Cliff Richard 'The Day I Met Marie'

Chart Peak: 10
YouTube

Cliff's 34th Top 10 single in Britain, 'Marie' was a top 10 Hit in September 1967.

And so Cliff returns with the onerous task of following the Beatles. Arguably he's doing so in more ways than one because by 1967 he had to move with the times and whilst you couldn't call this psychedelic, they're clearly trying for something of a "Summer Of Love" feel, with the music veering from the hazy, dreamy verses to the brass-band enhanced chorus section. Although it would presumably have been recorded before Sgt. Pepper or 'Excerpt From A Teenage Opera' came out, those sorts of sounds were clearly in the air in British pop at the time.

What may come as even more of a surprise to 21st-century listeners who know Cliff only by reputation is the lyric of this song. It's be stretching a point to call it sexy, but there's a definite erotic charge to the tale of Cliff waking up lying in the hay and recalling the mysterious Marie who "came to touch him" and who kissed his brow and told him to go to sleep. Even though the exact details of what preceded the brow-kissing are elided, it changed our protagonist's life somehow. You could see this as a companion to 'Summer The First Time' earlier on this album, except that it strikes a different mood, wistful where Goldsboro is merely boastful. At least this protagonist recognises how lucky he is. Also, and I'm not afraid to say this, this is much better sung. Actually, that's pretty faint praise, so I'll go further: this is a genuinely good vocal performance. two and a quarter minutes it comes to a sudden halt, the sort of trick that was emblematic of its era but also suits the song's meaning. We all know Cliff has made some terrible records in his time, but this isn't actually one of them.

Here's the link I forgot to include in yesterday's post about 'Here Comes The Sun': an isolated section from the backing track with the Moog, strings and handclaps only. I've edited the post to add this but I know not everyone will see that.

Available on: Dansette Days & Jukebox Nights [+Digital Booklet]

Cliff Richard 'Summer Holiday'

Chart Peak: 1
YouTube

Cliff's 7th British Chart-Topper, 'Summer Holiday' was No.1 in March 1963 for two weeks and again for a week in April the same year.

A few weeks ago now I was listening to this album and starting to get the idea of blogging about it. My wife was in the room (don't worry, I didn't inflict Bobby Goldsboro on her) and asked whether this song was from the austerity era, as its ambitions seem so modest - just going on holiday and having some fun "for a week or two", not even promising that life after the holiday will be better. And crucially, it's not complaining about that fact, seeming merely grateful for any possible fun at all.

To be completely honest, I'm not totally sure when the standard definition of Austerity Britain ends, though it goes without saying that this was a (financially) poorer country in 1963 than it is now, and that British teens could look with some envy to the sort of wealth claimed by protagonists of hits from US acts like The Everly Brothers. Spring 1963 was certainly a significant time in British pop though. At least according to the Record Retailer chart used in modern-day reference books (and the sleevenote I've quoted above), 'Summer Holiday' deposed Frank Ifield's 'Wayward Wind', which had infamously kept the Beatles' 'Please Please Me' at Number 2 on that chart. This song's run was interrupted by a week at the top for the Shadows with 'Foot Tapper' (their last Number One without Cliff) and then finally ended by 'How Do You Do It' by Gerry & The Pacemakers, the first undisputed Merseybeat Number One and effectively the end of Cliff and the Shadows' reign as the dominant force in British pop. Needless to say, both acts remained popular for decades after this: we all know Cliff was still able to top the singles chart right to the end of the century, and Hank Marvin has a solo album in the Top 10 right now. But the imperial phase was over. Nowadays, whilst this is clearly somewhat scrubbed up from the early days of rock and roll (and of course even the early recordings in that genre were toned down from what might have been happening on stage) the distinction between this and a lot of what was to follow isn't so clear, but it's permanently set the image for Cliff's subsequent career as staid and safe. Of course he's been happy to play up to the image himself most of the time and has done well out of it financially but it makes it slightly harder to praise this for the good two-minute song it is.

(NB, this post has been backdated to fit all the album's tracks into one month. Since I've actually finished writing about Cliff on the 9th of June, RIP Rik Mayall)

Available on: Summer Holiday

Cliff Richard 'She's So Beautiful'

Chart Peak: 17

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Cliff's first Top 20 single since 'Please Don't Fall In Love' in 1983, 'She's So Beautiful' reached number 17 in early October 1985. It is his 68th Top 20 single since 'Move It' in 1958.

