Search - Cliff Richard :: Cliff Richard - Whole Story: His Greatest Hits

It's a must to own

07/06/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"These double CDs contain some of the best songs that Cliff has ever sung, both new and old. It doesn't matter you are Cliff's fans for 40 years or just getting to kown him, you will love the songs and his voice is just great. You don't want to miss these two great CDs. My children ages 4 to 15, just love the songs here. It's a must to own if you are music lover."

A journey through time, emotions & Rock'n'Roll...

Basil Khamis | Dubai | 06/27/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"
14 No.1 hits, 10 No.2 hits, 7 No.3 hits, 6 No.4 hits, 38 Top 5 hits, 66 Top 10 hits, 95 Top 20 hits, 120 Top 40 hits ... quite a bit eh!



Cliff Richard, an accomplished guitarist & lead singer with a genuine feel for the music, was Britain's answer to Elvis Presley. Cliff dominated the pre-Beatles British rock scene in the late '50s & early '60s. Cliff has had over a 130 hits & was one of the founding members of The Drifters later to be known as Cliff Richard & the Shadows.



In the period between 1958 & 1963, Cliff Richard & the Shadows stood as the biggest thing in Britain. They toured the United States & most often stole the show from the accompanying American acts of the time. Cliff & the Shadows basically re-wrote convention in British recording companies & opened EMI up to the importance & strength of rock'n'roll. It was due to them that Parlophone were looking for a 'second' Cliff & the Shadows, & eventually took on the Beatles.



Many well known groups of the 1960s & 1970s started off as imitators of Cliff & the Shadows, singing & playing only Cliff Richards' material & groups were trained by following how they did things. The Beatles were taken to Cliff Richard concerts & instructed about clothes, stage presence & various other things, & being of the same fold at Abbey Road, were good friends with the band.



With regard to this compilation the title may be a little misleading. There is absolutely no way you can tell "the whole story" of a career like Cliff Richard's on just two CDs & 46 tracks, Cliff Richard has sold more singles in the UK than any other music artist, ahead of the Beatles in second place & Elvis Presley in third. However this does include nearly all his major hits, all in chronological order, from 'Move It' & 'Living Doll' in the late 50s, to the last two Top 10 hits 'Can't Keep This Feeling In' & 'Millennium Prayer'.



There are a few omissions though - no sign of 'Congratulations' although it was a No. 1 hit in 1968. In fact, the collection jumps from 'The Day I Met Marie' in 1967 to his second Eurovision entry 'Power To All Our Friends' in 1973, so by leaving out five years altogether it omits quite a bit. Nevertheless most of the bona-fide favorites are here, from 'Bachelor Boy' & 'The Minute You're Gone' to 'Devil Woman', 'Miss You Nights' & 'We Don't Talk Anymore'. The recent era is well represented with the inclusion of 'Saviour's Day' & 'Peace In Our Time'.



A good addition to any collection.

"

Great overview of Cliff's career

Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 10/24/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Compiling a collection of Cliff's hits on just one or two CD's is never easy, because there are so many good ones as the six CD boxed set (Singles collection) demonstrates. Most people really don't want that many CD's by one singer, even one as brilliant as Cliff. This double CD contains a reasonable selection of his UK hits from 1958 to 2000 that will satisfy most people. If you are looking for a particular song that isn't here or if you are only interested in a particular period of his career, there are many other Clifftastic compilations around quite apart from that boxed set.



Cliff had his greatest commercial successes in the fifties and sixties but of the 46 tracks here, only 20 are from that part of his career. Perhaps the compilers felt that anybody who wanted those songs already had them anyway, but it is worth noting that Voice in the wilderness, Fall in love with you, Nine times out of ten, Theme for a dream, A girl like you, When the girl in your arms, I'm looking out the window, Lucky lips, Twelfth of never, Wind me up and Congratulations are among the major sixties UK hits (all top four or higher) that were left out of this collection. Some of these songs are not as popular as they once were and were left out for that reason, but I don't believe all of them fit that description.



26 tracks represent the seventies onwards, culminating in The millennium prayer - actually Auld lang syne sung to the tune of The Lord's prayer (December 2000). While this period contained many more Cliff hits in total than the fifties and sixties, there were plenty of minor hits among them. Every UK top ten solo hit is included from 1973 (Power to all our friends) onwards.



As an overview of Cliff's career, this is brilliant despite the fact that I would have preferred more sixties songs and fewer from the eighties and nineties. In any case, you might not agree with me. If you only want one collection of Cliff's music and you are interested in his whole career, choose this or the boxed set according to how much of his music you want."