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

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Jarleboy, Sep 28, 2016.

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  1. Jarleboy

    Jarleboy Music was my first love Thread Starter

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    "EVEN IF IT BREAKS MY HEART", written by Adam Gorgoni, Phil Roy, Shelly Peiken, does, as @Bobby Morrow pointed out, sound like a 90s Bee Gees song. It´s a perfectly pleasant song, but eminently forgettable. Putting it another way, if the Gibb brothers wrote this song, it would have been a B-side or a veeery deep album cut. Empty calories. IMO.

    Robert Porter:
    "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. The album and the first single both peaked at number ten on the album's release in October 1998. The Miracle failed to chart."
    Steve Turner (2008 January - Cliff Richard - The Biography (revised edition))

    Running Time: 3:44
    Record Date: 1997 or 1998
    Record Location: Little America Recording Studios, Weiler, Austria and/or Ocean Recording Studios, Burbank, California, USA and/or Arco Recording Studios, Munich, Germany and/or R.G. Jones Recording Studios, Wimbledon and/or The Pierce Room, London
    Written By: Shelly Peiken, Adam Gorgoni & Phil Roy
    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), Everette Harp (alto sax), Michelle Wolf (backing vocals)

     
    Last edited: Mar 11, 2017
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  2. Jarleboy

    Jarleboy Music was my first love Thread Starter

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    "CLIMBING UP MOUNT EVEREST", written by Robin Lerner and Tommy Lee James, sounds as if Cliff wrote it himself. Again, not a terrible song, but not a very interesting one, either.

    Robert Porter:
    Running Time: 3:01
    Record Date: 1997 or 1998
    Record Location: Little America Recording Studios, Weiler, Austria and/or Ocean Recording Studios, Burbank, California, USA and/or Arco Recording Studios, Munich, Germany and/or R.G. Jones Recording Studios, Wimbledon and/or The Pierce Room, London
    Written By: Tommy Lee James & Robin Lerner
    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), Anastasios Panos (drums), Jeff Richman (guitar), Michael Landau (guitar), Michelle Wolf (backing vocals)

     
    Last edited: Mar 11, 2017
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  3. Bobby Morrow

    Bobby Morrow Senior Member

    I don't want to pick, but I don't think I ever said that.:)
     
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  4. Jarleboy

    Jarleboy Music was my first love Thread Starter

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    "UNITED FOR EVERMORE", written by Dennis Morgan, John McLaughlin, Steve DuBerry, is the next track. The co-composer can´t be the guitarist and almost avant-garde musician, can it? Please, someone tell me.

    And, as stated below, this is someone´s idea of a great song... Say no more.

    Robert Porter:
    "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))

    Running Time: 4:21
    Record Date: 1997 or 1998
    Record Location: Little America Recording Studios, Weiler, Austria and/or Ocean Recording Studios, Burbank, California, USA and/or Arco Recording Studios, Munich, Germany and/or R.G. Jones Recording Studios, Wimbledon and/or The Pierce Room, London
    Written By: Stephen Duberry, John McLaughlin & Dennis Morgan
    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, funky percolator), Vinnie Colaiuta (drums), Paul Jackson Jr. (guitar), Michelle Wolf (backing vocals)

     
    Last edited: Mar 11, 2017
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  5. Jarleboy

    Jarleboy Music was my first love Thread Starter

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    You´re completely right, as usual. I just found out I read it on Robert Porter´s website.

    Take it as a compliment: Whenever I see something sensible written in here, I expect it to be you. And I´m not even joking. :angel:
     
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  6. mark ab

    mark ab Forum Resident

    Location:
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    This could be the John McLaughlin. Seems to be a pop songwriter who would have been writing chart hits around the time of this album.
    Songwriter John McLaughlin: I dream of getting the Bay City Rollers back into the charts
     
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  7. Jarleboy

    Jarleboy Music was my first love Thread Starter

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    "SHE MAKES ME FEEL LIKE A MAN" is, somewhat surprisingly, a Cliff co-write. (With Peter and Michelle Wolf.) I have always liked this song, although it could easily have been trimmed - by a couple of minutes. It´s overlong, but it´s one of my three favourites from this album. I wasn´t aware that Cliff had a hand in the writing of this song at the time, but that was a pleasant surprise a few years later. Enjoy.

