Live Your Life Be Free is the fourth studio album by American singer Belinda Carlisle, released in 1991 by MCA Records in the United States and Virgin Records in the UK. This was the first of Carlisle's albums not to chart on the Billboard charts (although it did chart on the rival Cash Box charts in the U.S.) The album was also the last of hers to produce a U.S. Billboard Hot 100 single ("Do You Feel Like I Feel?", number 73). The album fared better in the UK, where it peaked at number seven.
Carlisle co-wrote two of the tracks on the album: "Loneliness Game" and "Little Black Book" (which went to number 28 in the UK Singles Chart).
The song "You Came Out of Nowhere" begins with a sample from the opening of "Nobody Told Me", a song by John Lennon that was released in 1984.
Live Your Life Be Free was re-released on August 26, 2013, in a 2CD+DVD casebook edition from Edsel Recording, featuring the original album remastered, the single versions, remixes and B-sides. The DVD features the videos from the album and an exclusive interview with Carlisle discussing the album.[1]
In their review, Billboard stated that "Carlisle's latest effort finds the chirpy
singer alternating between power pop ("Do You Feel Like I Feel"), new wave (the cool "You're Nothing
Without Me"), and dreamy "I Plead Insanity." Much more consistent than 1989's Runaway Horses, this album
shows Carlisle's vocal growth as she stretches with different styles. Pleasantly engaging." [8]
Cashbox noted that "even though she may look like Ann-Margret, it's really just ex-Go-Go, Belinda Carlisle with her new look and new album. You might notice a certain maturity coming from the girl who sang "We Got The Beat" 10 years ago-go. This CD features the dancey first single "Do You Feel Like I Feel?" plus 10 others, and is a slight departure from the last two LPs that were also produced by Rick Nowels. Belinda also lends a hand in the songwriting on cuts, "Little Black Book" and "Loneliness Game." [9]
Rolling Stone were more critical of the album, whilst conceding that "Carlisle maintains her standing as the high priestess of sugar pop. This, her fourth solo album since retiring as head cheerleader of the Go-Go's, suggests that while her vocal technique has improved, her taste in songs has changed very little....Every track, in fact, is a love song, a problem for the listener looking for depth or diversity. Carlisle's biggest shortcoming, however, is a failure to impart any real feeling to the words she sings...Carlisle merely stirs up a nostalgia for carefree girl groups singing gooey love songs – giving Live Your Life a certain giddy, pointless coherence"
AllMusic's review stated that "Carlisle added a bit of dance flavor to her signature pop/rock stylings on her fourth solo set. Numbers like the catchy "Do You Feel Like I Feel" and the harder-edged "I Plead Insanity" are dancefloor-ready, yet still contain the robust vocal delivery and sweeping guitar riffs necessary to please longtime fans... Live Your Life Be Free shows the singer to be capable in a variety of musical contexts, and is a pleasing listen throughout."
Retrospectively, in 2020, Steve Harnell of Classic Pop noted that "the two-pronged songwriting team of Nowels and Shipley feature throughout here but the material on Carlisle’s fourth studio outing lacks the bite of Heaven On Earth and Runaway Horses...There is plenty to enjoy here, though, from the upbeat pop-rocker of the title track with its oh-so-rawk guitars and the singalong jangle-pop of "Do You Feel Like I Feel?", which comes with a de rigueur early-90s electric sitar solo."[10]
Charts
The album sold better outside the U.S. and managed to enter the top 10 in the UK, where it was certified gold. Outside the UK the album charted No. 21 in Sweden for 10 weeks and No. 27 in Australia.
The first single release outside the United States was the album title track, which peaked at No. 11 in Italy, No. 12 in the UK, No. 16 in Sweden and No. 13 in Australia. In the U.S. the first single to be released was "Do You Feel Like I Feel?", which was the last Carlisle single to enter the U.S. top 100.
