The Singles Collection [Box set]

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?