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

Please no orchestrated LIVING DOLL or CONGRATULATIONS!

 

I'm not to keen on this version at all. Agree that the origanal was well done, and not dated at all.
Having said that, it seems the way to go these days, and as the new versions are extra tracks on an album of new material, then really can't complain.

 

No, no - they are certainly surplus to requirement. Though I wouldn´t mind hearing a version of "TRAVELLIN´ LIGHT". It´s one of the least dated tracks from the 50s, as far as I´m concerned. I mean, it survived a chamber music version with flying colours, and not all songs are strong enough to manage that.

But I wonder what "GREEN LIGHT" would sound like as an orchestrated song? They tried it on "DRESSED FOR THE OCCASION", and I don´t think it really worked, as far as I remember. "PLEASE DON´T FALL IN LOVE" might work well, as would "TAKE ME HIGH". I doubt they´ll be looking at hose songs, though - I would imagine they´ll do the greatest hits, as per usual. I would love to hear some deep cuts, like "UP IN THE WORLD", "IF I WALKED AWAY" - and maybe, just maybe "FROM A DISTANCE". It´s pompous enough as it is, but it´s a good song - with room for improvement. "BULANGE DOWNPOUR" would also sound great.

An interesting song to do an orchestral version of would be "IT´S IN EVERY ONE OF US". The only problem is that I think Cliff´s vocal take on this is not very good. If he recorded a more subtle, less showy vocal now, this could be a great opportunity to resurrect a song that they treated so wrongly in 1985.

And, just to bait Anthony a little bit - what about "DRIFTING"? He, he... I am a little bit serious, though. As you know, I like that song very much, and I think it could only be improved by adding real instruments instead of the mostly computer-generated sounds on the album. It won´t happen, of course - Cliff and the rest have done all they can to erase the memory of this chart misfire. I love the song, but I realize that I am in a minority on this. Perhaps a minority of one.

No, I´m guessing we´ll see the hits, if ever such a project gets off the ground. Perhaps they´ll include "forgotten" hits like "WIND ME UP (LET ME GO)", "VISIONS" and even "SILVERY RAIN", but I expect we´ll get the No. 1s and other Top Five hits.

 

I understand where you´re coming from, Tim. The original is more or less perfect as it is. But I tried the clip on my (relatively) new set of computer speakers, and the sound had more width and depth than the original, as a recording. I can imagine this will sound pretty great on my stereo - it will sound big and subtle at the same time, I think. Make that - I hope.

By the way, Tim, have you heard the acappella version of this song? It was included as a 7" single with the box set of "FROM A DISTANCE... THE EVENT". It was pretty special to hear just the vocals on this - it´s so beautifully done. As Cliff himself stated in the "WHICH ONE´S CLIFF" book: He thought that he would be remembered for three songs. "MOVE IT!", of course, and I think he added "WE DON´T TALK ANYMORE" as a second song. The third one was "MISS YOU NIGHTS". I think he´s right. These are his classics. There are others, but I think these will go down in history as perhaps his finest songs. Some will add "DEVIL WOMAN" and "CARRIE" and maybe many others. But those three will remain timeless classic, IMO.

Perhaps we should make a track list for "CLIFF´S CLASSICS"? I expect the 50s and 60s would be overrepresented again. Based on musical merit alone, I would prefer more songs from the 70s and 80s, but that´s my bias.

 

I’m looking forward to hearing the orchestrated version of SOME PEOPLE. THis is a song I have never really liked as it sounds too clinical and programmed. By adding real instruments to it, it may improve it no end. However, they could also make a bad song even worse....

 

My thoughts exactly. I used to like the song, especially in its extended version. However, I soon grew tired of the overly polished and almost sterile production/arrangement. It works if you hear it once in a blue moon, as a studio confection. However, it´s a song I often lose interest in - for the reasons you mention. (Not to mention the awful lyrics. "But I´m not like that at all", coupled with the almost Riefenstahl pretensions of the frankly embarrassing video. I hope the new orchestration can reveal a gem of a song. I fear that it will fall flat on its face, but I hope its better than the original version. Again, I´m not sure Alan Tarney´s songs will benefit from this approach, but I hope I´m wrong. I usually love his songs, especially the ones from "I´M NO HERO", "WIRED FOR SOUND" and "STRONGER" albums. "ALWAYS GUARANTEED" sounds a bit too polished for me, though I like some of the songs well enough. ("REMEMBER ME", "MY PRETTY ONE", the title track.)

