Cliff Richard - Back from the Wilderness Singles and Albums 1975 - 1995

I've tended to watch (firstly the VHS) and now the DVD of the concert, so the LP (then CD, then double CD) are things I've never really listened to. Probably why ALL THE TIME YOU NEED is to me, pretty well unknown - to the extent I wasn't even aware it was on the album! Wasted on the live album really. Stronger was long enough anyway to add it there, so it's better than it just hiding on the CD single. Christmas songs on 'normal' albums are a bad idea too.

I wonder if there will ever be a release of the Shadows/Cliff and The Shadows sets in full (on CD and DVD). What was the problem in the first place?

 

I think the problem with the Shadows/Cliff and The Shadows sets in full was something to do with royalties with The Shadows getting paid properly etc. Not sure what the ins and outs was, but seem to remember Bruce or Hank saying something.

 

Agree, great song.

 

I had forgotten just how great the Oh Boy! set was, it is so energetic and they all sound as if they had do much fun performing it. However, I have always had a sneaking suspicion that a lot of it is not a true live recording at all....

 

Yes, I think I remember something along those lines. You'd hope they could be sorted by now though! A stand-alone album of the Shadows and the Cliff and The Shadows set would be something you'd hope could be sorted. Before there's no audience for it.

 

As I have said earlier, I support the notion of "ALL THE TIME YOU NEED" almost being wasted here. It´s a great song, and should have appropriate surroundings.

I seem to remember that The Shadows recorded for Polydor/Polygram at the time, and that they wouldn´t release the recordings on an EMI album. (Edit: By "they" I mean Polydgram, not The Shadows themselves.)

And yes, I usually watch the DVD when I enjoy this album. Great show.

 

I have suspected as much - they do so much running around that you´d think they would need some help. And that´s OK by me, unlike the "SHARE A DREAM" debacle.

And yes, it looks like great fun was had by all. It´s a very infectious show.

 

The unreleased songs are, according to Robert Porter:
* BACHELOR BOY
* WILLIE AND THE HAND JIVE
* LIVING DOLL
* PLEASE DON´T TEASE
* DYNAMITE
* IT´LL BE ME

 

Not enough for a full album there then! But, perhaps with the couple that were licenced, and the Shadows solo set, something could happen. Probably won't though. After all, how long did it take the 1962 live album to be released...

 

I think most of us will be dead by the time they get around to releasing it. I don´t miss it that much, as I already have far too many versions of those songs. But I do agree that we need the complete set from all the artists.

 

I agree, there's nothing new, but I feel it should be available, for completeness sake.

 

I´m enough of a completist to agree with you. Completely. (See what I did there?)

And while we´re sort of on that subject: How about DVD/Blu-ray releases of the unavailable concerts/compilations? "THE VIDEO CONNECTION", expanded from 1983-2017, would be appreciated...

 

Most certainly! And time is of the essence for much of the fanbase...

 

I would love to have The Hit List, Access All Areas, The Video Connection and even Thank You Very Much on DVD or Blu Ray, I gave them all on VHS but no VHS machine to watch them on, sadly.

 

Same here. I know where I can buy bootleg DVDs of most of those shows, but I want the real thing.

 

He, he... Yeah. After all, we won´t live forever.

 

Does anyone of you know whether there is an address to write to get some of these shows/compilations released on DVD/Blu-ray? I could try here in Norway, but we are such a petite little country, with zero influence. (And Cliff´s image here is even worse than in the UK, I think.) Perhaps someone in Denmark, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands or the UK could try writing or phoning?

I have tried this before, and sometimes it works. I admit to being sceptical, but what do we have to lose?

 

You'd assume the CRO would be well aware of the demand - it is regularly mentioned on Cliff's official website forum. I don't understand why it isn't happening!

 

Well, the CRO aren´t known for taking hints from fans. I also fear that the controllers of the rights to those concerts/compilations know that the market for them is fairly limited. Maybe we´ll see some action when Cliff is no longer around. (Don´t mean to be morbid.)

 

I do agree with you there.
The market is limited unfortunately which is how it would be looked out by any record/DVD company.
Saying that, there are specialist companies out there, but wether the owners of the copyrights to these shows/recordings would allow a release is a different matter.

 

Is there really that much of a limited market? Look how long the 75th Birthday DVD stayed in the charts for, over a year wasn't it? Surely the demand is there?

