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

These are the recordings that were originally released on Cliff & The Drifters´ very first album. As I mentioned earlier, I think it´s an album they have every right to be proud of. Taking an exciting new style of music, making it their own and performing it as well as they did - sure, be proud! The album was a big hit, peaking at No. 4 in the UK LP charts. It would take a few years for their success to translate into huge sales and chart placings, but it all starts here. (And three guesses what country was the second one to grant Cliff and the boys a hit LP? Norway, again. Something I never knew until today.Makes me proud.)

However, more songs than were needed were recorded. Most intriguing, perhaps, was "IT´S ONLY MAKE BELIEVE". First a hit for its writer, the American rock´n´roll singer turned country artist Conway Twitty. Here´s an excerpt from the Wikipedia entry for this song:

"It's Only Make Believe" is a song written by Jack Nance and American country music artist Conway Twitty, and produced by MGM Records' Jim Vienneau, released by Twitty as a single in July 1958. The single topped both U.S. and the UK Singles Chart, and was Twitty's only number-one single on the pop charts of either country. On a segment of Pop Goes The Country, Twitty states the single was a hit in 22 different countries and sold over 8 million copies It is believed that Twitty wrote his part of the song while sitting on a fire escape outside his hotel room, to escape the summer heat, in Hamilton, Ontario. Twitty had come to Canada at the request of another American singer, Rompin' Ronnie Hawkins, due to Hawkins saying to Twitty that Canada was the 'promised land' for music.

Twitty recorded many subsequent versions of "It's Only Make Believe", including a 1970 duet with Loretta Lynn on their very first collaborative album, We Only Make Believe. Twitty joins in on the last verse in a 1988 uptempo cover by Ronnie McDowell, which was a #8 hit on the country music charts. Additionally, Twitty contributed to an alternative cover by McDowell.

Link to the rest of the article: It's Only Make Believe - Wikipedia

Robert Porter:
"Although both It's Only Make Believe and Kisses Sweeter Than Wine were recorded [for the Cliff album sessions], they were dropped from the final selection on the album. It is uncertain for what reason, but in all probability it was likely to have been for over-running the duration time of the album. There are, of course, other possibilities such as copyright entanglements or artistic valuations."
Mike Read, Nigel Goodall & Peter Lewry (1995 - The Complete Chronicle)
"Paperwork from [the Cliff album sessions] indicate two other tracks scheduled for possible recording-- Kisses Sweeter Than Wine and It's Only Make Believe. Although no tapes exist to verify this information, a piece of sheet music does exist of It's Only Make Believe as recorded by Cliff Richard."
Nigel Goodall & Peter Lewry (1997 - liner notes for The Rock 'n' Roll Years 1958-1963 album)

Running Time: Unknown
Record Date: February 9 or 10, 1959
Record Location: Abbey Road, London (Live in the studio)
Written By: Conway Twitty & Jack Nance
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), Mike Sammes Singers* (background vocals) -- *unconfirmed


It baffles me that Cliff & The Drifters´ cover of this song has never been released. The songs seems a perfect match for them, and unless the performance was terrible, it should be a no-brainer to release it. So many artists have covered it, so why not Cliff? Perhaps their version misfired in some way.

Here is Conway´s own version of the song:

 

Another song that was recorded, but never released was their version of The Weavers´ "KISSES SWEETER THAN WINE". Again, I suspect Cliff could do this song more than justice- but perhaps he was a bit too young and inexperienced at the time.

Robert Porter:
"Although both It's Only Make Believe and Kisses Sweeter Than Wine were recorded [for the Cliff album sessions], they were dropped from the final selection on the album. It is uncertain for what reason, but in all probability it was likely to have been for over-running the duration time of the album. There are, of course, other possibilities such as copyright entanglements or artistic valuations."
Mike Read, Nigel Goodall & Peter Lewry (1995 - The Complete Chronicle)
"Paperwork from [the Cliff album sessions] indicate two other tracks scheduled for possible recording-- Kisses Sweeter Than Wine and It's Only Make Believe. Although no tapes exist to verify this information..."
Nigel Goodall & Peter Lewry (1997 - liner notes for The Rock 'n' Roll Years 1958-1963 album)

Running Time: Unknown
Record Date: February 9 or 10, 1959
Record Location: Abbey Road, London (Live in the studio)
Written By: Paul Campbell (words) & Joel Newman (music)
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), Mike Sammes Singers* (background vocals) -- *unconfirmed

Anyway, here´s the original.

 

Frank Vaughn also recorded a hit version.

 

The third unreleased song was finally extracted from the vaults in 1997, and placed on the box set "THE ROCK´N´ROLL YEARS 1956-1963". This was a cover of Elvis´ "ONE NIGHT". If you happen to like the early years of Cliff´s career, you could do worse than buying this box set. It can be had for a song - well, almost - these days. and it does contain quite a few rarities. I´ll mention the many tracks devoted to the construction of the "DO YOU WANNA DANCE" backing tracks when w get to 1962.

Anyway -"ONE NIGHT" was a big hit for Elvis. Cliff acquits himself well once again, and this is at least as good as the songs left on the album. Perhaps they felt there could be such a thing as too many Elvis covers on one album? Still - a good song, and a good version.

