Me and My Shadows / Listen to Cliff! (Remastered)

Tracing Cliff Richard's progress through his first four albums, one can only marvel at the ease with which he fit into whatever mold the material demanded. Bursting out on Cliff, slowing down on Cliff Sings, rocking up for Me and My Shadows (1960) — by the time of Listen to Cliff!, he was arguably the most accomplished, and certainly the most adventurous, vocalist to emerge from the entire rock & roll boom, British or American. And from a exhaustingly maniacal "What'd I Say," through to a dementedly infectious "Beat Out Dat Rhythm on a Drum," there's not a soul that could touch him for versatility. The musician credits place Listen to Cliff in precisely the context which producer Norrie Paramor had been striving towards across those past changes — it really does feature something for everyone. The Shadows back him on eight of the 16 tracks; Paramor's own orchestra take over for four more; and the impossibly exotically inclined Bernard Ebbinghouse Band are the impetus behind the album's most adventurously atypical cuts, the jazz-tinged "Almost Like Being in Love," the sleazy torch "Sentimental Journey," a furiously Latin "Lover," and, of course, "Beat Out That Rhythm on a Drum," a magnificent performance which falls somewhere between a lost James Bond theme and a debauched gypsy hootenanny. The musicians never take the easy route out of any situation. A rocking "Blue Moon" would have made a distinctly utilitarian Shadows showcase, so the Paramor Orchestra steps in instead. Similarly, the Orchestra would have swamped "Unchained Melody" in syrup — so Cliff performs it with the Shadows, and a Hank Marvin guitar which is as heartfelt as the lyric. And finally, the Ebbinghouse team could have executed "Temptation" in their sleep. So Paramor takes that one as well, and combines with Cliff to devilish effect. The boy may look goofy on the album's back cover, but his performance here is almost sinful. In the final analysis, there might be a little too much going on for Listen to Cliff to be a truly successful album, and too much chopping and changing to sustain the listener's attention. But the performances are exemplary, the material is strong, and Norrie Paramor's original liner notes are an absolute treat as well. "Cliff felt that he wanted to give you something unusual this time," the producer tells us. He certainly succeeded on that count!