 

You could argue that it's the DVD market which is Cliff's most successful area now.

 

Yes. DVDs and calendars. Strange for a 76 year old entertainer, perhaps.

 

Well, DVD sales have been down compared to earlier, haven´t they? So if the 75th Birthday DVD stayed in the charts for a long time, it doesn´t necessarily follow that a huge amount of copies were sold. Same with the singles and albums sales - it takes fewer copies sold to reach the charts now.

Still, I hope you´re right. That might tempt the powers that be to release back catalogue DVDs. I´m all for it.

 

Single No. 127: 1998 October 12 — UK — EMI CDEMS 526
A-side: "CAN´T KEEP THIS FEELING IN" (Written by Dennis Lambert, Steve Skinner & Arnie Roman)
B-side: "LARGER DESIGN" (Written by Peter Wolf & Michelle Wolf)
B-side: "CAN´T KEEP THIS FEELING IN" (5AM Little America Mix) (Written by Dennis Lambert, Steve Skinner & Arnie Roman)
B-side: "AFTER THIS LOVE" (Written by Sheppard Soloman, John Clifford & Larry Tag)
B-side: "CAN´T KEEP THIS FEELING IN" (Step Child Mix) (Written by Dennis Lambert, Steve Skinner & Arnie Roman)
Produced by Peter Wolf









Awfully glad to be back to "normal services". Having a go at compilations and live albums was interesting enough, but I´m glad to be back to ordinary single and album releases.

And they don´t come more "ordinary" than this one. Cliff celebrated 40 years in the business in 1998, and the first new release of 1998 was the single "CAN´T KEEP THIS FEELING IN". The intro brings back memories of 70s soft soul classics by The Stylistics. If only the song itself was as strong as some of those were. Cliff launches into a falsetto whisper for most of the song. Colour me unimpressed. Don´t get me wrong - the single did take him back into the the UK Top Ten, if only by the skin of his teeth. (It also reached No. 83 in the Netherlands.) Robert Porter has the story of how this song was launched. It´s an interesting story, with echoes of the "I CAN´T ASK FOR ANYMORE THAN YOU". Again, if only the single was as interesting. (Just IMO, of course.)

Here´s what Robert Porter has to say:

"First of all, yes, Blacknight, I released the song Can't Keep This Feeling In because I felt that it was a very soulful song and I felt it a bit more like a boy band than me, 41 year old-- well, I think, 41 year old career. But it was picked up by many stations, including the BBC. The main culprits, really, for the injustice was I was picked up by a lot of soul stations, black stations here in Britain. And I found myself in two different soul charts. And the minute they discovered it was me, they stopped playing it. And I really couldn't understand that, because-- I mean, if a record's good [and] if you like a record, then just because you discover it's someone that's a surprise to you, why should that make a record less good? I mean, I really couldn't figure that one out and I was really quite hurt by it. But I'd won my point. I had proved the point that there is a prejudice against people like myself who've been singing for a long time. And I know we have to make room for the youngsters, of course we do. But it doesn't mean we have to step down. We merely have to sort of step aside. And in fact, I always think that if these kids are gonna get by me, they're gonna have to punch their way by. [...] The song, for instance that we talked about originally that was released by Blacknight, I Can't Keep This Feeling In [sic]-- a very souly song and I sing it mostly in falsetto and that's what fooled everybody here [in the UK]. I'm hoping that that kind of song will appeal to [my American] record company as a single because it's my kind of music."
Cliff Richard (May 2000 - WGN Radio 720 Chicago interview)
"No matter how hard he tries to reinvent himself or how potentially credible his music is, the mainstream remains continually uninterested. Heck, he's even released club records as white labels and revealed himself when the track has generated the required amount of buzz. Instead of breaking through the hypocrisy, most people just go 'yeah, yeah, now piss off Grandad' and the whole thing is a waste of time."
James Masterton (December 17, 2006 - dotmusic.com chart review)

