Wednesday, December 15, 2021

The 1980 Listening Post - Ellen Shipley - Breaking Through the Ice Age

Ellen Shipley - Breaking Through the Ice Age



1980 Housekeeping

Ellen Shipley

Breaking Through the Ice Age

Genre: Benatarock

4 out of 5




Highlights:

Fotogenic

Talk Don’t Shout



Shipley wrote or co-wrote most of the stuff on this album and you know? It freaking rocks. I don’t know her name or who she was but this album has more bangers than I expect. In the shadow of the breakthrough of Pat Benatar someone must have thought they had another on their hands and the the public was ready for and champing at the bit for more lacerating female driven rawk. 


They were wrong, obviously. 


If we went back into the spreadsheet to see just how many albums were led by women in the 80s we might actually be surprised. It’s not just Pat and The Go-Go’s and The Bangles. We’ve heard a lot. 


Shipley shifted to songwriting for others. “Heaven is a Place on Earth”? That’s hers. In fact, she wrote a lot of songs for Belinda Carlisle. And a host of other female singers. Kim Wilde. Jennifer Rush. Dionne Warwick. Lea Salonga. Faith Hill. David Hasselhoff. Midge Ure. (See what I did there?) She did a lot of work with Rick Nowels, who has gone on to write and produce the likes of Lana Del Rey and Dua Lipa and Sia. 


If this was her calling card, it’s a helluva a CV.





https://music.apple.com/us/album/breaking-through-the-ice-age-w-bonus-cuts/1357103671

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