The Wheel of Time (album)

Track listing

1. "Forgive Me" (Cretu - Cretu) — 4:25
2. "Footprints" (Filz/Schoenherz - Filz/Schoeherz) — 3:44
3. "Motivation" (Inker - Inker) — 4:03
4. "I Close My Eyes" (Jonas - Jonas/Cretu) — 4:07
5. "Perfect Touch" (Cassandra/Filz/Jedner - Filz) — 3:45
6. "Silent Running" (Robertson/Rutherford - Robertson/Rutherford) — 4:18
7. "Such a Shame" (Hollis - Hollis) — 4:21
8. "Now!" (Cretu/Gad - Cretu) — 4:02
9. "Freelove" (Gore - Gore) — 4:16
10. "Forever" (Ries/Filz - Ries/Filz) — 3:46
11. "The Wheel of Time" (Cretu/Gad - Cretu/Gad) — 4:08

Critical reception

Produced by Michael Cretu and Jens Gad, the album was well received by Sandra's fans, receiving positive reviews from critics, including a 3 star (Out of 5) Review from German website Laut.de. The first single "Forever", released in 2001, had moderate success and showed a new mature, more natural-looking Sandra, still sporting short hair. Although some criticised the fact that The Wheel of Time contained no less than five cover versions of 1980s songs, including the second single release "Such a Shame" (originally performed by Talk Talk), the album debuted and peaked at number eight on the German Album Charts, where it became successful. Michael Cretu convinced Sandra to cover a Depeche Mode song, which she did in just one take - "Freelove".

Singles

The album spawned three singles: "Forever", "Such a Shame" and "I Close My Eyes". "Forever" was released in October 2001 as the lead single and achieved moderate success, peaking at number forty seven on the German Singles Chart. The second single release was "Such a Shame", a cover of a hit single of the 1980s by British band Talk Talk, released in March 2002, which was a relative failure (number seventy six in Germany). "Forgive Me" was released in June 2002 as a third and promotional single in Germany only. This edition was released to promote the single only, but the single was later cancelled. "I Close My Eyes" was released in November 2002 as the album's fourth single, but the song wasn't successful on the charts and peaked only at number ninety three. The vocal of this song was reportedly recorded in one take.