"When the [Real As I Wanna Be] album was released, [Cliff] played a little game with the radio stations to prove his point that their refusal to play his music was because of his age, image and beliefs, not the quality of the music. He had some advance promotion white labels pressed of a remix of his next single, Can't Keep This Feeling In, attributing the recording to the as yet unknown artists Blacknight 001. The plan was to get the single accepted by saying it was the work of a young mixed-race boy from South London. As Cliff had anticipated, this version of the single was given widespread airplay, especially on young urban stations that would never normally touch his material. E-Ze at Juice 105 FM declared it 'wicked rap'. Kurt Gee at Rebel FM thought it was 'cool'. 'It ended up number one on Climax Radio, Choice FM and all these cool urban stations,' says Clive Black. 'Eventually Cliff did a phoner with a DJ on Choice FM and the guy asked him to reveal who he was and he said, I'm called Cliff Richard. It was very funny. I don't think they played it again but Cliff thought he'd made a point.' [...] Surprisingly, some of the better songs [on Real As I Wanna Be] such as Even If It Breaks My Heart and United For Evermore with their Bee-Gees-style harmonies were never released as singles. Instead the more mundane Can't Keep This Feeling In (not the remix) and the gospel-flavoured The Miracle were chosen."
Steve Turner (2008 January - Cliff Richard - The Biography (revised edition))

"[No story from Cliff's career is] more admirable than his decision to mark his 40th anniversary in the business in 1998 by releasing Can't Keep This Feeling In under a false name in order to demonstrate that radio stations were discriminating against him. When his identity was revealed, the record mysteriously disappeared from the playlists-- thus proving his case."
Richard Williams (September 2008 - liner notes for 50th Anniversary Album album)

"Cliff Richard—The Collection is brought to a close with Can't Keep This Feeling In, a song lifted for single release from Real As I Wanna Be."
Peter Lewry & Nigel Goodall (July 2010 - liner notes for The Collection album)


Running Time: 3:50
Record Date: March to April 1996 & November 1997
Record Location: Little America Recording Studios, Weiler, Austria
Written By: Dennis Lambert, Steve Skinner & Arnie Roman
Produced By: Peter Wolf
Engineered By: Christian Leitgeb, Chris Heil, Paul Erickson and/or Keith Bessey
Performed By: Cliff Richard (vocals), Peter Wolf (keyboards, bass, percussion, synclavier strings), Vinnie Colaiuta (drums), Paul Jackson Jr. (guitar, sitar), Michelle Wolf (backing vocals)

Can't Keep This Feeling In
(Dennis Lambert, Steve Skinner & Arnie Roman)
Running Time: 3:50
This is the same as on the Real As I Wanna Be album.

Larger Design
(Peter Wolf & Michelle Wolf)
Running Time: 3:06
This is an original B-side.

Can't Keep This Feeling In (5AM Little America Mix)
(Dennis Lambert, Steve Skinner & Arnie Roman)
Running Time: 6:26
This is remixed from the Real As I Wanna Be album version, with some subtley added percussion throughout. Most notably, the intro is greatly extended with several repeated samples of Cliff's vocals from the chorus and a full instrumental verse and chorus. Also, just after the song's vocal bridge there is an added instrumental part with additional repeated samples of Cliff's vocals from the chorus.

After This Love
(Sheppard Soloman, John Clifford & Larry Tag)
Running Time: 5:01
This is an original B-side.

Can't Keep This Feeling In (Step Child Mix)
(Dennis Lambert, Steve Skinner & Arnie Roman)
Running Time: 5:05
This is remixed from the Real As I Wanna Be album version, with a vastly different backing track featuring several vocal samples, new keyboards and percussion, and periodic rap samples from rapper M.C. Fly. The choruses are greatly edited, with repeated samples of Cliff singing the lines "can't keep this feelin' in," "I can't hold it back" and "You know i'm trying to." Just after the song's bridge is an extended rap section with rapping by M.C. Fly.

And about the release of the single:
This single is famous for initially being released as a 12" and CD single to dance clubs and radio with only the song title and the "BLACKNIGHT" label (no artist listed). Distributed with these promos was a survey asking for feedback on the song. It began getting respectable airplay on various radio, with some indication that some assumed it was a new black R&B artist named Blacknight. When it was discovered that it was Cliff Richard, radio immediately dropped the song from their playlists.
CD1 of the 2 CD set came with three prints of Cliff from the Real As I Wanna Be photo sessions. These prints were double sided with one side featuring a unique photo of Cliff and the other side having the same text identifying the print (exclusive 1 of 3).