 

Now, back to the good old days:



"FALL IN LOVE WITH YOU" was one of those sweet, innocuous Cliff singles that hasn´t dated all that well. Sure, it´s pleasant enough when it follows another hit on a CD or a playlist, but it´s not a song I actively pick to play al that often. It was a step up from the previous single, I think, and better for having been written by someone in the group around The Shadows.

"WILLIE AND THE HAND JIVE" is a different story. A rock´n´roll/blues classic by the once obiquitous Johnny Otis, who wrote quite a few songs that Cliff would subsequently record. He also had hits of his own in the British charts. (I would recommend reading the Wikipedia entry about the song, and also the one about Johnny Otis, found here: Johnny Otis - Wikipedia They are both very interesting.

As for the song itself: I think it´s a classic. Cliff recorded it for the B-side of his single, and it reached No. 18 in its own right. That´s not bad for a B-side! Cliff & The Shads have also performed it live many times - you can hear it on the 20th anniversary concert at the London Palladium, released as "THANK YOU VERY MUCH" in 1979. They also perfromed it at The Royal Variety Performance, and, as we all know, Cliff re-recorded it in 1984, for the album "THE ROCK CONNECTION". All in all, it seems to be a favourite of Cliff and the boys´. For me it was one of those songs I had to get used to, but when I finally did, I liked it. Read Robert Porter´s text about the different versions of the song that were recored and released.



From Wikipedia:
"Willie and the Hand Jive" is a song written by Johnny Otis and originally released as a single in 1958 by Johnny Otis Show, reaching #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and #5 on the Billboard R&B chart. The song has a Bo Diddley beat and was partly inspired by the music sung by a chain gang Otis heard while he was touring. The lyrics are about a man who became famous for doing a dance with his hands, but the song has been accused of glorifying masturbation, though Otis has always denied it. It has since been covered by numerous artists, including The Strangeloves, Eric Clapton, Cliff Richard, Kim Carnes, George Thorogood and The Grateful Dead. Clapton's 1974 version was also released as a single and also reached the Billboard Top 40, peaking at #26. Thorogood's 1985 version reached #25 on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.

Lyrics and music
The Johnny Otis Show original version of the song produced by Tom Morgan has an infectious Bo Diddley beat, much of it provided by drummer Earl Palmer. Johnny Otis biographer George Lipsitz describes Jimmy Nolen's guitar riff on the song as "unforgettable". The music was based on a song Otis had heard a chain gang singing while touring, combined with work Otis did as a teenager when he was performing with Count Otis Matthews and the West Oakland House Stompers.
The lyrics tell of a man named Willie who became famous for doing a hand jive dance. In a sense, the story is similar to that of Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode", which tells of someone who became famous for playing the guitar and was released two months before "Willie and the Hand Jive". The origin of the song came when one of Otis' managers, Hal Ziegler, found out that rock'n'roll concert venues in England did not permit the teenagers to stand up and dance in the aisles, so they instead danced with their hands while remaining in their seats. At Otis' concerts, performers would demonstrate Willie's "hand jive" dance to the audience, so the audience could dance along. The dance consisted of clapping two fists together one on top of the other, followed by rolling the arms around each other. Otis' label, Capitol Records, also provided diagrams showing how to do the hand jive dance.
Despite the song's references to dancing, and despite the demonstrations of the dance during performances, would-be censors believed that the song glorified masturbation. As recently as 1992, an interviewer for NPR asked Otis "Is 'Hand Jive' really about masturbation?" Otis was frustrated by this misinterpretation.

