Cliff Who?

Okay, to almost anyone except the masses in America, this is going to seem like a ridiculous post and not worthy of "underheard music." Anticipating the flaming, I'm going to get defensive and remind you of the fact that this blog is called UNDERheard music and not unheard music.

Cliff Richard (Sir Cliff Richard to you) is one of the most legendary singers of our time. It would be ludicrous for me to try and describe his career here. He has had a #1 hit in every decade since the 50s. You can read about him here or visit his official page here. He still sells out stadiums in most countries around the world, but remains relatively unknown in America.

Cliff's style of music has changed quite a bit over the years, so it is difficult for me to select one or two songs that characterize Cliff's music. However, for this initial post, I'll focus on his early years around 1959-1961 (maybe returning to Cliff's 70s, 80s, 90s and 2000s stuff later this year).

Both these selections are among his greatest hits, so would be familiar to almost anyone except, as I said, the American masses. I would love it if you could add a comment here if you have never heard these Cliff Richard songs.

Both these songs are characteristic of his 50s-60s stuff in that it offers simple, beautiful melodies with very basic, heartfelt lyrics. None of the overproduction you see in today's music. I guess if you didn't have a real good voice (that would allow you to sing without much instrumental backing) you wouldn't have been able to hack it in the "old days."

Here are all the Cliff Richard albums available on Amazon. If you like the songs below, you may want to start with this 40 Golden Greats album that focuses mostly on his earlier hits. If you remember Devil Woman (one of his few American hits) you may want to move on to his 70s-80s hits with this Razor & Tie compilation called The Cliff Richard Collection.

Please let me know if this is the first time you're hearing these songs. What do you think?

1. Cliff Richard - Living Doll (3.61 MB; 128kbps MP3)
2. Cliff Richard - Theme for a Dream (2.4 MB; 128kbps MP3)