I had a friend in Moscow called Andrej, who was a Cliff fan like me. We discussed "old" Cliff releases, and had a good time disagreeing about their merits - or lack thereof. I remember "guiding" him into a love for the "GREEN LIGHT" album, which he detested on first listen. Anyway, he was a big fan of Peter Wolf, and he was looking forward to his collaboration with Cliff. His expectations were sky high.

So, who is this Peter Wolf? Here is his information from Wikipedia:
Peter F. Wolf (born August 26, 1952, Vienna, Austria) is a composer, producer, songwriter and arranger. In 2002, he was awarded the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class (Österreichische Ehrenkreuz für Wissenschaft und Kunst). Peter Wolf is married to fashion model and songwriter Lea Wolf-Millesi.

Early years
Wolf studied classical piano at Vienna’s Conservatory of Music. At the age of 16, he won the European Jazz Festival as a solo pianist. Wolf was awarded twice with the Deutscher Schallplattenpreis, a German award, for his work with André Heller and Erika Pluhar.

Coming to America in his early twenties, Wolf worked with local musicians such as Neal Starkey (bassist) and Bill Hatcher (guitarist) in Atlanta, Georgia and with Steve Sample, Jr. (drummer, son of Steve Sample, Sr.) and Ray Reach (keyboardist, guitarist, vocalist) in Birmingham, Alabama.

After his time in the southeastern United States, he moved to Los Angeles, California, where he played keyboards for Frank Zappa in the late 1970s. After his work with Zappa, he then went on to the band Group 87 with Patrick O'Hearn, Terry Bozzio, Peter Maunu, and Mark Isham.

Film scores
In addition to his career in the world of rock and popular music, Wolf has scored a number of motion pictures including the 1993 film Neverending Story III, and Weekend at Bernie's II. Wolf has also composed many scores in Europe including the new animated picture for the Oscar-winning “Best Foreign Film” producer, Sven Ebeling, entitled “Nutcracker and Mouse King”, nominated for the Deutscher Filmpreis. He scored Leon DeWinter’s film The Hollywood Sign, starring Rod Steiger, Burt Reynolds and Tom Berenger.

Wolf’s other compositional credits also include the score for the number one German picture in 1997 Irren Ist Männlich (To Err is a Male Thing), as well as films such as Die Cellistin (The Cellist), Widows, St. Pauli Nacht (St. Pauli Night), The Fearless Four and Band on the Run. In 1995 Wolf received the Billy Wilder Award of the Austrian Film Academy and the University of Vienna.

In 2011, Peter Wolf wrote the music for the Christmas movie Als der Weihnachtsmann vom Himmel fiel. In July 2015 Peter Wolf and Lea Wolf-Millesi launched "Whamslam"- an online based Entertainment platform/App that combines creativity, music and education.

Awards
In 2008, Wolf was honored with a BAMA Award (Birmingham Area Music Award) for his contributions to the Birmingham music scene. This award is the local Birmingham equivalent of the Grammy. Peter and Chuck Leavell both performed at the BAMA Award ceremony, backed by the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame All-Stars and directed by Ray Reach.

