Search - Cliff Richard :: Collection 1976-94

Good collection of forgotten songs from late 70s/early 80s

03/23/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"While Cliff Richard's career in his native Britain has been likened to the Elvis phenomenon of the U.S., here in America he's only been able to chart on the top 40 a handful of times. This CD features those hits we Americans associate with Cliff Richard, all of them classics, "We Don't Talk Anymore," "Dreamin'," "Devil Woman," and "A Little in Love." Just for those handful of songs the album is worth owning, but the rest of the songs are also enjoyable in their own right. While many American acts are able to duplicate their success in Britain, it's curious as to why Cliff Richard never really caught on to the extent here that he did in his homeland. What's really striking about this CD is how modern many of the songs sound, even though they were recorded 20-25 years ago."

Good buy--contains 7 U.S. Top 40 hits.

03/18/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Many of the disc's most memorable songs (and not coincidentally, its biggest U.S. hits) were written or co-written by Alan Tarney. The rest of the songs make it apparent that Richard's success depended largely on having sympathetic producers and songwriters. A few of the non-hits fall into the coulda-been category, like "Wired For Sound," "I Still Believe In You" and "Ocean Deep." But after the Tarney association ended, Richard also recorded a good deal of bland AC pap whose U.S. chart failure can't be blamed on poor promotion--"Love Is The Strongest Emotion" shows a distinct lack thereof, and the corny Christmas anthem "Mistletoe and Wine" could only be enjoyed with a great deal of the latter. A 1987 reunion with Tarney failed to reignite the magic, with tracks "Some People" and "My Pretty One" sorely lacking the musical energy and lyrical tension of their previous work.The most surreal moment of the CD is on "She's So Beautiful," written for Richard in 1985 by Stevie Wonder. The melody is so quintessentially Stevie that it simply doesn't sound right for anyone else to try it.The tunes on this CD appear to be in no particular order, which is a good thing for U.S. listeners who will be unfamiliar with more than half the material and might have been tempted to hit -stop- after "Daddy's Home" had the songs been chronologically ordered. All in all it's a great pop CD with many more catchy songs than most. You can fault Razor & Tie Records for including several unexciting UK-only hits, but they seemed to be genuinely trying to make a quality compilation, filling the CD to near-capacity (20 tracks/76 minutes of music). The liner notes are well written, too."

Cliff is the BEST

Terrie Jackson | Missouri, USA | 11/04/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I love this cd, had it for 4 years now.Love the old songs of the 70's and 80's. It is is best music in the 70's and 80's. Wonderful Voice. The Best English singer."