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

"WITHOUT YOU" is one of those rarities on Cliff albums - a song co-written by Cliff, Hank and Bruce. An enjoyable, light rock´n´roll song. It sound slike a "ME AND MY SHADOWS" outtake. That´s a mark of high quality, indeed. Cliff remembers liking it, and I agree with him. Nice song.



Robert Porter:
The mono and stereo recordings are the same take and edit, but different mixes.
"I don't often write songs. And-- But they have been dotted around the past fifteen years. I know that on an album to sort of celebrate my 21st birthday, the album's called 21 Today, Hank and I had a song on there called Without You. I don't know what kind of music you'd call it, really. I suppose it's sort of rock 'n' roll, but not ultra. But I always quite [unintelligible] to hear my own songs. I wish I'd written more, in fact, because nowadays I feel so sort of reticent and shy about singing people my songs. And yet obviously there's a market for people who record their own stuff. But Without You, I was quite pleased with that one."
Cliff Richard (1974 - The Music And Life Of Cliff Richard collection)
"[Without You and Shame On You are] two more rock tracks from the 21 Today album, both featured here [on the The Rock 'n' Roll Years 1958 - 1963 set] in stereo. Hank Marvin, Bruce Welch and Cliff are the composers on these two tracks."
Nigel Goodall & Peter Lewry (1997 - liner notes for The Rock 'n' Roll Years 1958-1963 album)

Running Time: 2:07
Record Date: July 11, 1961
Record Location: Abbey Road, London
Written By: Cliff Richard, Hank Marvin & Bruce Welch
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)

 

"A MIGHTY LONELY MAN", written by Eddie Curtis, is a ballad in the Elvis vein. Perhaps not the best song on the album? Just MO.

The composer:
Eddie Curtis: Eddie Curtis - Wikipedia




Robert Porter:
The mono and stereo recordings are the same take and edit, but different mixes.

Running Time: 2:16
Record Date: January 30, 1961
Record Location: Abbey Road, London
Written By: Eddie Curtis
Produced By: Norrie Paramor
Engineered By: Malcolm Addey
Performed By: Cliff Richard (vocals), Norrie Paramor Orchestra (all other instruments), Mike Sammes Singers (backing vocals)

 

Hawkins seems to be a real character. I remember reading something about him making a sarcastic comment to Bob Dylan when Dylan was in his 'Christian gospel music period'. Apparently everyone in the room was cringing...but Dylan just started laughing and joking along.

 

"MY BLUE HEAVEN" was a song I used to love in the 80s. Cliff´s take on it is great fun. Tongue-in-cheek, fun, playful... I like it.



From Wikipedia:
"My Blue Heaven" is a popular song written by Walter Donaldson with lyrics by George A. Whiting. The song was used in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1927. It has become part of various fake book collections.
In 1928, "My Blue Heaven" became a huge hit on Victor 20964-A for crooner Gene Austin, accompanied by the Victor Orchestra as directed by Nat Shilkret; it charted for 26 weeks, stayed at number one for 13, and sold over five million copies becoming one of the best selling singles of all time. Victor 20964-A was recorded on September 14, 1927 and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1978; the recording was reissued as Victor 24573 and has been reissued on several commercially available CDs.

Gene Austin's hit recording
The music for "My Blue Heaven" was written in 1924: "Donaldson wrote it one afternoon at the Friars Club in New York while waiting for his turn at the billiard table." The song was written while Donaldson was under contract to Irving Berlin, working for Berlin's publishing company, Irving Berlin Inc. George A. Whiting wrote lyrics adapted for Donaldson's music, and for a while, performed it in his vaudeville act; three years later, Tommy Lyman started singing it on the radio as his theme song.
Austin, unhappy with the Victor Company and "convinced that the best material which he brought to the company’s attention was going to other artists", "gave Nat Shilkret an ultimatum that he wouldn’t do another session unless his interpretation [of "My Blue Heaven"] was commercially released. According to Austin, an agreement was reached for "My Blue Heaven" to be coupled with "Are You Thinking of Me Tonight?", the most highly regarded song among those he was planning to record at that time." On the day "My Blue Heaven" was to be recorded, after takes of the other songs had been completed, to Austin's surprise the musicians packed up and left the studio; Shilkret told Austin they had a conflict, but in a scene documented by H. Allen Smith in his A Short History of Fingers, Austin "grabbed an old guy with a cello and talked him into standing by. Then [he] grabbed a song plugger who could play pretty fair piano. And the third fellow [he] got was an agent who could whistle – bird calls and that sort of thing." Austin recorded "My Blue Heaven" with that hastily assembled trio.