    Robert Porter:
    Running Time: 5:38
    Record Date: 1997 or 1998
    Record Location: Little America Recording Studios, Weiler, Austria and/or Ocean Recording Studios, Burbank, California, USA and/or Arco Recording Studios, Munich, Germany and/or R.G. Jones Recording Studios, Wimbledon and/or The Pierce Room, London
    Written By: Peter Wolf, Michelle Wolf & Cliff Richard
    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), Ricky Lawson (drums), Michael Landau (guitar), Michelle Wolf (backing vocals), Lynn Davis (backing vocals), Kevin Dorsey (backing vocals), Phil Perry (backing vocals), Daryyl Phinnessee (backing vocals)

    Here is a live version from the 40th anniversary concert in the Royal Alert Hall.

     
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  8. Jarleboy

    Jarleboy Music was my first love Thread Starter

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    "BUTTERFLY KISSES", written by Bob Carlisle and Randy Thomas, and a country hit for the former, was briefly considered for a Cliff single release. Cliff has had some good country songs in his repertoire - this is not one of them. I hope some of you like this song, but to me it´s Cliff at his most sickeningly sweet and sentimental.

    Robert Porter:
    "In case you didn't know, a 'butterfly kiss' is when the eyelashes of one are fluttered against the cheek or eyelashes of another. The song Butterfly Kisses was written for my daughter Brooke, just prior to her 16th birthday. I was struck late one night with the reality that my baby girl had grown up and that she would not be under my roof for too much longer. The joy of so many happy memories and the burden of missed opportunities collided in my heart and the song just poured out. When I wrote it, I never expected it to be recorded, not on my record or anyone else's. I was content for it to be my private love letter to Brooke. I am humbled and thrilled at it's success, but most of all, I am in awe of God."
    Bob Carlisle (circa 2000 - Bob Carlisle's website)
    "And I've got a very interesting cover on the [Real As I Wanna Be] album. The song that was so big in the States and never made it really in Europe was Butterfly Kisses by Bob Carlisle. I just loved it. And in fact, learning it was so difficult, 'cause all of us that were involved in it, we spent most of the time weeping. Y'know, you've only got to hear those lyrics. And I'm not a married man. And it suddenly made me think, for the first time in my whole life as a bachelor, I found myself thinking I may never, ever experience this. Y'know, it gave me a whole new way of doing it. So it's a beautiful song. I don't know that it'll ever be a single in the States. But I'm hoping that the songs that-- 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. Oh, well I can understand [that Butterfly Kisses is popular at weddings]. It's a dream lyric. I mean, and that's what it's about. When you think about art, if you look at what people paint, quite often I think, 'this isn't real.' But in point of fact, it's an extension of the realist... the realism that's there. It makes us want it to be like that. So that in a way, what Bob wrote was probably not true of many families. But when they hear that lyric, they just might be inspired to make things work that way. And that's what I find fascinating about all art, really. It can't be heavily influential, but it can certainly be gently influential."
    Cliff Richard (May 2000 - WGN Radio 720 Chicago interview)

    Running Time: 5:15
    Record Date: 1997 or 1998
    Record Location: Little America Recording Studios, Weiler, Austria and/or Ocean Recording Studios, Burbank, California, USA and/or Arco Recording Studios, Munich, Germany and/or R.G. Jones Recording Studios, Wimbledon and/or The Pierce Room, London
    Written By: Bob Carlisle & Randy Thomas
    Produced By: Peter Wolf
    Engineered By: Christian Leitgeb, Chris Heil, Paul Erickson and/or Keith Bessey
    Performed By: Cliff Richard (vocals), Peter Wolf (keyboards, orchestra conductor), Charlie Bonat (acoustic guitar), Michelle Wolf (backing vocals), The Munich Symphony Orchestra (orchestra)

    And yes, that´s Vangelis at the beginning of the video. Don´t ask me why.

     
    Last edited: Mar 11, 2017
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  9. Jarleboy

    Jarleboy Music was my first love Thread Starter

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    And here´s the original.

     
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  10. Jarleboy

    Jarleboy Music was my first love Thread Starter

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    And to test our resolves: Here´s the German version, recorded fairly recently.



    Will that do? No more butterflies, unless served by Dolly Parton.
     
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  11. Jarleboy

    Jarleboy Music was my first love Thread Starter

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    "SNOWFALL ON THE SAHARA", written by Ina Wolf, Natalie Cole, Peter Wolf, was also recorded by the late Natalie Cole. (She wasn´t late then, of course...) It was a co-write between her and Ina and Peter Wolf. Not the worst song on the album, I have to say, but still pretty bland. Just a better class of bland.

