singles reaching the top 20 in the UK (the title track reached a lower #44), Easton became the first female artist to score five top 50 singles hits from an album.[5] The album's opening track, "Don't Send Flowers" had recently been released as a single by British band Sailor, but had been unsuccessful.

In the US, the album was simply titled Sheena Easton and included only two singles (“Morning Train“ and “Modern Girl”) before Easton was to chart highly with a new song, the James Bond theme, “For Your Eyes Only”; however "When He Shines" was released as a single from Sheena's second US album. Easton quickly became a staple on Adult Contemporary radio, where "Morning Train" also hit No. 1 and "Modern Girl" reached the top 10, both in 1981.

Producer Christopher Neil continued to work with Easton and produced her following two albums in a similar vein, before Easton decided to leave behind the pure-pop image she had gained.

Take My Time was re-released on Compact disc in the US on 19 June 1999 with bonus tracks by One Way Records. The UK version of the album was re-released on CD on 19 October 2009 with bonus tracks by Cherry Red Records.[6]

Track listing

Side One
  1. "Don't Send Flowers" (Phil Pickett) 3.02
  2. "Cry" (Frank Musker, Garth Murphy) 3.32
  3. "Take My Time" (Paul Bliss, Phil Palmer) 2.39
  4. "When He Shines" (Dominic Bugatti, Peter Vale) 3.56
  5. "One Man Woman" (Mike Leeson, Peter Vale) 3.06
  6. "Prisoner" (D.B. Cooper, James Lance, Tony Riparetti) 3.34
Side Two
  1. "9 to 5" (Florrie Palmer) 3.20
  2. "So Much In Love" (Dominic Bugatti, Frank Musker) 3.04
  3. "Voice On the Radio" (Florrie Palmer, Peter Vale) 3.18
  4. "Calm Before the Storm" (Christopher Neil, Peter Vale) 3.28
  5. "Modern Girl" (Dominic Bugatti, Frank Musker) 3.37
  6. "No-one Ever Knows" (Leeson, Peter Vale) 3.47
Bonus tracks later released on CD
  1. "Paradox" (Christopher Neil) 2.40
  2. "Moody (My Love)" (Easton, Christopher Neil) 2.07
  3. "Summer's Over" (Florrie Palmer, Christopher Neil) 3.24
  4. "Right or Wrong" (Florrie Palmer) 3.17

Track listing (US, Canada)

Side One
  1. "Morning Train (9 to 5)"
  2. "Don't Send Flowers"
  3. "Cry"
  4. "Take My Time"
  5. "Prisoner"
Side Two
  1. "Modern Girl"
  2. "So Much In Love"
  3. "Voice On the Radio"
  4. "One Man Woman"
  5. "Calm Before the Storm"
Bonus tracks later released on CD
  1. "Family of One" (Mike Leeson, Peter Vale)
  2. "Please Don't Sympathize" (Thompson)
  3. "Right or Wrong"
  4. "Paradox"
  5. "Summer's Over"

Personnel

Chart performance

Original release date Single title UK
[5]		 US
[7]		 JP
[7]		 AUS
[7]		 IRL
[7]
February 1980 "Modern Girl" 8 18 18 24 10
May 1980 "9 to 5" / "Morning Train (9 to 5)" 3 1 17 1 2
October 1980 "One Man Woman" 14 5
February 1981 "Take My Time" 44
April 1981 "When He Shines" 12 30 9
Original release date Album title UK US JP AUS CAN
January 1981 Take My Time / Sheena Easton 17 23 4 57 9

Certifications

Country Certification Sales
United Kingdom[1] Gold 100,000
United States[3] Gold 500,000

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 BPI - Certified awards - search Sheena Easton
  2. ↑ Allmusic review
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Sheena Easton (album) at Allmusic
  4. ↑ Chartstats - UK album chart details
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Chartstats - UK singles peak positions
  6. ↑ UK CD re-release
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Sheena Easton.co.uk - World chart positions