Other versions
Cliff Richard recorded the song in 1960 and The Strangeloves included it on their 1965 album I Want Candy. The Youngbloods released a version of the song on their 1971 album, Good and Dusty. Johnny Rivers included the song on his 1973 album Blue Suede Shoes.
Eric Clapton did "Willie and the Hand Jive" on his 1974 album 461 Ocean Boulevard. Clapton slowed down the tempo for his version. Author Chris Welch believes that the song benefits from this "slow burn". However, Rolling Stone critic Ken Emerson complains that the song sounds "disconcertingly mournful". Other critics praised Clapton's confident vocals. Author Marc Roberty claimed that on this song, "Eric's vocals had clearly matured, with fluctuations and intonations that were convincing rather than tentative as in the past." Clapton's version of the song was released as a single in 1974 and reached #26 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #28 in the Netherlands. It also reached #31 on the RPM magazine's top singles chart in Canada and peaked at #99 on the Oricon singles chart in Japan. Clapton included the song on his compilation album Time Pieces: Best of Eric Clapton. Clapton often played the song live, and it appeared on the live DVD One Night Only Live. Author Harry Shapiro said that the song could sound like "a dirge on bad nights but uplifting when the mood was right" Music author Dave Thompson claimed that Clapton's "live versions almost get you learning the [hand jive] movements all over again."
George Thorogood recorded a version of "Willie and the Hand Jive" for his 1985 album with the Destroyers Maverick. His single version charted on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, peaking at #25, and reached #63 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Allmusic critic James Christopher Monger called the song one of Thorogood's "high points." Thorogood included the song on his 2000 compilation album Anthology, his 2002 compilation album On Tap Plus, his 2003 compilation album The George Thorogood Collection and his 2008 compilation The Best of George Thorogood & the Destroyers.
Other artists who covered the song include: Johnny Rivers, New Riders of the Purple Sage, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Sandy Nelson, The Tremeloes, Amos Garrett, Ducks Deluxe and Levon Helm. Lee Michaels released a version of the song on his 1971 album, 5th. The Grateful Dead played "Willie and the Hand Jive" live several times in 1986 and 1987. Adopting the song to an 8-minute-long disco club version, Laurin Rinder & Michael Lewis produced a successful club hit in 1979 and included the song on their 1979 album Warriors.

Soundtracks
Footage from Otis' performance of "Willie and the Hand Jive" at the 1970 Monterey Jazz Festival was included in Clint Eastwood's 1971 film Play Misty for Me.
This song can be heard in the film The Shawshank Redemption.

Robert Porter:
Willie And The Hand Jive has never had a proper release since the original Fall In Love With You single. The original single was released in mono and included dubbed backing vocals. In 1974, for the The Cliff Richard Story compilation, a mock stereo version (where the mono channel is split in two, each is mixed differently, and played slightly out of synch to give an echo effect and an imitation stereo sound) was created. In 1980, for the Rock On With Cliff collection, rather than use the original mono version of the song, the mock stereo version was reduced to mono again such that this mono version still has the weird echo sound of the mock stereo. This is believed to have been done in error, although this odd mix appeared on many compilations afterwards. The stereo version without the dubbed backing vocals has also been released on several compilations since 1987's Rock On With Cliff Richard album. It is possible that the original mono version was somehow lost or destroyed and that's why no releases of the original version of the song have been released since the original single.

"The coupling [of Don't Talk To Him with] Willie And The Hand Jive, was issued in response to public demand, since Cliff had been featuring it as a stage specialty-- and this, too, entered the best sellers."
Derek Johnson (July 1963 - liner notes for Cliff's Hit Album)

"People always say, of course, B-sides are rubbish or that no one takes any concern about B-sides. But in point of fact, it's not quite true because I know that as far as I'm concerned, I go into a studio and I don't record a single or a B-side, I just record songs that I personally like-- all of them. Things like-- I think it was sort of...Fall In Love With You and Willie And The Hand Jive. That was the one I really remember where it just splits up. Because Willie And The Hand Jive was a great little sort of rock thing. It was a Johnny Otis song. And we'd taken it and used it on stage. And it had been such a fabulous stage number. It was the first time that the Shads and I got involved in any sort of routines on stage. We used to do the steps together. And from that time on the Shadows-- I mean, the Shadows became the group that moved. It was so good that we recorded it and released it on the back of Fall In Love With You which we thought was the better single. But the public thought otherwise, you see. And they were asking for the B-side as many times as they were asking for Fall In Love With You and you get this sort of double sided thing."
Cliff Richard (1974 - The Music And Life Of Cliff Richard collection)

"March 18, 1960: Cliff's 8th single Fall In Love With You/Willie And The Hand Jive is released, earning a Silver Disc."
Mike Read, Nigel Goodall & Peter Lewry (1995 - The Complete Chronicle)

"Willie And The Hand Jive was written by Johnny Otis, who had a hit in 1957 with the song, and it was a firm favourite in Cliff's live act at the time."
Nigel Goodall & Peter Lewry (2008 - liner notes for The Early Years album in the ...And They Said It Wouldn't Last! {My 50 Years In Music} set)

