"Love Is Strange" by Caesar and Cleo (aka Sonny and Cher): Do you remember this?

Long ago, in the early or mid-70s, I picked up a wlp of Love Is Strange by Caesar and Cleo, put it on the turntable and thought "man, those voices sound familiar." I checked out the label and sure enough saw S. Bono.

Anyone remember this? I really loved this cover of the Mickey and Sylvia classic. It really had a great mid-sixties sensibility with the big saxophone instro track and the "la-la-love-is, la-la-love is" refrain. A few years ago I picked up the screwy Reprise Sonny and Cher "Baby Don't Go" comp lp, which has several of their Caesar and Cleo sides mixed in with The Lettermen and some other group. Unfortunately, the copy I got was stereo and Love Is Strange has the vocals and the instruments split. My long gone mono single was far superior.

Did this ever do any chart action? Maybe in the L.A. market? Guess it would have been late 1964 or early 1965. It's just such a great track, IMO, so well put together and energetic--don't understand how it could have so completely tanked...it really is one of the era's lost classics IMO.

Dale

 

No one?

Dale

 

The only real national chart action Caesar & Cleo got was in 1965, with the THE LETTER on Vault Records. It was credited to Sonny & Cher, but was originally issued in 1963 as by Caesar & Cleo.

Worth mentioning, though, is that LOVE IS STRANGE (Reprise) did make Billboard's Bubbling Under the Hot 100 chart, albeit no higher than No. 131.

 

It is a great version. I too have the Reprise Baby Don't Go stereo comp lp and I simply recorded it to the computer and fixed it myself with the audio editor. But the mono would be the way to go, yeah.