And they said it wouldn’t last eh? 50 years on, Cliff has the last laugh, so the bachelor boy’s done well.
Britain’s answer to Elvis, Indian born Harry Roger Webb aka Cliff Richard OBE
has just set a new record, unlikely to ever be broken.
On its first week of release, Sir Cliff made the top three with single
Thank You For A Lifetime, giving him a remarkable achievement by having
a hit single in every decade since the '50s, an incredible 6 decades, equalled
only by Elvis. The stats don’t lie : 14 number 1s, 11 no. 2s, 8 no.3s, 6 no. 4s,
1 no.5, 40 Top 5s, 68 top 10s, 97 Top 20s, 120 Top 30s, 123, Top 40s, a grand
total of 134 hits singles. Globally, he’s sold a staggering 250 million records.
In latter years, his singles have been limited to Christmas releases, though
his pop credentials have never diminished one iota, and he’s as popular now as
ever, so EMI have pushed out the boat with this definitive collection of a
whopping 187 songs spanning his illustrious 50 year career. It doesn’t come
cheap though, around the £100 mark, but devotees will jump at it.
It’s everything a Cliff fan could ever want, making it the perfect Xmas pressie.
Sectioned into eight neat CDs – The Early Years, Rare B-Sides (1963-1989), Rare
EP tracks (1961-1991), Stage And Screen, The Hits - Number Ones Around The
World, Faith And Inspiration, Live In Japan ’72, and Lost And Found (From The
Archives) reveals an artist who left his Rock’n’Roll stylings, after a Christian
conversion, for a softening of his repertoire making him Britain’s first
genuine pop star, and national institution.
It all began with 1958’s Move It (originally recorded as a B-side to
Bobby Helms’ Schoolboy Crush included here), which peaked at 2, though
a year later he topped with Living Doll. It was the right decision, which
launched his career.
Much of the early years Richard spent emulating The King with very much an
American sound, with the best being the wholesome She’s Gone and ..showing
a definite shift in sound (and reverb), while A Girl Like You (CD 1)
sees him developing his own voice rather than merely ‘copying’ Elvis. On CD2,
you get 26 years worth of rare B-sides, with many of them potential singles.
There’s also a fair bit of what would now regarded as ‘cheese’ – Somebody
Loses, Occasional Rain, So Long, and I Was Only Fooling Myself,
though gems like Say You’re Mine, Empty Chairs and the ‘disco-fied’
Stronger Than That restore genuine credibility via some superb songwriting
which Cliff was totally dependent upon.
He faced fierce competition with the arrival of The Beatles and Rolling Stones
is the 60s during a time he considered quitting the business, but continued
to be popular throughout the decade culminating with Eurovision runner-up
Congratulations in ’68 and five year later in ’73 he came third with
Power To All Our Friends peaking at 4 in the UK charts.
Next (CD3) we get 30 years worth of rare EP songs – ’61 – ’91, the best of
which are the jazzy I’ll See You In My Dreams, Alberto Dominguez’s 1940’s
standard Frenesi (Frenzy) and the southern soul inflected classic
La La La, one of Cliff’s biggest musical departures. It has it low
point – the a capella It Came Upon A Midnight Clear. Its highpoint is a
brilliant take on the Rat Pack style on Sooner Or Later, a style that he
could have pursued with great success.
Showing his versatility, CD 4 plunders his stage and screen repertoire with
classic Dancing Shoes (Cliff At The Movies) and other hits, Bachelor Boy, Summer Holiday
on the CD5 – The Hits. Taken from The Young Ones we get Lessons In Love
and from Summer Holiday there’s Dancing Shoes. CD 5 has all the household
and world-wide songs which have sustained his glorious career, kicking off
with 1959’s lightweight ballad Living Doll to the Millennium Prayer.
Sandwiched in between are The Young Ones, and his signature tune Bachelor Boy.
1976 signalled a ‘comeback’ with the release of Devil Woman, signifying a
dramatic shift in style, taking him into the Top 10 for the first time in
three years. Three years later he topped with arguably his greatest song –
We Don’t Talk Anymore, a disco and party favourite.
By definition, (CD6) Faith And Inspiration deals with Christian orientated
material like Help It Along (UK chart 29 1973) with the staggeringly
beautiful Such Is The Mystery being the highlight. Live In Japan ’72
sees the Peter Pan of Pop on great form thrilling his adoring fans with a
selection of then recent, but lack lustre singles – Sunny Honey Girl,
Flying Machine, Silvery Rain.
By the mid-point he’s on fire, rolling out classics including Move It,
Bachelor Boy, The Young Ones and Congratulations. The final CD,
8, has 21 previously unreleased tracks ranging from beat – a Rolling Stones
sounding intro for Deep Purple to ballads, which most of them are, to rocker
Mobile Alabama School Leaving, between ’65 and ’74.
Put into context, whether you like his music or not, this is a fantastic
collection.
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
Review & concert pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004-2008.