Discography
A Change in My Life / "Kraft durch Freude" (1969)
Tutti / "Tutti" (1980)
Progression - A Symphony by Peter Wolf (2000)
The Other Side (2003)
Sense-ation - A Symphony by Peter Wolf (2004)
Gipsy Love
Gipsy Love (The White Album) (1970)
Here We Come (1972)
Frank Zappa
Sheik Yerbouti (March 1979), #21 US (Single "Bobby Brown", Peter Wolf on Keyboards, Butter, Flora Margarine)
Joe's Garage 1 (1979), #27 US
Joe's Garage 2 & 3 (April–June 1979)
Tinsel Town Rebellion (May 11, 1981), #66 US
Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar (May 1981)
Wolf & Wolf
Culture Shocked / "Think Pink" (1982)
Wolf & Wolf / "Don't Take the Candy" (1984)
Grace Slick
Software (1984)
Vienna
Guess What? (1987)
Chicago
Chicago XXXII: Stone of Sisyphus (1994/2008)
arrangement and accompaniment
Jefferson Starship (Nuclear Furniture / "No Way Out" #23 US, 1984)
Survivor (Vital Signs, 1984)
The Commodores ("Nightshift" #3 US, #3 UK, 1985)
Starship ("We Built This City" #1 US, #12 UK, 16 and 23 November 1985)
Starship ("Sara" #1 US, March 15, 1986)
Wang Chung ("Everybody Have Fun Tonight" #2 US, #76 UK, 1986) [also performed drums]
Wang Chung ("Let's Go" #9 US, #81 UK, 1987) [also performed drums]
El Debarge ("Who's Johnny" #1 US, 1986, main theme of the film, Short Circuit)
Big Country ("Peace In Our Time", 1988)
Nik Kershaw ("The Works", 1989)
Go West ("King of Wishful Thinking" from the film Pretty Woman #8 US, #18 UK, 1990)
Go West ("Faithful" #14 US, #13 UK, 1992)
Heart ("These Dreams" #1 US, 1986)
Heart ("What About Love" #10 US, 1985) (synth, piano & creative input)
Patti Labelle ("On My Own" #1 US, 1986)
4Him ("Love Finds You," "Between You And Me," & "Wings" from Ride of Life, 1994) (producer, keyboards, bass, piano, percussion, arrangements)
4Him ("Sacred Hideaway" from The Message, 1996) (producer, keyboards, arrangements)
Bryan Duncan ("Traces of Heaven, "Your Love, My Saving Grace" & "Things Are Gonna Change" from Slow Revival, 1994) (keyboards & track arrangements)
Bryan Duncan (Mercy, 1992) (keyboards & track arrangements)
Bryan Duncan (Anonymous Confessions of A Lunatic Friend, 1990) (keyboards)
Kenny Loggins ("Playing with the Boys" from the films Top Gun and Side Out)
Kenny Loggins (Back to Avalon, 1988)
The Escape Club ("I'll Be There" #8 US, 1991)
Starship ("Good Heart" #81 US, 1991)
Indecent Obsession ("Kiss Me" #1 South Africa for 27 weeks, 1992)
The Pointer Sisters ("Only Sisters Can Do That" 1993) (Producer)
Cliff Richard ("Can't Keep this Feeling In" #10 UK, 1998 and album Real As I Wanna Be #10 UK, 1998) (Producer)
Chicago (Chicago XXXII: Stone of Sisyphus, 2008) (producer, arrangements, keyboards, keyboard bass)
Maurice White (Maurice White, 1985) (keyboards)
Lou Gramm (Long Hard Look, 1989) (producer, keyboards)
Laura Branigan (Laura Branigan, 1990) (producer, keyboards, keyboard bass, percussion, arrangements)
Scorpions (band) Eye II Eye 1999 (producer, piano, keyboards)

The songwriters of the A-side deserve a couple of lines of their own.

Dennis Lambert (born 1947 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American musician, songwriter and record producer.[1][2]

Career

Lambert began his music career in 1960 when he signed to Capitol Records as a recording artist. By the mid-1960s, he was writing and producing for other artists. Among his earliest work with his first main collaborator Lou Courtney were songs for Freddie & the Dreamers, Lorraine Ellison, Jerry Butler and Jerry Lee Lewis.

In 1965, Lambert joined the A&R staff of Mercury Records where he was mentored by Quincy Jones and Shelby Singleton, before joining Don Costa at DCP Records, where he ran the label's A&R department, producing and writing songs.

After a spell in the US army during the Vietnam war, he moved to Los Angeles in 1968 and the following year, forged a successful 11-year working collaboration with young British songwriter-musician, Brian Potter after the two met while Lambert was in London in 1969.

Lambert and Potter joined a new record label in Los Angeles, Talent Associates, founded by producer-director Steve Binder, where they worked as producers and songwriters. They signed the Original Caste (One Tin Soldier) and worked on developing the artist roster, which included Seals and Crofts. When Talent Associates was put up for sale, the publishing assets were sold in 1971 to ABC-Dunhill Records and the two also joined the label. They wrote and produced for The Grass Roots, Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds, Gayle McCormick, the Four Tops, Dusty Springfield and Richard Harris, often working with A&R chief/producer Steve Barri. Lambert also released a solo album, Bags & Things in 1972.

In 1974, they formed their own record label, Haven Records, distributed by Capitol Records, with a roster that included The Righteous Brothers, The Grass Roots, Evie Sands and Player. During this period, they also wrote and produced albums for Tavares and Glen Campbell on Capitol.

