Sheena Easton recorded her most American-sounding album to date with 1984's "A Private Heaven." "Strut," and "Sugar Walls" (written by Prince) both made the U.S. top ten. But the best song here is the exquisite ballad, "Hard To Say It's Over," which should have been the set's third single, instead of the awkward "Swear." On the remake of Joan Armatrading's "Love and Affection," Easton displays a vocal range that few singers today can match. Other highlights include the jazzy "Back In The City," the Steve Luthaker-penned ballad, "All By Myself," and "Double Standard," an energetic slice of dance-pop that would sound right at home on any of Madonna's 80's albums. This is definitely a must-have for any fan of Easton or 80's music in general!

Sheena Easton made a striking debut in 1981 with her self-titled album and her first two American hits, "Morning Train (9 to 5)" and "Modern Girl" (#1 and #18 pop, respectively). Three more albums followed: "You Could Have Been with Me, "Madness, Money and Music," and "Best Kept Secret." Sheena had another hit with "For Your Eyes Only," from the movie of the same name (#4), but none of the singles from these three albums charted very high, and most of them didn't make the Top 10 ("Telefone" managed #9, and that was the highest). Sheena made a "comeback" in 1984 with "A Private Heaven."

"Heaven" features three singles: "Strut," "Sugar Walls (written by Prince)," and "Swear." Two of them, "Strut" and "Sugar Walls" were hits: #7 and #9 respectively. The album itself climbed to #15 and was certified platinum I THINK.

The remainder of the songs on the album are quite cohesive and quite good, and any of them could have been singles, from the danceable "Hungry Eyes" to the tender ballad "Hard to Say it's Over."

This is probably the best album of the 1st phase of Sheena's career. At least, in my opinion it is, and I know there's many that agree. The song choices and the glossy production are near-perfect, unlike some of the other albums. This 2000 reissue from One Way Records (which is located in my home city of Albany, NY!) features three non-album songs: the rocking "Letters from the Road," "Straight Talking," and the interesting "Fallen Angels," as well as good extended remixes of the three original singles. So you're really getting your money's worth, especially if you're an 80s music fan like I am. :)

My favorite song on the album is by far "Swear." I just love the "rap" lyrics towards the end of the song, as well as the cool guitar work throughout. It's a total SHAME that this song is not one of Sheena's signature songs, like "Strut" and "Sugar Walls." It really deserves to be!

Maybe I haven't explored this album as deeply enough as the other listeners. For me the strongest tracks are the two top hits Strut and Sugar Walls. The third favorite track of mine is Back In the City with its contagious Latin pop feel.The rest of the tracks, well,feel like outdated commercialized 80's dance pop. That's not a bad thing. It's a very good thing since Easton never relied on heavy synthesizers or other studio mixing board gimmicky tactics. She's sheer honest to goodness pure talent with a voice that can soar to heights unattainable even by some of today's hottest pop female icons in the business...

Now sadly out of print, this, for me, is Sheena Easton's finest hour. When it was originally released in 1984, Sheena was struggling to hold her own against the new kid in town, Madonna, and she wasn't alone.

'Strut' the lead single was a brassy, incredibly catchy piece of 'slut-rock'. Olivia got 'Physical'. Diana wanted 'Muscles' and Sheena gave us 'Strut'! The song hit the top 10 with ease paving the way for the Prince-penned second single, 'Sugar Walls'. Now if 'Strut' was a little suggestive, 'Sugar Walls' was almost pornographic! I'm amazed she got away with it! Again it hit the top 10 though to my mind, once you get past the sheer sauciness of it, it's not really much of a song...

Third single 'S.W.E.A.R.' was a disappointing rocker with a 'Beat It' guitar riff that was probably the poorest song on the album. It stiffed, helping bring to an end 'A Private Heaven's' chart life. Never mind, though, the album reached #15 and went platinum, the last time Sheena was to achieve this.

It is a really good pop album. Somewhere between similar product from Olivia Newton-John and Laura Branigan, it featured a mixture of dancey uptempo tunes like 'Hungry Eyes' and 'Double Standards' alongside classy ballads like 'Hard To Say It's Over' and Sheena's lovely cover of Joan Armatrading's 'Love And Affection'

Really, 'A Private Heaven' should have been the beginning of great things for Sheena but it's follow up, the Nile Rodgers produced 'Do You', a year later, struggled to get a hit single and quickly fell off the charts. Even worse, her excellent 1986 album 'No Sound But A Heart' didn't even get a US release.

This One-Way reissue from 2000 is worth having for the bonus tracks alone though the 'remastering' isn't great. It's a bit muffly and some songs fade out strangely. In fact, the original 1984 EMI CD sounds better than this, which seems odd.

So, for me then, 'A Private Heaven' is the best of Sheena (though 1983's 'Best Kept Secret' is good too) and although it's very '80's' sounding and the sleeve artwork is really cheap looking, the album is well worth tracking down.

This album is one of my favorites from my childhood. A few days ago, I met the chance to face it again with CD.. Well, could U understand my word that "Dream came true".... Especially, my favorite song in this title is "Hard To Say It's Over".. I wanna share this beautiful moment with anyone.. Thank U so much, U so kind merchandiser!!!! Take care, bye!!