The Singles Collection: Cliff Richard: Amazon.co.uk: Music

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Biography

Cliff Richard’s musical journey

1958

Cliff was signed by EMI to their Columbia label on August 9th. His first single (released August 29th) has remained an all-time classic - 'MOVE IT'.

1959

There were plenty of hit singles, with both 'LIVING DOLL' and 'TRAVELLING LIGHT' reaching No. 1 in the British charts.

The then major British teen music paper - New Musical Express - gave Cliff his first award -… Read more in Amazon's Cliff Richard Store

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Customer Reviews

13 Reviews

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4.7 out of 5 stars (13 customer reviews)

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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A GREAT COMPACT COLLECTION OF CLIFF'S SINGLES, 25 Aug 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Singles Collection (Audio CD)

A COLLECTION OF ABOUT 127 CLIFF SINGLES PRESENTED ON SIX CD'S. AS A DJ I FOUND THE INFORMATION IN THE BOOKLET VERY HELPFULL WITH CHART INFO ECT. THE SOUND QUALITY OF THE CD'S IS GREAT AND IT WAS GOOD TO HEAR SOME OF HIS FORGOTTEN TRACKS FROM THE 70'S AGAIN.A MUST FOR ANY CLIFF FAN,MOBILE DJ,OR PERSON WHO LIKES THE SOUNDS OF THE 50'S, 60'S,70'S,80'S,90'S,AND 00'S.

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28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great collection, but could have been (slightly) greater!, 10 Jan 2003

By

Ian Shepherd (Ickford , Aylesbury, Bucks United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Singles Collection (Audio CD)

As someone faced with an hour-long commute every morning and evening, this 6-CD collection slipped perfectly into the magazine of my in-car CD player and kept me entertained for a whole week.

From the first track, which was flipped to give Cliff his first hit with "Move It", (It's amazing how many hits have started out as B-sides, such as "Girl Don't Come" by Sandie Shaw, "Maggie May" by Rod Stewart, "My Cherie Amour" by Stevie Wonder, and "Rock and Roll Part Two" by Gary Glitter. Do record industry people really know what they are doing? Don't answer that!) to the last, we see Cliff move through a series of cycles, going from Rock and Roll to Pop to "naff" and then back to Rock and Roll and to Pop again.

Initial highlights include most of disc 1 and up to track 17 on disc 2, "All My Love".

After this Cliff bobs up and down (mainly down), alternating many examples of the naff, such as "Congratulations", "Good Times" and "Flying Machine", with a few examples of the good, such as "Silvery Rain," and one or two examples of the profound, such as "With The Eyes Of A Child." This last track set a style that he has followed on occasions throughout his remaining career. Cliff also demonstrates an excellent affinity with Country and Western through "(You Keep Me) Hanging On" and "Honky Tonk Angel."

In 1976 Cliff's star rises dramatically with "Miss You Nights" and remains in the ascendant with a long string of strong rock, pop and ballads, which extends right up to the start of the new millennium with "The Millennium Prayer".

1997 sees Cliff exhibiting voice problems in "Can't Keep This Feeling In" - he is, after all, mere flesh and blood - and 2001 sees the awful "Somewhere Over The Rainbow/What A Wonderful World" medley, pushed into the charts on the back of a shamelessly promotional and self-congratulatory TV special.

Thank heavens Cliff released "Let Me Be The One" afterwards and therefore didn't end this collection on a seriously bum note!

As a compilation for the avid Cliff follower this deserves five stars for breadth and depth, but I will only give it four. Why?

Well, I have two gripes: -

Firstly the wrong version of "Bachelor Boy" is included. This version appeared in stereo form on "40 Golden Greats" and in mono-reprocessed-for-stereo form on "The Whole Story", but is not the version that topped the charts in December 1962. It is most likely an alternative take from the original session.

Secondly, a number of the early tracks are in their original mono mixes but, for some unknown reason, re-processed to give a very bad stereo effect with a kind of "beat" or "shimmer" that occasionally upsets the ears and makes Cliff sound like he is singing in the bathroom rather than in the studio. In the last few years, and after 30 years or more (sigh), companies such as Motown have discovered that people are not actually fixated on stereo and that an authentic, un-doctored mono mix is often worth ten times a poor stereo mix, both in terms of musical impact and nostalgia value. In Cliff's case there are good mono and stereo mixes available of many of the affected tracks, so why go to the trouble of making sure that we get neither?

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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Do you have any idea how brilliant Cliff is????, 23 Mar 2003

By

Louise Lacaille "Cliff fan" (Amersham, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Singles Collection (Audio CD)

Cliff is probably the finest singer Britain ever produced. Listen to this collection in its entirety and you will find it extremely difficult to disagree.
This guy can sing:
- hard, beautiful, frenetic Rock & Roll
("Move It", "Living Loving Doll", "It'll Be Me".) He's been accused of being just another Elvis impersonator, I've heard many 60s singers who sound, I fear, like Elvis clones; mimicking that overused, irritating Elvis vibrato without the Elvis charm; but Cliff is nothing like that. Yes the influence is felt, particularly in "Dynamite" and "It'll Be Me" but his voice had its own unique texture; his higher notes had a tangy, fresh sweetness; his lower ones a haunting intensity; which comes out in most early recordings.
If you listen to this in its entirety you will only marvel; gape in awe; swoon at how effortlessly versatile Cliff adapts his great voice from genre to genre; how he can sing from bass to falsetto, hard or soft; how he can melt delicate vocals into a beautiful acoustic accompanies or belt out (melodically, mind), a full-throated blistering rock sound over harsh electric guitars or rich keyboard orchestrations; how he can soar to incredible heights with deep, heartfelt feeling in soul songs; how he can be fast, fun and funky in dance songs. He can outclass almost anyone in almost any genre.
In the late 60s and early 70s he went off-track; he produced chirpy but lightweight, throwaway pop ("Goodbye Sam Hello Samantha" and singalong oom-pah-pah gospel songs ("Good Times Better Times", "Big Ship".) Anyone could sing these songs. They couldn't bring out the magic of his voice. But there are some gems from that era too like "With The Eyes Of A Child". Cliff draws you in. The more songs you hear, the more you want.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars SIMPLY A FANTASTIC BUY
If you are like me a big fan of Cliff Richard then this collection will be right up your street as with so many many favourites you sing and dance along to to a great legendary... Read more

Published 11 days ago by D. Lench