Among the hit songs Lambert and Potter co-wrote and/or produced in the 1970s are "Ain't No Woman (Like the One I've Got)" (which Jay-Z later interpolated in "Ain't No Nigga") and "Keeper of the Castle" for the Four Tops; "Don't Pull Your Love", for Hamilton, Joe Frank and Reynolds, "Rhinestone Cowboy" and "Country Boy" for Glen Campbell; "It Only Takes a Minute" by Tavares; and "Baby Come Back" for Player. They produced The Righteous Brothers' major hit "Rock and Roll Heaven" which revived the duo's recording career in 1974.

In the 1980s, Lambert continued to write and produce alone under his Tuneworks banner. Credits include hits with The Commodores ("Nightshift"), Starship ("We Built This City", "Sara"), The Temptations ("Love on My Mind Tonight"), Dennis Edwards ("Don't Look Any Further") and Natalie Cole ("Pink Cadillac", "I Live For Your Love").

In the 1990s, Lambert wrote and produced for Dave Koz, Little River Band, Elaine Paige and Dionne Warwick, among others. He also composed the musical score to the film directed by Edward James Olmos, American Me. In the mid-1990s, Lambert returned to New York and established Babylon Entertainment which included the record label imprint distributed by Trauma Records (BMG) and music publishing companies.

Lambert moved to south Florida in the 2000s and was the subject of an award-winning feature-length documentary film, Of All the Things, directed by his screenwriter son Jody Lambert, which followed him on a cross-country tour of the Philippines, where he is seen as an iconic singer-songwriter.[1] In 2011, Warner Bros Pictures and Steve Carell optioned the rights to do a re-make based on Lambert's life story. Lambert and Potter also reunited to write a musical for Broadway which is in active development. Lambert has also performed live as a singer touring his show.

Lambert should not be confused with the Denis Lambert of the Los Angeles folk-rock band, Lambert & Nuttycombe.

As composer
"Find My Way Back Home" (1965), The Nashville Teens
"One Tin Soldier", "Mr. Monday" (1969), by Original Caste(Canada)
"One Tin Soldier" by Coven,(1971)(1973)
"It's A Cryin' Shame" (1971), Gayle McCormick
"Don't Pull Your Love" (1971), Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds
"Two Divided by Love", The Grass Roots (1971)
"The Runway", The Grass Roots (1972)
"Ain't No Woman (Like the One I've Got)" (1973), Four Tops
"Are You Man Enough" (1973), Four Tops (From Shaft in Africa)
"Put a Little Love Away" (1974), The Emotions
"It Only Takes a Minute", (1975) Tavares
"You Brought The Woman Out of Me", (1975) Evie Sands
As producer[edit]
Keeper of the Castle (1972), Four Tops
Through all Times(1973), Chuck Jackson
"Rock and Roll Heaven"single (1974), The Righteous Brothers
"Give it to the People"album (1974), The Righteous Brothers
"The Sons of Mrs.Righteous"album (1975), The Righteous Brothers
"Blood Brothers" (1974), Gene Redding
Hard Core Poetry (1974), Tavares
Margie – (1975), Margie Joseph
In the City (1975), Tavares
Rhinestone Cowboy (album) (1976), Glen Campbell
Bloodline (1976), Glen Campbell
"Baby Come Back", (1977), Player
"Don't Look Any Further" (1984), Dennis Edwards
Nightshift (1985), The Commodores
"Love on My Mind Tonight", The Temptations
"Pink Cadillac"(1988), Natalie Cole
Jerry Butler
Cameo – (1973)Dusty Springfield
Love Music – (1973)Sergio Mendes & Brasil 77
Living together Growing together – (1973)The 5th Dimension
Tony Orlando & Dawn

The other songwriters do not have such a long list of achievements, but they have contributed to albums by Trisha Yearwood, 3rd Party, Patty Loveless, the Pointer Sisters, Celine Dion, Marc Anthony, Cher and many others.

This single was released on they very day I turned 33 1/2, in the year that my mother died. Safe to say my thoughts weren´t centered around Cliff. In fact, this was the year I abandoned Cliff for a while. I kept buying his albums and singles, but with gradually less enthusiasm than I used to feel. This had many reasons, but the mediocrity of the "REAL AS I WANNA BE" was a major factor.

It will be interesting to see what you think of this single and, later, the album. I have few facts, but many opinions. Let the meeting of minds begin. Please join us, @Bobby Morrow.