Search - Cliff Richard :: Platinum Collection

British music must-have

J. Kish | Canada | 09/04/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Cliff Richard is quite possible the biggest pop music legend in the UK. Strangely unknown in North America, Cliff has been rockin' and rollin' since the fifties! On three CDs, covering dozens of songs (all hits on the UK charts), this is a testament to his success. In fact, Cliff has had so many hits, that many great songs are left off this collection. Yes, there is a bit of a lull in the quality during the late 60's, early 70's output, but pretty much everything else is exellent. The biggest problem to listening to Cliff this way is that there is so much time covered, with so many changes in style, that the Platinum Collection plays out a bit uneven -- more like an historical overview of his career than a concise, energetic greatest hits album. That said, the Platinum Collection walks the middle ground between being too terse and too voluminous. If you are reading this and have never listened to Cliff Richard, then please take my advise and buy a collection that suits your needs; you will not be dissappointed by what you hear!"

English rock'n'roll pioneer with heyday in the 70's...

dfle3 | Australia | 06/12/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"
Cliff Richard is a stalwart of the British music industry who has had around four phases in his career. For an older generation (before my time) he would be like the British Elvis...having hits in the 50's, in the wake of Elvis Presley, with a similar style of music. CD 1 of this three cd compilation best represents that phase. Pretty much the entire first cd is quite listenable and has many of his best known songs. These songs tend to the more mild mannered rock'n'roll sound, along with love songs and ballads. There are also the kind of cheesy songs that Elvis in his movie roles would sing. A good example of the latter would be "The young ones", which is a pleasant pop song, featuring Cliff's backing band of the time, The Shadows, giving the song's intro their distinctive guitar sound. Sir Cliff reprised one of his songs from that period with characters from the cult English grunge comedy show "The young ones", for a new, comedic version of "Living doll". Maybe the video for that version is on You Tube, but the comedic version is not in this compilation, whereas the original is. Some of the better songs on CD1 are "Please don't tease", "Theme for a dream", "I'm looking out the window", "It's all in the game" and perhaps the best song from this period, "I could easily fall in love with you". Features of this period are the Chuck Berry type guitar sound, country flavoured rock'n'roll, double bass, Everyly Brothers type singing, backing singing and some songs with an Eddie Cochrane type feel to them. Did find the sound quality excellent from this period. Was expecting it to be in mono, but it sounds stereo. All the tracks have been remastered, but, unfortunately, you don't get the original release dates in the sleeve. You get the remaster date. A smallish gripe is the sleeve for this cd...it's a bit too commercial orientated...nothing but invitations to buy more Cliff Richard stuff. An article on the man and his music would have been more desirable that that.



CD 2 is Cliff at his best, I think. Whereas CD 1 is quite listenable if you are in the mood for Cliff Richard, CD 2 has the kind of Cliff songs that you would listen to in any mood...his 70's pop period where I think he was doing some outstanding work. Those songs are in the last third or so of this cd. Before that, you get some more Elvis type songs-ballads and country infused pop/rock'n'roll, as well as some of those kinds of songs that you would see on 70's variety hour type shows.



Not sure how successful Cliff was in the US-I did hear that "Devil woman" was his first, and perhaps only hit in the US. That song marks the start of the half dozen songs that I usually identify as being Cliff's best work from this period. That song features some cool, cat like sounding guitar work. Other great songs, in the 70's pop style from this period included in this CD are "We don't talk anymore", "Carrie", "Dreamin'", "A little in love" and "Wired for sound". "Carrie" is actually quite dark, content wise, which is not how I remembered it. It's like the older cousin to the New Zealand song "Maxine" by Sharon O'Neill, which is also a very good pop song. "Wired for sound" may have been Cliff's last big hit in Australia. The last song on this CD is "Daddy's home", where Cliff revisits his 50's roots with a do-wop styled ballad. "We don't talk anymore", "A little in love" and "Dreamin'" are my picks as the best songs on this CD. A couple of earlier songs on this compilation aren't bad either: "Visions"-a pretty ballad, and "Time drags by"-which has a nice rhythm to it and some nice overlapping backing singing.



CD 3 is the weakest of the three, I think. It's a bit of a hodge-podge of songs-from 50's covers ("Silhouettes" in a do-wop style, to Buddy Holly's "True love ways") to some other covers, some with Christian themes (Cliff is a Christian, and he covers "From a distance" on this cd). Perhaps Cliff's 'third' phase in his career was his attempt at 80's style pop. "I just don't have the heart" struck me as sounding like a Stock, Aitken and Waterman style of pop song. That trio was a hit machine in 80's Britian, writing and producing lots of hits for lots of artists. Never really a big fan of theirs in any case. "Stronger than that" is also an 80's style pop song. Maybe the best song on this entire compilation is "Some people", a lovely ballad with a great humanity to it...you just don't hear lyrics like that, I don't think. Great pop ballad. Another song of interest on this third cd is "I cannot give you my love" which is wasn't too keen on, but I thought I heard at least one Bee Gee on it (Barry Gibb) and the bits where Barry sings make this song one of the best of the rest.



The fourth and final phase of Cliff's career is still in progress-he is either tied or close to the record of having a number one hit in the most amount of decades. If he has a number one hit this decade, he will have the British record for this feat...that is no one but him, in Britain, will have had a number one song in the 50's, 60's, 70, 80's, 90's and noughties. Can't really say that this phase of his career is of interest to anyone but his home country fans. Thus you get odd attempts which went towards trying to equal or surpass this notable feat...like the Lord's Prayer set to music! One interesting track on this cd is "I still believe in you" which is a Broadway musical style ballad with symphonic accompaniment. His version of "From a distance" also had a symphony, making it sound overblown-well, at least the synthesiser did. Lastly, the closer for the third cd is a bit of fun...a slightly more rock song with simple and catchy lyrics.



N.B. some notable omissions from this compilation (at least the ones I remember are missing): "She means nothing to me". After I bought this cd, I looked at the track listing of another Richard compilation and as soon as I saw that song title, the tune came to me at last. Must have first had that song when I had an earlier compilation on cassette. Stuck with me all those years ago! And, another great song is his duet with Australia's Olivia Newton John from the musical "Xanadu": "Suddenly". That song is REALLY good and it's a pity it's not on here.



If you like Cliff's 50's phase, you might want to check out the guy who blazed the trail for him...Elvis Presley. Elvis also blazed the trail for Australia's Johnny O'Keefe. My first review at this site is for a three cd JOK compiliation, which I also gave five stars to. JOK is a wild rock'n'roller who whilst covering 50's songs sometimes, also gave great re-interpretations to them, e.g. "Mockingbird"-his duet on that compilation is the definitive version of that song...a really left of centre take on that song.



P.S. as a child I remember seeing one or two Cliff Richard movies at matinees. Those movies must have been old even when I saw them! He, like Elvis, had his movie phase too!"

Good collection but missing one gem

Roy | Singapore, Singapore | 10/03/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Being a big fan of the 80s, I bought this collection because it contains all his hits from that era including The Only Way Out, My Pretty One, Some People, I Just Don't Have The Heart & From A Distance. But I feel 1 missing gem from the 80s should have been included - Ocean Deep.

A great slow number and many people who enjoy love songs like this track."