It's a Man's World

It's a Man's World is the twenty-second album by American singer-actress, Cher released on November 6, 1995 by Warner Bros Records. This is also the start of her second stint with the label. It has sold 6,000,000 copies world-wide. It peaked at #64 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart with sales of 17,000.

It's a Man's World found Cher singing 'unconventional' songs in a style more associated with the Deep South, rather than her more familiar pop and rock roots. The album also stands out for Cher stretching her vocals to head register for such songs as "One by One" and "The Gunman", getting out of her comfort zone of her trademark husky contralto.

Cher recorded It's a Man's World in London in 1995. That same year the album was released all over Europe with "Walking in Memphis" as its lead off single. The original album included fourteen songs, but when it was released in the United States in 1996 the setlist included only eleven songs. Three songs, "I Wouldn't Treat a Dog (The Way You Treated Me)", "Don't Come Around Tonite" and "The Shape of Things to Come" had been removed from the American release. The American release was also reviewed by critics as a 'mid-'90s R&B/pop phenomenon' due to the removal of these three rock songs and also due to five songs remixed to evoke a contemporary R&B feel. The new versions of those songs: "Not Enough Love in the World", "Paradise Is Here", "Angels Running", "What About the Moonlight" and "One by One" were labeled as album versions in the United States. Their new sound carried R&B influences, while their original versions were influenced by Southern rock and blues.

Because of the alterations, the American release was also compared to Madonna's Bedtime Stories which at the time marked a change in Madonna's music. The album was also compared to the style of Boyz II Men. One critic Jose F. Promis from Allmusic described the album as "one of the singer's finest", which justifies Cher as a true singer rather than a mere entertainer. While the album was temporarily sidelined by her dizzying worldwide success with Believe, in recent years it has been rediscovered and credited.

Original version
No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. "Walking in Memphis" Cohn 3:58
2. "Not Enough Love in the World" Henley, Kortchmar, Tench 4:23
3. "One by One" Griffiths 5:06
4. "I Wouldn't Treat a Dog (The Way You Treated Me)" Bland 3:37
5. "Angels Running" Larkin 4:40
6. "Paradise Is Here" Brady 5:05
7. "I'm Blowin' Away" Kaz 4:04
8. "Don't Come Around Tonite" Addison, Sharp 4:37
9. "What About the Moonlight" York 4:15
10. "The Same Mistake" Jordan 4:28
11. "The Gunman" McAloon 5:13
12. "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore" Crewe, Gaudio 5:15
13. "Shape of Things to Come" Creme, Horn 4:08
14. "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" Newsome 4:37

American version
No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. "One by One" (Sam Ward Remix) Griffiths 4:06
2. "Not Enough Love in the World" (Sam Ward Remix) Henley, Kortchmar, Tench 4:24
3. "Angels Running" (Daniel Abraham Remix) Larkin 4:34
4. "What About the Moonlight" (Sam Ward Remix) York 4:17
5. "Paradise Is Here" (Sam Ward Remix) Brady 4:40
6. "The Same Mistake" Jordan 4:25
7. "I'm Blowin' Away" Kaz 4:02
8. "Walking in Memphis" Cohn 3:58
9. "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore" Crewe, Gaudio 5:13
10. "The Gunman" (edit) McAloon 5:08
11. "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" Newsome 4:36

Covers

These are the covered songs on the album and their original singers.

* Walking in Memphis (Marc Cohn)
* Not Enough Love in the World (Don Henley)
* One by One (The Real People)
* I Wouldn't Treat a Dog (The Way You Treated Me) (Bobby Blue Bland)
* Angels Running - originally titled "Good Thing" (Patty Larkin)
* Paradise Is Here (Tina Turner)
* I'm Blowin' Away (Linda Ronstadt)
* The Same Mistake (Marc Jordan)
* The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore (Frankie Valli)
* It's a Man's Man's Man's World (James Brown)

Cher Official Website: https://www.cherfanclub.com