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. Bobby Morrow

    Bobby Morrow Senior Member

    I really like Reunion Of The Heart. I usually 'add' it to the album when I play Always Guaranteed. I think it's good enough to have made the album.... but don't think it would necessarily have fit there if it had. Quality B-side, though.

    One Time Lover Man is OK too. Cliff once again dropping the spiritual/meaningful stuff and going for a pop hit.:) It's no classic, but I wouldn't turn it off or skip it either.
     
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  2. Bobby Morrow

    Bobby Morrow Senior Member

    I have to say, I was surprised by Some People's success.. Not because it's in any way bad, just that I didn't think it was exceptional. Sometimes certain songs connect with the public and this totally did. It doesn't seem to be the most revered single by Cliff fans, so I have to believe the general public were the ones who took such a shine to this.

    The highlight of course is Cliff's vocal. Once again he manages to bring some humanity and warmth to an ordinary song. It's not the hookiest or strongest thing Alan Tarney has ever written, but it's hard to imagine anyone doing a better job than Cliff of this. I would class this as yet another career song for him. An unexpected one as well.

    With this and My Pretty One, Always Guaranteed had a good leg-up. The other singles from the album wouldn't fare as well, but it didn't really matter at this point. 2 top 10 hits from an LP was perfectly good enough for anyone.

    The single sleeve/picture disc are OK. The video isn't Cliff's finest moment. I think his recent success had gone to his head a bit.:)
     
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  3. Bobby Morrow

    Bobby Morrow Senior Member

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  4. CheshireCat

    CheshireCat Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cheshire
    I enjoy Some People, though I still prefer My Pretty One. Some People just sort of wafts along, although it does have a nice sentiment about being nice to each other. I think I was surprised it went top 3, from memory it's chart climb was 22, 15, 7, 6, 3. I think it was Some People which Cliff was miming on TV when he fell down the steps of the studio, surrounded in clouds of dry ice. First saw it on one of the outtakes TV shows.

    The B side, I think is slightly better than Love Ya, but again, B side material - nice to see Cliff with self-written songs - and more frequently than for quite some time. Reunion of the heart, to me is rather bland and dreary. The Hollies released it as a dreary non-charting single around the same time. It did nothing for them.
     
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  5. Jarleboy

    Jarleboy Music was my first love Thread Starter

    Location:
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    We can´t always point to any logic - some songs just rub us the wrong way. (I have to say that I do love "I´LL LOVE YOU FOREVER TODAY", though. Another song co-written by Cliff.)
     
    Last edited: Nov 27, 2016
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  6. Jarleboy

    Jarleboy Music was my first love Thread Starter

    Location:
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    Glad you like "REUNION OF THE HEART" as well. You´re right - it might have fit the plastic-pop mood of the "ALWAYS GUARANTEED", but it may have been a good closing track - either side one or two. Still, a very good B-side. "ONE TIME LOVER MAN" is one of Cliff´s better songs as well - he placed a lot of quite good songs on B-sides in this period. Good for him.
     
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  7. Jarleboy

    Jarleboy Music was my first love Thread Starter

    Location:
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    He, he... It would seem that his success did go to his head. Just a little bit. :)

    A good thing about "SOME PEOPLE" was that it managed to reach beyond the fanbase. I loved it back then, but I have since gone off it a bit. It´s a nice, undistinguished song lifted by Cliff´s vocal, IMO. A career song? Yes, it probably was. And it kept the momentum going.
     
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  8. Jarleboy

    Jarleboy Music was my first love Thread Starter

    Location:
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  9. Jarleboy

    Jarleboy Music was my first love Thread Starter

    Location:
    Norway
    Thanks for that fact - I never knew The Hollies recorded "RENUION OF THE HEART". It´s not hit single material, but I rather love it. It lacks the "hooks" to become a hit single.
     
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  10. Jarleboy

    Jarleboy Music was my first love Thread Starter

    Location:
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    Single No. 103: 1987 November 2 — UK — EMI EM 31
    A-side: "REMEMBER ME" (Written Alan Tarney)
    B-side: "ANOTHER CHRISTMAS DAY" (Written by Cliff Richard)
    12": "BRAVE NEW WORLD" (Written by Alan Tarney)
    A-side arranged and produced by Alan Tarney, and B-sides produced by Cliff Richard, Keith Bessey & Alan Park

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]



    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    "REMEMBER ME" was a song first attempted by David Cassidy on his 1985 album "ROMANCE", also produced by Alan Tarney. You may remember that the Cliff track "YOUNG LOVE" was revamped into "THE LAST KISS", and was a huge hit. "REMEMBER ME" was now fished out of obscurity by Alan Tarney, and re-recorded in a quite different form for Cliff. You can still recognise the tune, but the versions are quite different.

    The release formats were now many, confusing the collector. Robert porter has these comments:
    "Remember Me
    (Alan Tarney)
    Running Time: 3:52
    This is the same as on the Always Guaranteed album.
    Another Christmas Day
    (Cliff Richard)
    Running Time: 3:07
    This is an original B-side.
    Remember Me (12" Version)
    (Alan Tarney)
    Running Time: 5:48
    This extended version is extended from the Always Guaranteed album version, adding a mostly instrumental verse and chorus after the intro and before the first verse. Also the ending fade-out is extended by an additional 15 seconds.
    Brave New World
    (Alan Tarney)
    Running Time: 4:19
    This is an original B-side.
    Some People
    (Alan Tarney)
    Running Time: 4:19
    This is the same as on the Always Guaranteed album.