    Robert Porter:
    Running Time: 4:26
    Record Date: 1997 or 1998
    Record Location: Little America Recording Studios, Weiler, Austria and/or Ocean Recording Studios, Burbank, California, USA and/or Arco Recording Studios, Munich, Germany and/or R.G. Jones Recording Studios, Wimbledon and/or The Pierce Room, London
    Written By: Peter Wolf, Natalie Cole & Ina Wolf
    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), John Cushon (drums), Jeff Richman (guitar), Michelle Wolf (backing vocals)

     
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  12. Jarleboy

    Jarleboy Music was my first love Thread Starter

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    "WOMAN AND A MAN", written by Noel McCoy, Michelle Wolf and Shelly Peiken, is the next track. This album needs a "rock" track, but this is a close as it gets. There´s something metallic about the recording of this. In other words, don´t try to crank it up too much. I like the "rockier" feel to this, but it´s not a strong song.

    Robert Porter:
    Running Time: 4:48
    Record Date: 1997 or 1998
    Record Location: Little America Recording Studios, Weiler, Austria and/or Ocean Recording Studios, Burbank, California, USA and/or Arco Recording Studios, Munich, Germany and/or R.G. Jones Recording Studios, Wimbledon and/or The Pierce Room, London
    Written By: Noel McCoy, Shelly Peiken & Michelle Wolf
    Produced By: Peter Wolf
    Engineered By: Christian Leitgeb, Chris Heil, Paul Erickson and/or Keith Bessey
    Performed By: Cliff Richard (vocals), Peter Wolf (keyboards, drums, bass, percussion), Vinnie Colaiuta (drums), Jeff Richman (guitar), Michelle Wolf (backing vocals)

     
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  13. Jarleboy

    Jarleboy Music was my first love Thread Starter

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    "TILL I´M HOME AGAIN", written by Amy Sky and the ubiquitous Andy Hill, is another ballad. I think it sounds like one of Cliff´s 80s self-written single B-sides. In other words, pleasant, but far from exciting. Not the kind of song that will extend your career longevity.

    Robert Porter:
    Running Time: 5:14
    Record Date: 1997 or 1998
    Record Location: Little America Recording Studios, Weiler, Austria and/or Ocean Recording Studios, Burbank, California, USA and/or Arco Recording Studios, Munich, Germany and/or R.G. Jones Recording Studios, Wimbledon and/or The Pierce Room, London
    Written By: Andy Hill & Amy Sky
    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, mouth harp, wine glasses), Vinnie Colaiuta (drums), Paul Jackson Jr. (guitar), Matthias Jabs (guitar), Michelle Wolf (backing vocals)

     
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  14. Jarleboy

    Jarleboy Music was my first love Thread Starter

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    "COME BACK TO ME", written by Peter and Michelle Wolf, is the only song from the album not to be found on YouTube. Sorry about that.

    Robert Porter:
    Running Time: 4:46
    Record Date: 1997 or 1998
    Record Location: Little America Recording Studios, Weiler, Austria and/or Ocean Recording Studios, Burbank, California, USA and/or Arco Recording Studios, Munich, Germany and/or R.G. Jones Recording Studios, Wimbledon and/or The Pierce Room, London
    Written By: Peter Wolf & Michelle Wolf
    Produced By: Peter Wolf
    Engineered By: Christian Leitgeb, Chris Heil, Paul Erickson and/or Keith Bessey
    Performed By: Cliff Richard (vocals), Peter Wolf (keyboards, drums, bass, percussion), Paul Jackson Jr. (guitar), Michael Landau (guitar), Christian Leitgeb (guitar), Michelle Wolf (backing vocals)
     
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  15. Jarleboy

    Jarleboy Music was my first love Thread Starter

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    "VITA MIA", music written by Peter Wolf, lyrics by Michelle Wolf and Zucchero. I hear what they´re trying to do with this song, but I don´t find it strong enough for that genre. It was released as a promo single, but didn´t gather much interest, and was never released commercially. I don´t think it would have been a hit. I know some of you really like this track, so please rise to defend its honour. I don´t hate it, but it feels to me as it could have been much better. Both singers are good, though.

    Cliff´s duet partner:

    Vincenzo La Scola (25 January 1958 – 15 April 2011) was an Italian tenor who had a successful international opera career for more than 25 years. He was particularly admired for his portrayals in operas by Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini, Gaetano Donizetti, and Vincenzo Bellini. He also achieved success as a crossover artist, particularly in his many collaborations with singer-songwriter Cliff Richard and for his solo crossover album for EMI, Vita Mia (1999). In 2000 he was made a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, and from 2004 until his sudden death in 2011 he served as principal teacher and artistic director of the Accademia Verdi Toscanini in Parma.

