Live Your Life Be Free

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Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Calgary Herald	C−[3]
Classic Pop	[4]
Entertainment Weekly	C−[5]
Q	[6]
Record Collector	[7]
Retro Pop	[8]
Rolling Stone	[9]
Smash Hits	8/10[10]
Vox	7/10[11]

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Billboard called Live Your Life Be Free "pleasantly engaging" and "much more consistent" than its 1989 predecessor Runaway Horses, noting that it "shows Carlisle's vocal growth as she stretches with different styles."^[12] Cashbox remarked that "you might notice a certain maturity coming from the girl who sang 'We Got the Beat' 10 years ago-go", describing the album as "a slight departure" from Carlisle's previous albums and noting her songwriting contributions on "Little Black Book" and "Loneliness Game".^[13]

Deborah Kirk of Rolling Stone was more critical, finding that "while her vocal technique has improved, her taste in songs has changed very little", and adding, "Every track ... 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."^[9]

In a retrospective review, Justin Kantor of AllMusic said that Live Your Life Be Free found Carlisle adding "a bit of dance flavor to her signature pop/rock stylings" and showed her "to be capable in a variety of musical contexts, and is a pleasing listen throughout."^[1] Steve Harnell of Classic Pop noted that "the two-pronged songwriting team of Nowels and Shipley feature throughout here but the material ... 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."^[14]

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.

• Belinda Carlisle – lead vocals
• Charles Judge – keyboards (1, 2, 4–9), drum programming (2, 5, 7, 9)
• Rick Nowels – arrangements (1, 2, 4–7, 9), keyboards (1, 2, 7), 12-string acoustic guitar (1), backing vocals (4, 6, 9), surf guitars (7), acoustic guitar (8), 6-string guitar (8), 12-string guitar (8)
• Kevin Savigar – keyboards (3, 8)
• David Munday – arrangements (4, 6), keyboards (4, 6), drum programming (4, 6), backing vocals (4, 6, 9)
• Kim Bullard – keyboards (10, 11)
• Michael Landau – guitars (1–3, 5–8, 10, 11), sitar solo (2)
• Ben Schultz – guitars (1, 4), drum programming (1)
• Rusty Anderson – guitars (3, 8)
• Eric Bazilian – mandolin (3)
• Paul Jackson Jr. – guitars (4)
• Dave Alvin – guitars (8)
• Jon Ingoldsby – additional guitars (10)
• T.J. Parker – guitar solo (11)
• John Pierce – bass (1, 7)
• Eric Pressly – bass (3, 8, 10, 11)
• Denny Fongheiser – drums (3, 10, 11), drum samples (10)
• Stan Lynch – drums (3), percussion (8)
• Kenny Aronoff – percussion (3), drums (8)
• Luis Conte – percussion (4)
• Michael Kamen – oboe (3)
• Patrick Seymour – orchestration (3), string arrangements (8)
• Sachi McHenry – cello (8)
• Charlie Bisharat – violin (8)
• Juliann French – violin (8)
• Valerie Pinkston – backing vocals (1, 2, 5–7, 9)
• Ellen Shipley – backing vocals (1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 10)
• Maria Vidal – backing vocals (1, 2, 4–7, 9, 10)
• Gia Ciambotti – backing vocals (3, 8)
• Sheryl Crow – backing vocals (3, 8, 10)
• Debra Parson – backing vocals (3, 8, 11)
• Edie Lehmann – backing vocals (4)
• Diana Graselli – backing vocals (5, 6, 9)
• Tom Kelly – backing vocals (6)
• Nadirah Ali – backing vocals (8)
• Marcy Levy – backing vocals (8)
• Naomi Star – backing vocals (8, 11)

• Producers – Rick Nowels (Tracks 1, 2, 4–7, 9, 10 & 11); Richard Feldman (Tracks 3 & 8); David Munday (Tracks 4 & 6); Eric Pressly (Tracks 10 & 11).
• Engineers – John Kovarek (Tracks 1, 2, 4, 5, 7 & 9); Greg Droman and Ross Hogarth (Tracks 3 & 8); Jon Ingoldsby (Tracks 3, 8, 10 & 11); Peter Arata (Tracks 4 & 6); Jim Reinhardt (Track 10); Steve Rinkoff (Track 11).
• Additional Engineer on Track 5 – Peter Arata
• Mixing – Steve MacMillan (Tracks 1 & 2); Mick Guzauski (Tracks 2 & 4); Peter Arata (Tracks 3, 5, 8, 10 & 11); Ken Kessie (Track 6); Mark DeSisto (Track 9).
• Mix Assistant – Danny Alonso
• Mixed at Cherokee Studios and Larrabee Sound Studios (Hollywood, CA); Lighthouse Studios (Los Angeles, CA); Can-Am Recorders (Tarzana, CA).
• Mastered by Stephen Marcussen at Precision Lacquer (Hollywood, CA).
• Art Direction – Nick Egan
• Design – Nick Egan and Eric Roinestad
• Illustration – Kathryn Otoshi
• Photography – Grant Matthews
• Still Life Photo – Michele Laurita
• Management – Larry Goldberg and Ron Stone
• Hair – Katarina Erhardt
• Make-up – Paul Starr
• Stylist – Jeannine Braden