Copyright
Donaldson established his own publishing company in 1928, and his rights in the song were apparently assigned to his company at that time, with the song listed as having been published by George Whiting Music and Donaldson Music.
The song was subject to copyright in 1925 and 1927. These copyrights were renewed in 1953 and 1955, after the death of both composers, at which time the rights in the song were owned by Leo Feist, Inc.. The rights were thereafter assigned to the EMI Catalogue Partnership, controlled and administered by EMI Feist Catalog Inc.

Film appearances
1932 "The Last Mile"
1941 Penny Serenade – played on a record and as background music.
1943 Never a Dull Moment – sung by Frances Langford
1950 My Blue Heaven – sung during the opening credits by Betty Grable, Dan Dailey and chorus. Danced by Betty Grable and Dan Dailey.
1955 Love Me or Leave Me – sung by Doris Day.
1959 The Five Pennies – played by Bob Crosby and the band in rehearsal.
1995 Antonia's Line

Robert Porter:
The mono and stereo recordings are the same take and edit, but different mixes.

Running Time: 2:29
Record Date: April 19, 1961
Record Location: Abbey Road, London
Written By: George Whiting & Walter Donaldson
Produced By: Norrie Paramor
Engineered By: Malcolm Addey & Norman Smith
Performed By: Cliff Richard (vocals), Hank Marvin (guitar), Bruce Welch (guitar), Jet Harris (bass), Tony Meehan (drums

 

This is the original version of the song, from Ziegfeld Follies of 1927. You can´t keep a good song down.

 

The song has worked itself into the public consciousness. Here from M*A*S*H:

 

"SHAME ON YOU" was written by Bruce Welch, Hank Marvin and Kevin Jacobson. Back to the soud of "ME AND MY SHADOWS" - and all the better for it. (This is Kevin Jacobson´s only credit as a composer, and I could find no information about him. Shame...) Great song.



Robert Porter:
The mono and stereo recordings are the same take and edit, but different mixes.
"[Without You and Shame On You are] two more rock tracks from the 21 Today album, both featured here [on the The Rock 'n' Roll Years 1958 - 1963 set] in stereo. Hank Marvin, Bruce Welch and Cliff are the composers on these two tracks."
Nigel Goodall & Peter Lewry (1997 - liner notes for The Rock 'n' Roll Years 1958-1963 album)
Editor's Note: According to the albums liner notes, Cliff did not write this song.

Running Time: 2:11
Record Date: July 11, 1961
Record Location: Abbey Road, London
Written By: Bruce Welch, Kevin Jacobson & Hank Marvin
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)

 

I have no idea, but, like you, I wouldn´t be surprised if he does. He´s no spring chicken anymore. And neither are we...

 

We won´t hold that statement against you... It seems that boys - that is, men - tend to favour The Shadows over Cliff. Not hard to understand why - Cliff always was a one-man boy band. Who can actually sing.

 

Yes, I seem to remember reading something like that about him, too. A real character, yes. We need those! And Bob Dylan is certainly big enough to take it, the way he dishes it out!

 

Was the clip a performance one or off stage? I was just thinking if it was a performance clip he might have been wearing an in-ear monitor.

 

Yep! Without wanting to go too far off topic one of my favourites was when the Led Zeppelin manager Peter Green introduced himself to Dylan and said " I'm Peter Green and I manage Led Zeppelin " Dylan said " Do I come to you with my problems?"

