For those unaware, Do You (Deluxe Edition) is an expanded 2CD edition of Sheena Easton’s 1985 hit collaboration with super producer Nile Rodgers expanded with 21 bonus tracks (14 previously unreleased).

This is the first-ever release of the long-lost original full length versions of album tracks - including the previously unreleased uncut versions of singles ‘Jimmy Mack’ and ‘Magic Of Love’, original alternate ‘Break Mix’ of ‘Do It For Love’ and 7 min+ take on the rock-funk workout ‘Don’t Turn Your Back’ and all remastered from the original master tapes.

Easton had already transitioned to a bonafide stateside superstar with MTV-friendly hits ‘Strut’ and the controversial Prince collaboration ‘Sugar Walls’ on her 1984 platinum- selling set ‘A Private Heaven.’ For ‘Do You’ Easton fully embraced her new upbeat, pop- funk direction on tracks like the top 30 US dance hits ‘Do It For Love’ and classic Motown cover ‘Jimmy Mack’, as well as sensual groove ballads like ‘Magic Of Love’ and ‘When The Lightning Strikes Again’.

Disc One: The Album (1985)
1. Do It For Love
2. Don’t Break My Heart
3. Magic Of Love
4. Don’t Turn Your Back
5. Jimmy Mack
6. Can’t Wait Till Tomorrow
7. Young Lions
8. Kisses
9. Money Back Guarantee
10. When The Lightning Strikes Again
11. Do It For Love (Single Version) [The 7” Edit]
12. Can’t Wait Till Tomorrow (Single Version) [The 7” Edit]
13. Jimmy Mack (Edited Version) [The 7” Edit]
14. Money Back Guarantee (Edited Version) [The 7” Edit]
15. Magic Of Love (Long Edited Version)* [The 7” Edit]
16. Don’t Turn Your Back (TV Mix)* [The TV Mixes]
17. Kisses (TV Mix)* [The TV Mixes]

As is often the case, an artist puts out their best effort to little notice after the fanfare has already moved on. Easton’s prime had essentially wrapped up with A Private Heaven on the heels of Strut only a year earlier, so as a consequence relatively few got exposed to her most sophisticated set of songs when Do You hit the record stores in 1985.

And what they missed along the way was a slew of solid tracks, including the three I would consider as the best of her career: Don’t Break My Heart, Don’t Turn Your Back, and the shimmering Young Lions.

Another prime example of the charts and radio failing to alert the masses (or possibly being unaware on its own accord) to some of an artist’s finest work, to Easton’s credit, Do You showed a maturation beyond her previously slick, but shallower pop tunes into a more creative realm, and yet because it didn’t fit the template of the time, Do You signaled her exile into obscurity. Fashion, that fickle beast that has little patience, in perpetual search of the latest great thing.

As it stands, and in my own humble opinion, about 40% of Easton’s career in terms of quality is contained in this album. I mean, there honestly isn’t a single dud to be found here, even if the cover of Martha Reeves & the Vandella’s Jimmy Mack is somewhat unnecessary.

The single Do You is a hidden gem that, unjustly, wasn’t as well-received as some of Easton’s previous efforts, let alone those of contemporaries like Madonna or Kim Wilde. Still, it’s perhaps her finest (and last) pure pop album. It also paved the way for her 1987 follow-up No Sound But a Heart, which to this day remains a criminally overlooked adult contemporary classic, due to her messy split from EMI at the time.

Disc Two: The Uncut Nile Rodgers Sessions
1. Do It For Love (Break Mix)* 2. Don’t Break My Heart* 3. Magic Of Love* 4. Don’t Turn Your Back* 5. Jimmy Mack* 6. Can’t Wait Till Tomorrow 7. Young Lions* 8. Kisses* 9. Money Back Guarantee* 10. When The Lightning Strikes Again* 11. Do It For Love (Dance Mix - Edited Version) [The 12” Mix]
12. Jimmy Mack (Extended Version) [The 12” Mix]
13. Magic Of Love (TV Mix)* [The TV Mixes]
14. When The Lightning Strikes Again (TV Mix)* [The TV Mixes]

*Previously unreleased

The 24-page booklet includes rare photography and illuminating new interviews with songwriters Junior Giscombe, Adele Bertei, Charlie Midnight and more by ex-Attitude editor Adam Mattera.

As part of Cherry Red’s on-going reissue campaign of the star’s EMI catalogue, this 2CD Deluxe Edition of 1985’s dance-R&B orientated ‘Do You’ finds Sheena Easton hooking up with Nile Rodgers at his imperial super-producer peak - following his mega hit productions for the likes of David Bowie, Madonna and Duran Duran.

Sheena Easton - Do You 2CD Deluxe Edition / Orange Vinyl (Official Trailer)

Official Purchase Link