• Running Time: 2:37
• Record Date: November 19, 1959
• Record Location: Abbey Road, London
• Written By: Johnny Otis
• Produced By: Norrie Paramor
• Engineered By: Malcolm Addey & Alan Kane (mono) / Stuart Eltham & Peter Bown (stereo)
• Performed By: Cliff Richard (vocals), Hank Marvin (guitar), Bruce Welch (guitar), Jet Harris (bass), Tony Meehan (drums)

 

Here is an early live version: The sound is not great, but. luckily the song is.

 

Another early performance:

 

This is the version from the 20th anniversary concert.

 

This is the original version by The Johnny Otis Show.

 

A live TV version of the song.

 

Eric Clapton had a hit with the song in 1974. I quite like it.

 

George Thorogood had a rokin´ good version of the song.

 

And heaven help us all, a disco version by Laurin Rinder & Michael Lewis. Get down!

 

The above version of the songs makes Cliff´s 1984 remake sound almost polite. For the record: I like this version. He performed it on the "Castles in the Air" DVD.

 

Cliff & The Shadows also recorded it for their 2009 album "REUNITED". NB! If you want more versions of this song, YouTube has dozens. I, for one, has had enough. And I love the song!

 

Single No. 9: 1960 June 24th (7XCA 25186) Columbia 45-DB 4479
A-side: "PLEASE DON´T TEASE" (Written by Bruce Welch & Peter Chester) Running time 2:59
B-side: "WHERE IS MY HEART"" (Written by Sid Tepper & Roy C. Bennett) Running time: 2:12
Produced by Norrie Paramor





Charts
UK: No. 1
Norway: No. 1
Sweden: No. 6
Ireland: No. 1
Australia: No. 2
Belgium: -
Germany: -
The Netherlands: No. 8
US: -

I recently watched the live DVD "Castles in the Air", and I woke up this morning humming "PLEASE DON´T TEASE". I have always thought of this one as a lightweight pop single with a great intro. Listening to it again, I realised that this is a more sophisticated composition than I had understood before. There are many twist and turns to this song, and with many little flourishes here and there. No wonder it went to No. 1 in several countries. Cliff´s performance is perhaps not his strongest vocal, and his subsequent single would have better rock´n´roll credentials. But there´s no denying it - this is a very good pop single for its time. It may not have aged well, but it wa great in 1960. Read the fascinating story of how it was chosen to be his next single. This marketing ploy was used again in 1989, though the track chosen was not released as the next single. (One of our readers may have more to tell us about this, as he took part in this selection. )

From Wikipedia:
"Please Don't Tease" is a 1960 song recorded by Cliff Richard and the Shadows. Recorded in March and released as a single in June, the song became their third No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart spending three weeks at the summit. The song was written by the Shadows' rhythm guitarist Bruce Welch together with Pete Chester.
To decide upon the release of this track as a single, Richard's record company recruited a teenage panel to listen to and vote on a selection of his unreleased tracks. "Please Don't Tease" won the vote and was duly released, "Nine Times Out of Ten" came second and was the follow-up single.
The single also reached number 1 in India, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway and Thailand. The single sold 1.59 million copies worldwide.
"Please Don't Tease" was included on the EP Cliff's Silver Discs, released December 1960. Its first inclusion on an LP was Cliff's Hit Album, released July 1963.
In 1978, the song was revisited in a contemporary arrangement and added to his live repertoire. It was played without The Shadows at their reunion concerts in March 1978 (as recorded on Thank You Very Much), and recorded in the studio and released as the B-side of "Please Remember Me" in July 1978.

