Friday 7 August 2009

Cliff Richard 'Stronger Than That'

Chart Peak: 14

YouTube

Cliff's first new hit of the 1990s, although his duet with Van Morrison was still in the chart at the turn of the decade (and if you want to be really pedantic, this was available on an album in 1989). It was the follow-up to his Stock Aitken Waterman collaboration 'I Just Don't Have The Heart' (on Now 16) and whilst this was helmed by long-serving collaborator Alan Tarney, it sounds like an attempt to follow the fashions of the time - if not a full-on SAW pastiche, it certainly wants to sound somewhere near contemporary, which must be about a last hurrah for Cliff trying to be fashionable before he turned into the slightly pathetic nostalgia act he is today - he certainly didn't try to go baggy or grunge or two-step, and yesterday I heard the world premiere of his new single. It's a version of 'Singing The Blues'!

Back in 1990, though, he was still trying to be a competitive pop star, and he had the camp backing dancers to prove it. I didn't think I remembered this track, but listening to it, it did come back to me. As that suggests, it's not a very memorable track but I suppose I can't really complain about it either. At least he was still trying then.

Also appearing on: Now 6, 10, 15, 16
Available on: Stronger

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