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

That´s certainly the best recorded concert, and the most varied! I would love to see a spruced up version of the "LIVE IN LONDON" soncert from 1980/81 released. Lots of my favourite tracks on there.

But I´m easy. I like most live Cliff albums.

£150? That´s A LOT of money. I paid about the saem amount for the third Tarney Spencer Band album on CD, which was initially a very limited release. A few years later an expanded, remastered version appeared, at less than a tenth of the price. I still have both. And love them.

 

Hi All,

Well, I travel the travel the world (Dorset actually!) for a month and on my return find it has all taken off again here.
Welcome news, so a bit of catch up I need to do.
On wiping the dust of my "and they said it wouldn't last" box set and opening it up, the last ever addition of the fan club magazine "Dynamite" fell out, no idea why I stored it there.
I must have had this magazine/leaflet from 1975 until it finished in 2009. The two guys that run it did a fab job over the years, it must have been a huge commitment to put it out every two months.
Coming back to the box set, I always like to read the credits on any album, something you don't get in today's digital release market.
I found it interesting that the "Faith And Inspiration" cd says it was compiled by Cliff Richard. This is quite nice to see that Cliff was actually involved with the release, and not the record company or management.
The other credit I see is thanks to Mike Ross, along with others, is this the Mike Ross-Trevor of "I Still Believe In You" single?
Just played the Lost and Found cd. Always nice to get new songs from the past, and also different "takes" of songs.
A nice lot of work you guys have been doing in all the info posted here.
Never new that "Mobile Alabama School Leaving Hullabaloo" had a reference to "Move It" in it. Great song though.
I'm afraid I am a "Honky Tonk Angel" lover, so did like to see a different version of it.
It would be great to see a cd of unreleased tracks released, but sadly I don't think there is a market for it.

 

Thanks for a long and interesting post. We need more of those!

As for another CD of unreleased material... No, I am not holding my breath either, but there could be something next year, for the 60th anniversary of their career. As I mentioned earlier, I would love to hear the puttakes from the "GREEN LIGHT" and "NOW YOU SEE ME, NOW YOU DON´T" sessions. Both good albums, and the outtakes should be interesting. I´d pay quite a lot to hear them. If you look at the - brilliant! - Robert Porter website, you´ll discover that there are quite a few unreleased songs spread out over almost 60 years. We don´t know whether all of them are finished takes with vocals, but I suspect quite a few of them are.

A double CD - or preferably SACD - would do me nicely.

And what about SACD version of key albums? The mind boggles - about this NEVER happening.

 

According to the Daily Mail today in an article about Cliffs new calendar, he will be making an announcement on 14th October about plans to celebrate his 60th Anniversary next year. Could an all new album be on the cards? I'd like to think so!

 

I saw that too.
I guess it would just be some concert dates though, probably indoor ones, maybe a week at Albert Hall.

 

Let´s keep our fingers crossed for an album of original material.

 

I like this song too.
I think it would have made a good concert song, maybe the last song.
You can just imagine leaving a concert with the song still going round in your head.
I will have to try and find Bruce's and
Olivia's versions. Thanks for info.

 

Hopefully indoor ones, we'll get a full length show then!

 

It´s a good song. To me, it sort of heralds the time of the mid-to-late 70s, bringing to mind the 1974-1976 songs in particular. And they weren´t slouches! Glad it was released.

 

"GOODBYE SAM, HELLO SAMANTHA" is one of those songs you either love or hate - very little middleground, it seems. I happen to love it, but I have to be in the right mood to appreciate it. I have mentioned before that I particularly like the lyrics. They may seem glib, but I remember that time very well.

 

"LIVING DOLL" has never been one of my favourites - sometimes songs can be too simple for their own good. I don´t mind it, though - I find myself singings pleasantly along to it. (Eh... Remove the adjective, please. No one ever accused my singing of being pleasant. For very good reasons.)

Perhaps overfamiliarity is the problem.

 

"BACHELOR BOY" is another one of those evergreen Cliff songs - one that he even took part in writing. How prothetic it seems now.

 

And another one. It may seem a hundred years old now, but this is one of Cliff´s biggest ever hits. Still works.