    Career
    La Scola was born in Palermo, Italy, and studied singing with Arrigo Pola, Carlo Bergonzi, and Rodolfo Celletti. In 1982 he won the Alessandro Ziliano Award at the Vico Verdiane Competition. He made his professional opera debut in 1983 at the Teatro Regio in Parma as Ernesto in Gaetano Donizetti's Don Pasquale. His career developed rapidly, and by 1989 he had already performed in leading roles at the Cologne Opera House (debut 1985), the Festival Puccini (debut in 1987 as Rinuccio in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi), La Fenice (debut in 1987 as Tonio in Donizetti's La fille du régiment), La Monnaie (debut in 1984 as Nemorino in L'elisir d'amore), the Kiel Opera House (debut 1985), the Opéra-Comique (debut in 1987 as Rinuccio), the Opéra Royal de Wallonie (debut 1984), the Ravenna Festival (debut in 1989, Alfredo in La Traviata), the Teatro Comunale di Bologna (debut in 1988, Arlecchino Battocchio in Mascagni's Le maschere), the Teatro Regio in Turin (debut in 1988), and La Scala (debut in 1988 as Nemorino). In 1986 he made his first three recordings: the tenor soloist in Rossini's Petite messe solennelle for Erato Records, and two full-length opera releases, Franco Battiato's Genesi and Bellini's Beatrice di Tenda.

    Several more invitations to appear at other important houses continued in the early 1990s, including the Royal Opera, London (debut in 1990, Rodolfo in La bohème); the Teatro Carlo Felice (debut in 1990, Rodolfo); the Macerata Opera (debut in 1990, Rodolfo); the San Francisco Opera (debut in 1991 as Tebaldo in I Capuleti e i Montecchi); the Teatro di San Carlo (debut 1991 as Gennaro in Lucrezia Borgia); the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma (debut 1991 as the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto): the Hamburg State Opera (debut 1991); the Arena di Verona Festival (debut 1992); the Vienna State Opera (debut 1992); and the Metropolitan Opera (debut in 1993 as Rodolfo).

    La Scola continued to appear regularly on the stages of the world's best opera houses up until his death of a sudden heart attack in Turkey in 2011. Other roles in his repertoire included Cavaradossi in Tosca, Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Gabriele Adorno in Simon Boccanegra, Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, Pollione in Norma, Radamès in Aida, Riccardo in Un ballo in maschera, and the title roles in Roberto Devereux, Don Carlos, and The Tales of Hoffman among others.

    Death
    Vincenzo La Scola died at the age of 53 on 15 April 2011 in Mersin, Turkey due to a heart attack.[1]


    Robert Porter:
    Running Time: 4:18
    Record Date: 1997 or 1998
    Record Location: Little America Recording Studios, Weiler, Austria
    Written By: Peter Wolf (music), Michelle Wolf & Zucchero Fornaciari (lyrics)
    Produced By: Peter Wolf
    Engineered By: Christian Leitgeb, Chris Heil, Paul Erickson and/or Keith Bessey
    Performed By: Cliff Richard (vocals), Vincenzo La Scola (vocals), Peter Wolf (keyboards, orchestra conductor), Michelle Wolf (backing vocals), The Munich Symphony Orchestra (orchestra)

    This clip is from the 40th anniversary concert.

     
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  16. Jarleboy

    Jarleboy Music was my first love Thread Starter

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    I forgot to include a clip of Natalie Cole performing her song, "SNOWFALL ON THE SAHARA". I always liked her father, and, on occasion, Natalie could touch on his greatness.

     
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  17. Jarleboy

    Jarleboy Music was my first love Thread Starter

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  18. StephenB

    StephenB Forum Resident

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    To me, this and The Miracle are the two best songs on this album and are the only songs that make it worth listening to.
     
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  19. Jarleboy

    Jarleboy Music was my first love Thread Starter

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    I agree about "THE MIRACLE" - it´s not a great lost single, IMO, but I like the song quite well. I don´t dislike "EVEN IF IT BREAKS MY HEARTS". I see the Gibb influences in the song, and I usually like their songs. OK, always. I don´t think "EVEN IF IT BREAKS MY HEART" has their magic down completely, but it´s certainly one of the better songs on the album. I just wish that meant more.
     
