Cliff Richard
Golden
(Rhino)
It’s a big year for Cliff’s musical career – Rhino are releasing a 3-cd set covering this amazing man’s singing career. It will take listeners from ‘Livin’ Doll’ and his ‘British Elvis’ era via ‘The Young Ones’ ( still a very breezy sounding recording), ‘Summer Holiday’ ( the films were as corny as those featuring Elvis ), ‘Wired For Sound’, ‘Devil Woman’, the sub-disco international hit ‘We Don’t Talk Any More’ AND those sugary Christmas time releases like ‘Mistletoe & Wine’ and so on. The man has a great and durable voice and never seems to imitate any other vocalist, ever. In turn, you don’t hear many people outside of his inevitable tribute acts even trying to get near his moderately high range dry cruising tone. I really like his take on the Jagger-Richard song ‘Blue Turns To Grey’ and the almost Steely Dan like chordal twisting of ‘Carrie’. My wish is that he’d take his great voice and do a full country-rock album, maybe like the latterday works of the great Rick Nelson, where he used fine John Fogerty songs and others to update his oeuvre.
In the meantime, here is a new single to top off the hits collection/retrospective set – ’75 at 75’ – written by long-time associate Chris Eaton in 2008, it seems, but not recorded til now. Reflective piano evokes Neil Sedaka in mood and pacing and warm strings float through the arrangement. The lyric is a paean to friendship and undying love, being ‘golden’ to the narrator, as per song title. Cliff delivers this singing not shrieking, one constant factor to his career being his or his producers’ ability to pick comfortable keys…you won’t get a ‘Roxanne’ from this chap! As a song, some will melt and some will find it corny. But few can make the act of putting a song over as sincere as Sir Cliff always does and that’s why he’s lasted. The fans will love this one, as they did ‘Twelfth Of Never’…..if I was a radio jock I’d be seguing this into ‘Solitaire’.
Pete Sargeant
Cliff Richard’s new 3CD Fat-Pack Jewel case album Cliff Richard ‘75 at 75’ – will be released by Rhino Records on Friday 18th September.
From the end of September, Sir Cliff plays Killarney, Birmingham, Sheffield, Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow, Newcastle and Nottingham. He then takes over the Royal Albert Hall in London for six nights. This rock’n’roll will never last, y’know.) Tour details below:
Saturday 26th September – INEC, Killarney, Eire
Tuesday 29th September – Symphony Hall, Birmingham
Friday 1st October – City Hall, Sheffield
Saturday 3rd October – Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool
Sunday 4th October – Bridgewater Hall, Manchester
Tuesday 6th October – Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow
Wednesday 7th October – City Hall, Newcastle
Friday 9th October – Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham
Monday 12 – Sunday 18th October – Royal Albert Hall London (6 Dates)
For more information visit: http://www.cliffrichard.org/
(Thanks Lisa)