 

As usual, the year saw a few EP releases, as well. First out were the three "ME AND MY SHADOWS" EPs. (All of which were relased as mono and stereo versions.)







This EP got to No. 5 in the EP charts.

 

He, he. He always had an answer - or, in this case - a question!

 

Guys Guys a few years off the Holiday Bus and 40 years before the neck and face lift surgical work done and the gallons of hair dye.

 

"ME AND MY SHADOWS" 2 got to No. 8 in the charts.

 

He, he. Two lovely guys. Love Kenny Everett as well.

 

"ME AND MY SHADOWS" 3 made it two better - No. 6.

 

"LISTEN TO CLIFF" 1 only made to No. 17 in the EP charts.





Tracks:
Side 1 : What’d I Say / Blue Moon
Side 2 : True Love Will Come To You / Lover

 

The Sh a dow.

 

"DREAMS" was a "concept" EP that was released in between the "LISTEN TO CLIFF" EPs. A rather fine collection of songs, and it made it all the way to No. 3 in the EP charts. Very summery and... Well, dreamy.





The first track on this EP is Johnny Mercer´s "DREAM".

The composer:
Johnny Mercer: Johnny Mercer - Wikipedia



From Wikipedia:
"Dream", sometimes referred to as "Dream (When You're Feeling Blue)", is a jazz and pop standard with words and music written by Johnny Mercer in 1944. He originally wrote it as a theme for his radio program. It has been and performed by many artists, with the most popular versions of this song recorded by The Pied Pipers, Frank Sinatra, and Roy Orbison.

Recordings
For Capitol Records, The Pied Pipers, with lead singer June Hutton, made a version of "Dream" (catalog number 185, with the flip side "Tabby the Cat") which became a major hit in 1945. Vocal group The Skylines, singing with Ray Anthony's orchestra, would revive this ballad in the 1955 Fred Astaire–Leslie Caron musical film, Daddy Long Legs.
Johnny Preston released a version of the song on his 1960 album, Running Bear.
Andy Williams released a version on his 1964 album, The Wonderful World of Andy Williams.
In 1970, a vocal quartet which included lead singer Sue Allen (who sang with The Pied Pipers in the 1950s), recorded it with the same arrangement as the 1945 hit version, for Time-Life Records. On October 22, 2008, this version was used in the teaser trailer for the 2K Games BioShock sequel, BioShock 2, and featured for a brief flash during the game's opening cutscene.
"Dream" was also recorded (on April 14, 1958) by Betty Johnson (issued by Atlantic Records as catalog number 1186, with the flip side "How Much") in a version that spent seven weeks on the charts: #19 on the Billboard chart of songs most played by disc jockeys and #58 on the Billboard top 100 chart. Roy Orbison included a cover of the song on his popular and critically acclaimed 1963 album for Monument Records, In Dreams. More recently, Orbison's version was resurrected for the soundtrack to the 1998 film, You've Got Mail.
A lush version, with orchestrations and arrangements by Nelson Riddle can be heard on the 1964 Verve release Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Johnny Mercer Songbook.
Other notable versions include a best-selling single by Frank Sinatra on Columbia Records (with the Axel Stordahl Orchestra and the Ken Lane singers; originally catalog number 36797, with the flip side "There's No You";reissued as catalog number 40522, with flip side "American Beauty Rose") which spent 7 weeks on the charts, peaking at #5 in 1945, (as well as a version on his 1960 album for Capitol, Nice 'n' Easy), a rendition from blues legend Etta James in 1961, Ringo Starr's version in 1970 album Sentimental Journey, and most recently Michael Bublé's version in 2007.
Enoch Light and His Light Brigade Orchestra released their version of Dream in 1955.
Canadian jazz pianist and singer Diana Krall included the song in her 2017 studio album Turn Up the Quiet.