Robert Porter:
"Please Don't Tease was picked as Cliff's next single by a panel of teenagers, from two dozen original tracks played to them at EMI headquarters. Cliff, who was currently playing his most important engagement to date in the London Palladium Summer Revue, stated, 'I certainly don't think it's one of the best records I have made.' But it netted him his third No. 1 success!"
Derek Johnson (July 1963 - liner notes for Cliff's Hit Album)
"EMI issue souvenir 'Golden Discs' to all artists who sell one million copies of one number. If all are called, few are chosen. Cliff has four of these—for Living Doll, Bachelor Boy, The Young Ones and Lucky Lips. They also issue souvenir 'Silver Discs' for sales of 250,000 and over, and Cliff has some seventeen of these, for such numbers as Living Doll, Travelling Light [sic], Voice in the Wilderness [sic], Fall in Love with Me [sic], Please don't Tease, Nine Times out of Ten, I Love You, Theme for a Dream, Girl in your Arms [sic], Looking out the Window [sic], It'll be Me, Lucky Lips, Don't Talk to Him, All in the Game [sic], as well as the four million-sellers."
Bob Ferrier (1964 - The Wonderful World of Cliff Richard)
"Once or twice the fans have played a crucial part in the choice of a hit record. Please Don't Tease, for instance, was not greatly liked by Cliff or his A and R manager, but a panel of fans who were invited to choose his next release from a batch of possibles put this number easily first. It was duly released and reached number one. There was another unusual circumstance about this record [Please Don't Tease]. In autumn 1960, when it was at the top of the Hit Parade, the Shadows' instrumental Apache was number two. What many people did not know was that the four Shadows and Cliff performed on both records-- the Shadows accompanying Cliff's song, and Cliff playing a congo drum on the Shadows' instrumental!"
David Winter (1967 - New Singer, New Song)
"There was a time when-- well quite often actually there's more than just one time when you in fact get a whole load of records that you've made in the studio and you just don't know what to do with them all. And we had about twelve songs that we'd recorded. And we just didn't know which one we liked best. So we got a representive group of poeple-- about 200 from the fan club. And we said, 'come down' and we gave them all tea and everything. And we sat them down. And we played them six songs and gave them some more tea and another six songs. And said, 'right, now you're the jury. You are gonna pick the next Cliff Richard and the Shadows single.' And they picked Please Don't Tease. They were right because we got a #1 out of that. And I think it was #1 for about four weeks. And I wish sometimes we could do that with all the records."
Cliff Richard (1974 - The Music And Life Of Cliff Richard collection)
"200 fans were invited to hear some new tracks and were asked to choose their favourite. EMI released [Please Don't Tease] and Bingo, another No. 1."
Cliff Richard (1985 - liner notes for From The Heart album)
"Pete [Chester] and I were responsible for Tell Me, It's You, First Lesson In Love (which Cliff recorded), True Love Will Come To You, Now's The Time To Fall In Love, and Please Don't Tease, which gave Cliff Richard one of his biggest successes and topped the British charts for two weeks in 1960."
Bruce Welch (1989 - Rock 'n' Roll - I Gave You The Best Years Of My Life)
"Please Don't Tease and Nine Times Out Of Ten pioneered the sound Cliff would keep to, over the next few years."
Peter Lewry & Nigel Goodall (1994 - liner notes for The Hit List)
"Please Don't Tease became the first ever single to return to No.1 after dropping from the summit. [...] The March 1960 recording sessions were the first of that year and as usual were held at EMI's Abbey Road studio 2. Work was gear towards producing some hit singles, B-sides and album tracks. Nine Times Out Of Ten, Please Don't Tease and Gee Whiz It's You were the gems from these sessions that pioneered the sound Cliff would keep for the next few years. [...] July 22, 1960: Please Don't Tease knocks Jimmy Jones' Good Timin' off the Number One spot. [...] August 5, 1961: Please Don't Tease is No.1 for the third week running. [...] August 19, 1960: Please Don't Tease deposed by the Shadows' Apache. [...] September 22, 1960: Nine Times Out Of Ten goes straight into the top 10, while Please Don't Tease is still well-placed in the top 20. [...] October 14 1975: Noel Edmonds records Cliff's 35th birthday on his Radio 1 breakfast show and plays Please Don't Tease."
Mike Read, Nigel Goodall & Peter Lewry (1995 - The Complete Chronicle)
"Penned by Shadows' guitarist Bruce Welch, Please Don't Tease became the first Cliff #1 single of 1960. It was chosen by members of Cliff's fan club as the best for a hit single from a preview of recently-recorded tracks, and actually became the first ever single to return to #1 after it had been knocked off the top. Ironically, it was replaced at #1 by Cliff's own backing group. Although Apache got The Shadows the ultimate chart position in their own right, the sales did not compare to the figures gained from backing Cliff on his hit, and so it returned to take over the top chart position for a second time."
Nigel Goodall & Peter Lewry (2008 - liner notes for The Hits: Number Ones Around The World album in the ...And They Said It Wouldn't Last! {My 50 Years In Music} set)
"On 20 August [1960] Apache actually knocked Cliff off the top of the Hit Parade when it replaced Please Don't Tease. [...] From the start talked of 'doing what the fans want me to.' In 1960 he actually brought a group of fans to Abbey Road studios to choose his next single from a collection of 21 newly recorded songs (they chose Please Don't Tease)."
Steve Turner (2008 January - Cliff Richard - The Biography (revised edition))
"I kicked 'em off with [Apache] their first instrumental hit. And they had many, many hits. And very often we would swap places. Y'know, I would have a number one... In fact, I can remember having a number one with a song called Please Don't Tease and the instrumental that knocked me off was Apache by The Shadows. There was never animosity, though. We were a team and we wanted both of us to be successful and we were."
Cliff Richard (2012 September 8 - Wired For Sound Radio)
"[Cliff] managed to go to the top of the charts seven times across the decade [1960s], between his hits Please Don't Tease to Congratulations (although he only got up to no. 25 in the United States during that decade and it wasn't with any of his UK no. 1s). It was a massive decade for Richard..."
Ryan Book (2015 March 11 - The Music Times)