Although it doesn't warrant a mention in the sleevenote here, this was one of the songs from Dave Clark's much-hyped musical Time, which I know of mainly from seeing copies of the double-LP soundtrack: it's apparently never been released on CD but is now on iTunes if you use that. Cliff played the lead in the show itself too, and the promo video is obviously supposed to fit the storyline in some way, although the scene where a group of Aryan children are have a flaming globe thrown at them during their game of water-polo is still quite bizarre. Indeed had it been made by almost any other act you'd read it as bitterly sarcastic, but you never quite know with Cliff, do you?

The record itself is notable because - as the single sleeve boasts - it was arranged and produced by Stevie Wonder, who also played all the instruments; his second contribution to Now 6 of course. A decade or so earlier, that could have been a really hot combination, but by the mid-80s he'd already lost a lot of his mojo as a producer and arranger, settling too easy on simplistic progressions and static, swingless rhythms. He hasn't left himself much room for his skills as a player, and of course there's none at all for him as a singer or songwriter. The finished product is hard to pick holes in but instantly forgettable.

Also appearing on: Now 10, 15, 16, 17
Available on: Private Collection

Cliff Richard 'I Just Don't Have The Heart'

Chart Peak: 3

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Cliff's 101st British single was written and produced by Stock, Aitken and Waterman... It reached No. 3 on 27th August 1989. The follow-up 'Lean On You' was a Top 20 hit in October.

It's tempting to suspect an element of "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" here, since Cliff's hundredth single was kept off the top of the chart by an SAW act (more on that if we ever do Now 15), but as both songs are from the same album it's unlikely in reality. However, it's easy to forget that for the first thirty years or so of his career, part of his survival plan was adapting to changing trends: a decade or so before this he'd proved the point with the discofied 'We Don't Talk Anymore' and the oddly dark new wave style of 'Carrie'. In a sense it was only logical that he'd gravitate in this direction soon enough. I'm not quite so sure what was in it for the producers though.

It goes without saying that, love him or hate him, Cliff is on a different level of performing skill than Big Fun, and he was presumably a bit higher up the pecking order for songs too: 'I Just Don't Have The Heart' is more memorable than 'Can't Shake The Feeling' (at least, I remembered it more, despite there being many bigger Cliff songs to distract me from it) and coincidentally almost the exact opposite in sentiment - he doesn't need or want to shake the feeling, he wants it back. Catchy as it is though, it's not one of the trio's more inspired compositions - the way the entire song seems to be put on hold for that handclap in the chorus gives it a curiously clumsy air at odds with the mechanical production. It seems to have been one of his last attempts to sound modern, though that's probably just as well unless you wanted to hear him collaborating with Chase & Status in 2012.

Also appearing on: 6, 10, 15, 17
Available on: The Platinum Collection

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

Cliff Richard 'My Pretty One'

Chart Peak: 6

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Even accounting for the fact that most of his landmark releases were before the advent of the Now albums, it's remarkable how rarely Sir Cliff actually crops up in the series. With hindsight, some of the choices seem even more remarkable: I've hardly heard of any of them, and there are definitely post-1983 Cliff songs I do remember - not least 'Some People', the follow up to this one. But if I'd ever heard 'My Pretty One' before this week, I've forgotten about it.

Apart from the fact of its existence, 'My Pretty One' doesn't spring a lot of surprises. Writer/producer Alan Tarney had penned one of his best and most enduring latter-day singles in 1979's 'We Don't Talk Anymore' (and yes, I am aware that I just referred to a record from thirty years ago there, but it seems latter-day in context) but this isn't in the same league. Instead, it seems almost the stereotypical Cliff record of this era - trying to stay in touch with the times (because obviously he still wanted to be a success) but also dated even then: I mean, calling somebody "My pretty one"? Really? Whatever, it makes no sense at all now, but evidently worked for some people at the time: the parent LP Always Guaranteed is reportedly the biggest selling studio album of his career.

Also appearing on: Now 6, 15, 16, 17
Available on: Always Guaranteed