    The 12" poster sleeve features the record in a plain black sleeve, which in turn is surrounded by a tri-fold poster with one side being an uncropped photo from the image on the front cover and the other side emulating the standard 12" single cover.

    This song marks Cliff's first UK CD single release.

    Both 12" singles (standard and poster sleeve) contain the 12" remix of Remember Me, although neither is marked as have any sort of special mix other than the standard single/album mix.

    "Even though one more single was lifted from the Always Guaranteed] album, Remember Me failed to repeat the success of the previous two, only achieving moderate success at No.35. September 15, 1987: Shoots the video for his next single Remember Me. October 19, 1987: Cliff's new single-- Remember Me is released, with Another Christmas Day on the 'B' side and Brave New World appearing as a bonus track on the 12-inch version."
    Mike Read, Nigel Goodall & Peter Lewry (1995 - The Complete Chronicle)

    "Released in October 1987 Remember Me was the third single lifted from the [Always Guaranteed] album and entered the UK charts on 31 October 1987 reaching #35 during its 4 week spell on the chart. A 12-inch single release featured Brave New World as an extra track (12EMP 31) while it became the first Cliff Richard single to be issued as a remaster album (CDEm 31). The CD included Some People and the 12-inch version of Remember Me."
    Peter Lewry & Nigel Goodall (January 2004 - liner notes for Always Guaranteed remaster album)

    A No. 35 peak in the UK charts is not that impressive. It reached No. 14 in Ireland, No. 20 in Germany and No. 22 in Belgium. A rather overproduced song, the melancholy in the verses building up to an anthemic chorus does have its charm. I like the song, and really love the video. Simple - and Cliff looks great. The main drawback to this release, apart from the oft-repeated chorus, is the production drenched in synths. A live version from Denmark, heard and seen on the "LIVE & GUARANTEED" VHS/CD release in 1988 is much better, I think. A typical Alan Tarney song, the song was not a big hit, but it´s one of the better tracks on the "ALWAYS GUARANTEED" album.

     
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  11. Jarleboy

    Jarleboy Music was my first love Thread Starter

    Location:
    Norway
    The now obligatory extended version was found on the 12" and CD single formats. There also was a poster 12" release, as mentioned above, and depicted below.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

     
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  12. Jarleboy

    Jarleboy Music was my first love Thread Starter

    Location:
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    Here is David Cassidy´s original from 1985, and the album "ROMANCE".

     
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  13. Jarleboy

    Jarleboy Music was my first love Thread Starter

    Location:
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    Cliff live on German TV in 1987.

     
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  14. Jarleboy

    Jarleboy Music was my first love Thread Starter

    Location:
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    I have posted this before, but this is the "LIVE & GUARANTEED" from 1988.

     
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  15. Jarleboy

    Jarleboy Music was my first love Thread Starter

    Location:
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    The B-side "ANOTHER CHRISTMAS DAY" is another one in a line of Cliff-penned B-sides. As usual, it´s not great, and it´s not bad.

     
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  16. Jarleboy

    Jarleboy Music was my first love Thread Starter

    Location:
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    The 12" bonus B-side was this time an Alan Tarney song. Interesting to hear how different an Alan Tarney song sounds when not produced and arranged by himself. You be the judge...



    (Sorry about the wrong single cover in the video.)
     
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  17. W.B.

    W.B. The Collector's Collector

    Location:
    New York, NY, USA
    In the U.S., "Some People" was issued in 1988 on Striped Horse SH 7011, b/w "Love Ya." Like his prior single, it never charted in the States. A wholly different photo - the one which I think was used for that label's issue of the LP which they S/T'd - was used on the picture sleeve, though his name was in the same typeface, angled 90 degrees counterclockwise as on the U.K. PS. It would be another nine years before another Cliff single would turn up in the States.
     
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  18. Jarleboy

    Jarleboy Music was my first love Thread Starter

    Location:
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    I didn´t know that! What was the next single to be released?
     
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  19. Bobby Morrow

    Bobby Morrow Senior Member

    That's not bad. Typical Cliff penned number. But with a Christmas theme.:)

    Cliff is a perfectly serviceable writer, but there's often a spark missing from his work.
     
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  20. W.B.

    W.B. The Collector's Collector

    Location:
    New York, NY, USA
    A Christmas single, in 1997, on EMI-Capitol Music Special Markets. With the 1970's arrangement of the EMI label design as on the UK, taking up half of the label at an angle.
     
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  21. Bobby Morrow

    Bobby Morrow Senior Member

    This isn't anything special either. Not a bad song, but probably could do with Tarney 'sweetening' it with his special production tricks.
     
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  22. Jarleboy

    Jarleboy Music was my first love Thread Starter

    Location:
    Norway
    I think you´re right. His songs are seldom bad, but the last bit of inspiration is just not there. I think he´s aware of this himself. The only times he pushed for one of his songs to be A-sides were in the early 60s - and once in 1967, with "I´LL LOVE YOU FOREVER TODAY".
     
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  23. Jarleboy

    Jarleboy Music was my first love Thread Starter

    Location:
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    Yep. It´s a bit all over the place. Tarney might have done something with it, but I understand why it was not included on the album.
     
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  24. Jarleboy

    Jarleboy Music was my first love Thread Starter

    Location:
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    I remember that design, yes. (And I am rather fond of it.) Not a hit, then... :shake:
     
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  25. Bobby Morrow

    Bobby Morrow Senior Member

    Cassidy and Cliff are similar kinds of vocalists. Cliff could have recorded Romance and David Always Guaranteed and we'd be none the wiser.:D I don't think there is a victor in the two versions of Remember Me. They're both good, though the song isn't one to make you sit up and take notice...
     
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