Ancient Heart


Ancient Heart is the debut studio album by British pop/folk singer-songwriter Tanita Tikaram, released by Warner Music Group on 12 September 1988. The album was a hit globally, launching 19-year-old Tikaram's career. Guest musicians include Rod Argent, Mark Isham, Peter Van Hooke, Paul Brady, and Brendan Croker; Argent and Van Hooke also produced the album. Four singles were released from the album: "Good Tradition", "Twist in My Sobriety", "Cathedral Song" and "World Outside Your Window". In October 2025, Tikaram will release a follow-up album, LIAR .

Reception

The [New York Times] stated that "it's almost impossible to believe that the creator of the record's moody, enigmatic ballads is only 19 years old. The mournful contralto of this English singer sounds like a softer folkish echo of such quintessentially cosmopolitan voices as those of Nico and Grace Jones... The somberly lovely arrangements on Ancient Heart feature a string quartet on several cuts, and in "For All These Years," Mark Isham's trumpet and fluegelhorn envelop her unusually mature voice in rich wistful atmosphere."
Billboard noted that "U.K. vocalist exhibits mature pipes and a simple yet sophisticated writing style on her debut... Hard to pigeonhole her elusive sound; it could take with the same listeners who were drawn to Toni Childs. Great promise here."
A review from Spin observed "more miserable than Leonard Cohen, more cryptic than Kate Bush, Tanita Tikaram wears her ancient heart on her album sleeve... Tikaram turns out to be a real magpie, pinching bits from hither and thither and building them into something of her own, albeit something willfully abstract... It's her voice that helps the music triumph over her self-consciously adult lyrics. An extremely mellifluous instrument for one of such tender years, it has the resonance of someone a lot more mature and world-weary."
In a retrospective write-up from AllMusic, Jose F. Promis claimed the record "stands as one of the most underappreciated albums of the 1980s... created a melancholy and wistful work, mature beyond her years, of startling originality and honesty. While this album may be considered folkish and artsy, it never stoops to the clichés that dominated those styles of music in the later Lilith Fair years... Ancient Heart is a smoky, world-weary album, that, years after its initial release, does not sound one bit dated and has effortlessly stood the test of time."

Track listing

All words and music by Tanita Tikaram.
  1. "Good Tradition"
  2. "Cathedral Song"
  3. "Sighing Innocents"
  4. "I Love You"
  5. "World Outside Your Window"
  6. "For All These Years"
  7. "Twist in My Sobriety"
  8. "Poor Cow"
  9. "He Likes the Sun"
  10. "Valentine Heart"
  11. "Preyed Upon"

    Personnel

Certifications and sales