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Best Kept Secret | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | August 1983 | |||
Recorded | 1983 | |||
Studio | Sunset Sound Factory (Los Angeles, California)
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Genre | Pop | |||
Length | 40:38 | |||
Label | EMI | |||
Producer |
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Sheena Easton chronology | ||||
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Singles from Best Kept Secret | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Best Kept Secret is the fourth album by Scottish singer Sheena Easton. It was released in 1983 on EMI Records.
Easton's first album to be recorded entirely in the United States, Best Kept Secret was produced by Greg Mathieson, Jay Graydon, and Trevor Veitch. Easton had planned to collaborate again with Christopher Neil, the London-based producer of her previous three albums, but it had eventuated that she and Neil had disparate ideas regarding her new album's material and style. Easton had also hoped that David Foster, who had produced her interim hit duet with Kenny Rogers, "We've Got Tonight", would produce some solo tracks for her, but Foster's schedule did not permit this. [1]
The songs on Best Kept Secret alternated between dance tracks in the Eurodisco style of the recent Laura Branigan hit "Gloria"— which Mathieson/Graydon/Veitch had been responsible for— and ballads. The album's lead single was the dance track "Telefone (Long Distance Love Affair)" which became Easton's third solo hit to reach the US Top Ten with a No. 9 peak on the Billboard Hot 100 and was Grammy nominated. The second single was the ballad "Almost Over You" (No. 25) and another rock track "Devil in a Fast Car" was subsequently issued as a single to reach No. 79.
The album included a cover version of 60s icon Dusty Springfield's classic "Just One Smile" and Australian rock star Doug Parkinson's "Let Sleeping Dogs Lie". French-Canadian singer Véronique Béliveau recorded a cover of "She's In Love (With Her Radio)" in French, entitled "Je suis fidèle" which reached number 1 in Québec in 1983.
Best Kept Secret peaked at No. 33 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart, with a chart duration of 38 weeks. Neither the album nor its singles had high chart impact in the UK, Best Kept Secret charting there at No. 99 while "Telefone..." and "Almost Over You" had respective UK peaks of No. 84 and No. 89.
In Canada both the Best Kept Secret album and "Telefone..." single were certified Gold by the CRIA.
Best Kept Secret was reissued in 2000 on One Way Records, adding the hit duet "We've Got Tonight" with Kenny Rogers. On November 24, 2014, the album was included in an Original Album Series box set in the UK with all of her first five albums with EMI through Warner Music Group.
On August 6, 2019, RT Industries released Best Kept Secret and "Telefone" EP on digital download format.
Side one
Side two
CD bonus tracks
Chart (1983) | Peak position |
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Canada Top Albums/CDs ( RPM ) [2] | 38 |
Japanese Albums (Oricon) [3] | 4 |
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista) [4] | 5 |
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) [5] | 38 |
UK Albums (OCC) [6] | 99 |
US Billboard 200 [7] | 33 |
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