 

"CONGRATULATIONS" may have outstayed its welcome a long time ago, but here it was only four years old. Imagine that. As square as they come, there´s no denying the charm of this song. I hardly ever play it, but I see why it was a big hit.

 

The rock´n´roll medley was a staple of the early 1970s for Cliff, and for me it always signalled that there was a creative vacuum in his career. We all know that he loved and still love those songs, and I do, too, but a medley robs them of all their glory. You get many snippets of good songs mostly performed well, but no full songs. Not my cup of tea, though you do get to hear songs otherwise not covered by Cliff. Swings and roundabouts, I guess.

 

"SING A SONG OF FREEDOM" is always welcome - at least in my book. For a few years, it was featured in every Cliff concert, most often as the closing track. Still a great song. Would love to hear Cliff perform it now.

 

Several other songs are lsted above, but they were performed by The Shadows. Nice to see their version of "A THOUSAND CONVERSATIONS" included, though, of course, that was released under the name Marvin, Welch & Farrar. Still a great song.

 

The next CD was titled "STAGE & SCREEN". Again, this featured well-known songs mixed with others that should been well-known. Some were B-sides, others album tracks or EP tracks. What they all have in common, is that they were somehow conneced with Cliff´s stage or film work.



CD4 - Stage & Screen
Mad About You
Love
Lessons In Love
Dancing Shoes
On The Beach
This Was My Special Day
I Could Easily Fall (In Love With You)
Time Drags By
Shooting Star
Why Wasn't I Born Rich
In The Country
Two A Penny
His Land
Take Me High
Suddenly
Born To Rock 'n' Roll
She's So Beautiful
It's In Every One Of Us
Misunderstood Man
Be With Me Always
Had To Be

 

"MAD ABOUT YOU" was taken from the "SERIOUS CHARGE" EP, which also featured "LIVING DOLL", the great rocker "NO TURNING BACK" and The Shadows´ "CHINCHILLA". Written by Lionel Bart, who wrote all Cliff´s contributions to this EP. The EP didn´t chart, mainly because the EP chart had yet to be thought of.

Robert Porter:
This track has only ever been released in mono format.
"The first of our tracks, Mad About You, comes from Cliff's first film and soundtrack EP, Serious Charge. The film was released nationally into cinemas across Britain in the summer of 1959, with the EP release preceding it by one month earlier. [...] The song was written by Lionel Bart, who had penned all the songs in the film, just as he would later write the songs and music for the stage and screen versions of the smash hit Oliver."
Nigel Goodall & Peter Lewry (2008 - liner notes for Stage And Screen album in the ...And They Said It Wouldn't Last! {My 50 Years In Music} set)
Editor's Note: The liner notes imply that the mention of Lionel Bart is the songwriter of the song Love from Expresso Bongo, but this is clearly in error and it must be referring to the Serious Charge songs instead.

"I wrote three songs that were used in the film-- Mad About You, No Turning Back and Living Doll."
Lionel Bart (2008 May - The Bachelor Boy)

Running Time: 1:44
Record Date: April 28, 1959
Record Location: Abbey Road, London
Written By: Lionel Bart
Produced By: Norrie Paramor
Engineered By: Malcolm Addey
Performed By: Cliff Richard (vocals), Hank Marvin (guitar), Bruce Welch (guitar), Jet Harris (bass), Tony Meehan (drums)

 

Afraid not a lover of this song, especially in more recent times with some of the audience singing the "get down" bit which really annoys me!
But, the record books show it was a number one a couple of times, and a very good management decision to do the version with the "Young Ones" which gave Cliff some street cred.

 

Agree with your comments and would also like to see Cliff song it now.

 

I always use to give this song a miss, but re-discovered it on the "Hit List" tour, which I prefer the live version of it.

 

And I have to admit - the remake with The Young Ones is rather funny, in a childish sort of a way.

 

Yes, it´s a song we´ve heard a few times too many. I´m guessing Cliff must be pretty tired of it, too.

 

There have been times when I have grown tired of this song. But I always rediscover it, and learn to enjoy it once more. Great song.