This was $3.00. I got it because I have been fascinated with Cliff Richard for some time. Moreover, I am curious why a radical like the People’s Poet would be fascinated in Cliff Richard.
I asked someone abroad to explain Cliff Richard to me. They said he was the British Elvis. I call bunk on this since Richard is still alive and not dead on a toilet. But this is an apt description I guess. Before the Beatles, he was the UK’s biggest pop singer. With his backing band, The Shadows, Richard burst on the scene in 1958.
Over a 50 plus year career, with subsequent ups and downs, Richard scored 14 UK #1 singles, numerous top 20 albums, singles, and eps, and pretty much every British award a singer can earn. They even made a musical about him with four performers playing the title role. It was not very successful, however.
This was Cliff’s second album to be released in the US. It came out long after he was established in the UK, in 1964. It consists of previous released UK singles, some cuts from eps, and a few songs from unreleased sessions. It is alright but it is relatively romantic album and not the wild Presley/Little Richard style rock and roll Richard was supposedly known for at the time. The title track, “Secret Love” and “I Only Have Eyes For You” stand out as well as the song which I am using for a sample.
That song is “Where The Four Winds Blow’ which is pretty good.
But as far as repacked foreign compilations go, this one is pretty meh compared to what Richard’s UK output was at the time.