Running Time: 2:59
Record Date: March 25, 1960
Record Location: Abbey Road, London
Written By: Bruce Welch & Peter Chester
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)

 

As with "WILLIE AND THE HAND JIVE", this song was revisited in 1978, when Cliff & The Shadows celebrated their 20th anniversary at the London Palladium. The song was updated for this version, and it would later feature as a B-side in this guise.

 

The version on the B-side of 1978´s "PLEASE REMEMBER ME" single was a slowed-down version of the above arrangement. I have to admit that I much prefer this moody version of the song. Some people - see what I did there? - might find it a bit dull, but like the earthy nature of both the live and the studio versions, and prefer them both to the original single. (This version was included as a bonus track for the remastered 2002 edition of the marvellous "GREEN LIGHT" album.)

 

Here is a 1984 performance of the song, from a concert in Birmingham.

 

The B-side of this single was another ballad written by our old "friends", Sid Tepper and Roy Bennett. A gentle, unremarkable but pleasant ballad in the vein of many other early 60s songs by Cliff, this is not a song that would be remembered that often for live performances or remakes.





Robert Porter:
7XCA 25187
Running Time: 2:12
Record Date: March 30, 1960
Record Location: Abbey Road, London
Written By: Sid Tepper & Roy C. Bennett
Produced By: Norrie Paramor
Engineered By: Malcolm Addey & Norman Smith (mono) / Peter Bown & Alan Kane (stereo)
Performed By: Cliff Richard (vocals), Hank Marvin (guitar), Bruce Welch (guitar), Jet Harris (bass), Tony Meehan (drums)

 

Yes, I have that version of "Miss You Nights", and like it very much. I've got it somewhere on video also where he has the choir singing it with him.

Well, "Drifting", you are not alone here, you have me to completely agree with you!
I have always loved this song, I just think it's great and it should have been a hit.
Seem to remember reading somewhere, unless I am getting it mixed up with another record, that some pressing plant of the single was on strike or something, or was the plant abroad or something, and they couldn't get copies shipped to the Uk.
Agree that a new version would be good, also that especially now, the backing does sound computerised a bit, but as you say, it's not gonna happen now.

 

Good to know that you´re on my side, Tim! I really, honestly, truthfully think that it´s a lovely song. I used to like the computerised backing of the "DRIFTING/WAR OF LOVE" album, and I still think there were some nice touches to the arrangmenets, but listening to it now, it does sound too rigid and stiff. An orchestral version of the title track would be wonderful, but, as you say, it´s too late now. A pity.

I have heard rumours about the problems with shipping the singles to the UK, but I am 100% sure that that wasn´t the reason for its relative failure. (It did chart, though No. 64 is hardly a major hit. Still, I prefer it to many - and I do mean MANY - of his bigger hits.) Still, that bird has flown. Or perhaps I should say drifted away. Actually, I take that back. Awful.

I wish they would re-release the acappella version of "MISS YOU NIGHT", as a bonus track to something. It´s a thing of beauty, and Elton John had some modicum of success with his stripped-down remix of "CANDKE IN THE WIND". (Not in terms of the charts, though.)