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  20. CheshireCat

    CheshireCat Forum Resident

    Location:
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    I feel that Cliff, 40 years into a pop career, should be applauded for trying to remain contemporary and relevant. The results sadly, are somewhat mixed. I quite like, perhaps half of the album, particularly the title track, REAL AS I WANNA BE, the hit single CAN'T KEEP THIS FEELING IN and CLIMBING OP MOUNT EVEREST. They're not classics by any means. I recall playing 'Everest' on my hospital radio show (which I did weekly many years ago) and the response was along the lines of 'well, it's certainly no SOME PEOPLE!'. I also like SHE MAKES ME FEEL LIKE A MAN, although, it'd be better a minute and a half shorter - and it's quite possibly going to go down as Cliff's last co-write, so it deserves a little bonus credit. Other 'OK' tracks for me, would include SNOWFALL ON THE SAHARA, TILL I'M HOME AGAIN and the other single THE MIRACLE, although I wouldn't have chosen to release it. There's only a couple I always skip (that sounds like I regularly play the album - I don't) these being BUTTERFLU KISSES and VITA MIA. Of course, to others, these two may well be their favourites.

    One of Cliff's best front covers too!
     
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  21. Bobby Morrow

    Bobby Morrow Senior Member

    It's the worst album of his I own. And I've got Tracks 'n' Grooves! It's just a chore to listen to. Full of dreary, overlong songs that are big on production and short on melody and inspiration. I'd say that Snowfall In The Sahara and Climbing Up Mount Everest are the best tracks. Butterfly Kisses is the worst. I used to watch CMT in the 90s and remember the original (in fact I think there were two versions..) getting a lot of airtime. Cliff is at his most tremulous here and it does kind of grate that he's singing about something he's never remotely experienced! The only other positive thing I can say is at least my copy isn't saddled with Had To Be as a 'bonus' track!

    Not an especially great sounding CD. By this time not many of them were! Agree that the cover is good. Less embarrassing at least. Hate the title.
     
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  22. CheshireCat

    CheshireCat Forum Resident

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    I've just noticed I called it BUTTERFLU KISSES. Seems more appropriate actually... :)
     
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  23. Jarleboy

    Jarleboy Music was my first love Thread Starter

    Location:
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    Agree about the cover - it looks great! Too bad about the album inside... :shh:

    No, not everything about the album is dreadful, and few of the songs are awful, but... Very few of them are all that interesting. This and "WANTED" are two albums I almost never play, apart from the title track of this album. Then again, there are MANY 60s Cliff albums I also never play.

    He, he... You may have made a Freudian slip with your renaming of "BITTERFLY KISSES". I prefer it to the original...
     
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  24. Jarleboy

    Jarleboy Music was my first love Thread Starter

    Location:
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    Well, Cliff singing about something he´s never experienced isn´t a new thing, if we are to believe the hype... Just kidding.

    I don´t think it´s his worst album, but it comes very close. (I think "WANTED" is even worse, but I may change my mind when I listen to it again, for the third or fourth time since 2001.) As you say, the songs are overlong, and I also find them bland, with not enough hooks to keep me interested. I can´t quite distinguish between the albums flaws and myself being much less interested and forgiving about Cliff´s music, but what it comes down to is this: It´s an album I avoid, simply because I don´t need it. (Apart from the almost euphoric title track.)

    Also agree that "BUTTERFLU KISSES" - to use the newly minted term - is the worst of a bad lot. I don´t often react against sentimentalism - I mean, I enjoy Terry Jack´s "SEASONS OF THE SUN" - but this is waaay too much for me.

    And you´re right - if only this was a temporary lack of substance and quality. But it was a sign of things to come. The single, the album, the slight return to form with "SOMETHING´S GOING ON" and then back to the themed albums. A love song one, a duet one, a standards one, a soul one, two rock´n´roll ones... And, of course, another reunion with The Shadows with new, mostly terrible, version of their old songs. Cliff´s voice was just not up to it anymore.

    I am still waiting for another (slight) return to form, but it seems less and less likely. I can live with that.

    As to the merits of "TRACKS´N´GROOVES", I don´t think it´s a bad album - well, not as bad as "REAL AS I WANNA BE". It´s just terribly dated, with a few songs that work and many that don´t. "EARLY IN THE MORNING" was a huge hit in Japan, and his version of "BANG BANG" is rather good, I think. I also like "AS I WALK INTO THE MORNING OF YOUR LIFE". But, as you can probably guess, I haven´t played that album for years, and I´m not itching to do so now.
     
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  25. Phil_Rocks

    Phil_Rocks Forum Resident

    Location:
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    This is an album that i can never make my mind up about, most of the songs are decent but it is lacking a couple of big hit songs. It seems more like an album of B sides, my three least favourites are Till I'm Home Again, Come Back To Me and United For Evermore replace these with afart this love and Just Don't Say Goodbye it would be a bit stronger, only marginally though. Re listening to the album i think the main reason is the production, it is all a bit to samey and lacks any ''out of left field'' songs, i have the same problem with Wanted, production wise Cliff's best albums in my opinion are when he works with a variety of producers.
     
    Last edited: Mar 12, 2017
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