Cliff Richard started out as an out-and-out rock´n´roller, pretty quickly added mainstream pop and ballads to his repertoire, scored some heavy soundtrack hits, withstood the onslaught of Beatlemania, toned down his career when he considered taking up teaching, embraced Eurovision, had a comeback at 36... And then a couple of other comebacks happened. This is a thread for questions, reflections, evaluations... Or just for spreading news and videos or audio clips about the man, his music and the people who surrounded him in his professional career. Personally, I don´t really care about his private life or his politics, so I prefer if we manage to keep to his musical output rather than his life. But you decide. For those who want background information about his singles, B-sides, EP tracks and deep album cuts, try this thread: Cliff Richard - Back from the Wilderness Singles and Albums 1975 - 1995 This is not the most respected musician/singer/pop artist in the world, and I would not compare him to the likes of Leonard Cohen, Paul Simon, The Beatles or Joni Mitchell. That is not what he has to offer. But given the right song, the right producer and the right musicians backing him, he can out-sing quite a few of them. He has a warmth in his voice that I respond to, even when the material may not be up to much. And when he gets the right song... Well, I´m a fan. You don´t have to be. If you want to weigh in with your opinions, please feel free to do so. But I hope we maintain a polite and friendly way of discussing those opinions. We don´t have to agree with one another, but we do respect each other.
Since it´s 1st January 2020, it feels right to start with this song, "THIS NEW YEAR". It is one of the few songs about the new year, released on his Christmas album of 1991, "TOGETHER WITH CLIFF RICHARD". It reached No. 30 for one week in January 1992. Like many Cliff songs, it has its strengths and its weaknesses. I like the verses, which set up the mood for soul-searching at the beginning of a new year, and then the song collapses into choruses that betray the promise of the opening. Oh well, we can´t have everything, I suppose. The song was written by Chris Eaton, and it was pretty typical of the songs Cliff released in the early 90s.
His chart entries went into a decline from 1966 to 1974, but another No. 1 appeared in 1968. Not one of his own favourites, he has revealed.
Even in these less celebrated - I know, cheap! - years, he received some impressive songs, most of which never troubled the higher echelons of the charts. Nevertheless, "THROW DOWN A LINE" was a No. 7 hit in 1969.
A song about the environment was released a single in 1971, but stalled at No. 27. Not a commercial song, but one that deserves to be heard. Covered by Olivia Newton-John in 1981. Don´t expect to hear "The hills are alive" at the beginning of this video.
Two classic singles signalled his comeback in 1976. First, Dave Townsend´s beautiful "MISS YOU NIGHTS".
His biggest hit in the US was "DEVIL WOMAN", peaking at No. 6, three places higher than in the British charts.
It's puzzling, actually sad that Cliff Richard didn't have more success in the United States, especially his early years in the 1960's. I have the UK 2018 price book Record Collector and he released dozens of 45's, EP's, and LP's--dozens in his country. In the States he released two lp's on ABC-Paramount, four lp's on Epic, and one lp on the Light label. Finally in the late 1970's he broke through and hit the U.S. charts with "Devil Woman." Then "We Don't Talk Anymore" in 1979. There were other records in the 1980's, then nothing else has charted since. I have several songs of his in my personal top 50, two of my favorites are "Living Doll" and "I Could Easily Fall In Love With You." These days a lot of 50's/early 60's rock tunes have slowed down in sales (JMHO) but with Richard? His stuff sells real well, to me anyway. And invariably whoever has purchased one of them will make a comment like "Why did he not do better in the States? I don't get it."
His biggest hits in terms of sales, "WE DON´T TALK ANYMORE" came from the 1979 album "ROCK´N´ROLL JUVENILE", which is my favourite of his albums.
From the same album came "CARRIE" another international hit from the pens of Terry Britten and B.A. Robertson. Stalled at No. 34 in the US, though. Several dozens of hits were to come, but I guess these are enough to get us going.
Thank you, Bobby! Let´s hope the inhabitants of the Steve Hoffman Forum will tolerate another thread about Sir Cliff.
He was told he needed to tour the US for at least three months to achieve that. He tried in 1980/81, and was rewarded with seven biggish hits in a row. None of the albums did that well, and he finally gave up. Now he views the US as an excellent place in which to spend his holidays - he can go incognito! It has always seemed that the US had their own home-grown pop singers, and didn´t need a UK one. Having said that, his concerts have always gone down well in the US, so... Perhaps we´ll never really know why he wasn´t as big a success in the US as elsewhere. I know he would have liked to have cracked the US market, but I doubt that he lies awake at night thinking about it.
My all-time favourite Cliff Richard song is this one, "WHEN TWO WORLDS DRIFT APART". Written by Peter Sills, I first encountered this song as a live performance on TV, taken from his 1980 Apollo-Victoria Theatre performance in London. The song was released as a third single from the 1977 album "EVERY FACE TELLS A STORY", three months after the album itself had been released. Not so unexpected that it stalled at No. 46 in the charts. But, to be honest, this was never a commercial song, and it´s one of those songs that can wrap itself around you on a cold, self-pitying evening in front of a roaring fire on a depressive winter day. Like today, mayhaps... Sometimes "simple" means... Lovely.
# 3 in Australia. Big memory for me this song. Film clip got played a lot as well. I remember the clip for My Kinda Life too, always loved that song. Cliff had a purple patch over here. Dreaming, We Don't Talk Anymore, Wired For Sound on the roller skates All top five at least. Daddy's Home was a cringy #8 hit. He hosted our biggest Pop Tv show sometime amidst all this. Complete with Elton John double entredes. His 'romance' with Sue Barker was also big news at the time
As mentioned, I loved just about everything Cliff released between 1975 and 1995, with a few releases not impressing me all that much. ("MORE TO LIFE", "TWO TO THE POWER"etc. if you haven´t heard any of these, you havne´t missed much, IMO.) "MY KINDA LIFE" has to be one of my favourites from this period, the 1977 original and the 1992 remix. Both great songs! The original album version:
Just like I remember it. Cliff giving The Faces a run for their money Still sounds as good as the day I first heard it.
"MY KINDA LIFE" was written by Chris East. He only wrote two songs for Cliff. "MY KINDA LIFE" was a No. 15 hit in 1977. Another song was recorded during the sessions for his next album, the dark and moody, but brilliant "GREEN LIGHT". The song was left off the album, and only released for his 50th anniversary in 2008, as the B-side for the mediocre single "THANK YOU FOR A LIFETIME". The song was the rockingly energetic "MOBILE ALABAMA SCHOOL LEAVING HULLABALLOO". I love it!
I agree. Some of the remixes on the 1992 album "MY KINDA LIFE" are really good. I can recommend it! Just stay clear of the remixed (and very confused) version of "WE DON´T TALK ANYMORE". Perfect moment to skip on an otherwise great CD. Just for the sake of nostalgia: This is the cover of the cassette version. The back cover of the CD is included below, so that you can see what tracks were remixed.
A strange album. It just seemed to appear for no apparent reason. I don't recall having to import it, so it must have appeared in a local record shop here. Quite glad it did. Perhaps there was promotion for it in France. An odd selection of tracks too.