Robert Porter:
The mono and stereo recordings are the same take and edit, but different mixes.
"Recorded in May 1961, both Dream and I'll See You In My Dreams were issued on the Dream EP released in 1961 which reached a respectable #3 in the charts."
Nigel Goodall & Peter Lewry (2008 - liner notes for Rare EP Tracks 1961 - 1991 album in the ...And They Said It Wouldn't Last! {My 50 Years In Music} set)

Running Time: 2:33
Record Date: May 4, 1961
Record Location: Abbey Road, London
Written By: Johnny Mercer
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)

 

The Pied Piper´s hit 1945 version of the song. Lead vocal by June Hutton.

 

In 1961, Etta James, one of my favourite singers, covered the song.

 

Roy Orbison recorded a great cover version of the song in 1963, on his album "IN DREAMS". Pure class.

 

The second track on the "DREAM" EP was "ALL I DO IS DREAM OF YOU", written by the "SINGIN´ IN THE RAIN" songwriters, Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed. (I refer you to an earlier song for more information about these two composers.) I love the subtle linking guitar motifs on this EP.



From Wikipedia:
"All I Do Is Dream of You" is a popular song. The music was written by Nacio Herb Brown, the lyrics by Arthur Freed. The song was published in 1934. It was originally written for the Joan Crawford film Sadie McKee (1934) when it was played during the opening credits and later sung by Gene Raymond three times. It was also sung in the film by Earl Oxford in a show.
The first recording of the song was on April 23, 1934, by Dick Robertson and Angelo Ferdinando's Hotel Great Northern Orchestra. The song has since been recorded many times. Early hit versions included Jan Garber, Freddy Martin and Henry Busse.[2] Garber's version charted #1 in 1934 and remained on the charts for 14 weeks.

Recorded versions
Dick Robertson with Angelo Ferdinando's Orchestra, recorded on April 23,1934 for Bluebird Records (catalog No. 5458A),
Fritz Heilborn with Jan Garber Orchestra (May 8,1934)
Al Bowlly with Ray Noble and his orchestra, recorded July 11, 1934. (Al Bowlly Discography)
Chico Marx - piano version in the film A Night at the Opera (1935)
Judy Garland (1940)
Dinah Shore with Glenn Miller
Patti Page (1949)
Debbie Reynolds in Singin' in the Rain (1952)
Debbie Reynolds, Bobby Van in The Affairs of Dobie Gillis (1953)
Johnnie Ray - a single release in 1953.
Jerry Vale - included in the album Girl Meets Boy (1954).
The Hi-Lo's - for their album On Hand (1956).
Pat Boone - in his album Howdy! (1956)
Jaye P. Morgan - for her album Just You, Just Me (1958).
Patience and Prudence (1958)
Bing Crosby included the song in a medley on his album Join Bing and Sing Along (1959)
Dean Martin - for his album Sleep Warm (1959)
Louis Prima and Keely Smith - for the album Louis and Keely! (1959).
Doris Day - for her album I Have Dreamed (1961)
Perry Como - for his album Sing to Me Mr. C 1961)
Alma Cogan - included in her album With You in Mind (1961)
Cliff Richard (1961)
Robert Goulet - for his album The Wonderful World of Love (1962).
Sarah Vaughan - for her album Sarah + 2 (1962)
Enoch Light (1964)
Ella Fitzgerald (1968), 30 By Ella, Columbia Records
Bennie Green (re-issue on Mosaic)
Twiggy (1971, in the film The Boy Friend)
Charly García (1982), Pubis Angelical-Yendo De La Cama Al Living (Under the Title of "All I Do the Whole Night Through")
The McGuire Sisters - The Anthology (1999)
Leon Redbone - included in his album Any Time (2001).
Stacey Kent - The Boy Next Door (2003)
Michael Bublé - Crazy Love (2009)
Emilie-Claire Barlow - Haven't We Met? (2009)
Emmy Rossum - Sentimental Journey (2013)
Faultline feat. dodie (2018)


Robert Porter:
The mono and stereo recordings are the same take and edit, but different mixes.

Running Time: 2:51
Record Date: May 4, 1961
Record Location: Abbey Road, London
Written By: Arthur Freed & Nacio Herb Brown
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)