"I Wanna Hear It from Your Lips" by Eric Carmen

Song#:  2184
Date:  01/19/1985
Debut:  71
Peak:  35
Weeks:  11
Genre:  Pop, Adult Contemporary



Pop Bits:  Carmen's last brush with the Pop chart was back in 1980 when his single "It Hurts Too Much" made an appearance at #75. He hadn't been able to follow up his earlier solo hits, like 1976's "All By Myself" (#2), and it certainly didn't help that music had changed a lot since then. Carmen retreated from the business for a while, but then his career got an unexpected boost when his collaboration with songwriter Dean Pitchford, "Almost Paradise," became a Top 10 hit for Mike Reno and Ann Wilson. The Footloose hit boosted Carmen's profile and he was able to secure a contract with Geffen Records. The Pitchford/Carmen team co-wrote two more songs that found their way to Carmen's new self-titled album. This first single was one of those co-writes. It did well enough to become Carmen's first Top 40 entry since 1978. AC loved it even more and sent the song to #10. Although it wasn't a huge hit, it was enough to get Carmen back into the music game.

ReduxReview: I wasn't a big fan of this song. In fact, I found it a bit irritating. Carmen's smarmy vocals and the background "whoop's" just hit my ears wrong. But once again, later listening determined that this was a pretty sweet track. It's got a sexy feel to it and weirdly it sounds like something Billy Idol might have done (i.e., "To Be a Lover" kind of thing). It's nothing I'd put in a playlist, but I appreciate it more now that I did back then.

ReduxRating:  6/10

Trivia:  Carmen's self-titled 1985 album featured two tracks that ended up being country hits for singer Louise Mandrell. First, she recorded the track "Maybe My Baby," which Carmen wrote. It was released in '85 as the first single from Mandrell's album of the same name. It would do well reaching #8 on the Country chart. For her follow-up album Dreamin', she covered "I Wanna Hear It from Your Lips." It would be the LP's first single, but this time around her Carmen cover could only get to #35.

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