Robert Porter:
This track has only ever been released in mono format.
"There is, however, a tape in the EMI vaults marked outtakes and from this has been lifted Cliff's version of the Elvis classic One Night, a track not previously known to exist, as no paperwork from this period gives any indication to this being recorded or even considered for inclusion on the album."
Nigel Goodall & Peter Lewry (1997 - liner notes for The Rock 'n' Roll Years 1958-1963 album)

Running Time: 2:32
Record Date: February 9 or 10, 1959
Record Location: Abbey Road, London (Live in the studio)
Written By: Dave Bartholomew & Pearl King
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)

 

Of course, we need to hear the original. Elvis!

 

Smiley Lewis had the original. The original title, "ONE NIGHT OF SIN" might have proved too much for Cliff in later years.

 

A fourth song that is supposed to have been recorded at these sessions, but never released, was "NOTHIN´ SHAKIN´ (BUT THE LEAVES ON THE TREES)", a hit for its writer, Eddie Fontaine. It´s a song that would have fit Cliff and the boys very well. Great song.

Robert Porter:
There are reports that this song, a cover of the Eddie Fontaine song, was part of the live in the studio Cliff album sessions, but it remains unreleased. It is known that this is a song that was announced to be recorded at the sessions, but it's unclear if it actually was performed or recorded at the sessions.

Running Time: Unknown
Record Date: February 9 or 10, 1959
Record Location: Abbey Road, London (Live in the studio)
Written By: Eddie Fontaine, Cirino Colacrai, Diane Lambert & John Gluck Jr.
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), Mike Sammes Singers* (background vocals) -- *unconfirmed

Here is Eddie Fontaine´s original version of what could have been a Cliff & The Drifters song.

 

This one I've only heard from Billy Fury in 1964 before now. Thanks for all this musical education you are providing!

 

Taken a little faster by old Ron Wycherley.

 

You are right, again, this version is definitely too fast. I wonder why they recorded songs like that? Inexperience or youthful enthusiasm?

 

I like the recording Cliff did in the early 1980’s, more so than this one. Then again, I do quite like Cliff’s falsetto voice sometimes, this is one of them.

 

I have the Milton Allen album that Bear Family Records put out a few decades ago. I also have two of his original singles. He could have been big, but he had a stage mother who demanded way too much for her little boy. For Pete's sake, his producer was Chet Atkins!

 

Thank you, Anthony. Most of these things I discover myself when I prepare these posts, so I´m just lucky to stumble upon these little nuggets. I do love finding them.

Billy Fury was one of the great ones. I know he´s loved by many, but unfortunately most people seem to have forgotten him. Great version of "NOTHIN´ SHAKIN´".

Does anyone know whether Cliff and Billy ever did anything together live? Or did Billy see cliff as a sell-out? I happen to like both, though I know very little about Billy Fury.

 

I think those are two reasons. I also think that they heard that most rock´n´roll songs were fairly fast-paced, and so they just overdid it - a little bit. To the detriment of some songs. Sometimes it´s illuminating to hear the original versions, especially the US ones, that tend to be slower, rolling versions. (Except those Little Richard ones, of course!)

I like "READY TEDDY", but the tempo is a bit too fast, I think.

 

I like the jazzy arrangement of the 1983 version, but I prefer Cliff´s falsetto in moderation. Love it in "I CAN´T ASK FOR ANYMORE THAN YOU", not so much in "CAN´T KEEP HIS FEELING IN". In "BE BOP A LULA", most of the vocal is falsetto, and that gets a bit too much. But that´s just me.

 

Thanks for the information, Ron - there was nothing on the web that I could find. Yep, Chet Atkins is more or less a seal of approval for me. I´m not saying he could do nothing wrong, but he did plenty right! I have to check whether the Bear Family album is still available - and not too expensive.

Edit: No, couldn´t find the album anywhere. There were some various artists compilation, though, so I´ll consider some of those.

 

Funnily enough, I've just bought a blu-ray box set of Westerns (mainly for Rio Bravo and Dean Martin, I remembered watching it years ago and enjoying it) however 'The Searchers' is also included on there and I've never seen that one so I shall look out for that utterance of 'That'll be the Day' and think of this thread and the knowledge I glean from it!

 

If I'm not mistaken, the Drifters (the Shads, that is) based their 'Be Bop A Lula' on the Everly Brothers version. I apologise for not linking vids but I'm not entirely sure how to do it, especially on my phone...

 

Gotta love Billy!

 

Nice info, When In Rome! I´ll try to find it and post it.

 

Next up, that divisie single! His first No. 1, his first non-rock´n´roll song, his first shot at all-round entertainer status. And it worked!

 

Zank yoo, zank yoo... (As a friend of mine constantly says.)

I think you´ll enjoy "THE SEARCHERS" - tough, but beautiful.

 

There are some available on eBay. It was only released on vinyl. Bear Family vinyl has good sound.

 

OK. Bear Family releases are pretty much all good.

 

I don't know if they worked together on anything. I know Billy was quite unreliable when it came to TV appearances (partly health issues) so there's not a huge amount of TV of him out there, and consequently less opportunity to appear with Cliff. I recall Cliff giving a quote for the sleeve notes of Billy's 'comeback' album ''The Only One' in 1983. EDIT I think my memory is playing tricks. I've looked at the LP and there's no notes. There are a couple of photos of Cliff and Billy together (one early 60s, one early 80s) on the LP insert for his 'Missing Years' LP.