Cliff (album)

1959 live album (live in the studio) by Cliff Richard and The Drifters (The Shadows)

Cliff

Live album (live in the studio) by

Cliff Richard and The Drifters

Released| April 1959
Recorded| 9–10 February 1959
Venue| Abbey Road Studios (Studio 2)
Genre| Rock and roll
Length| 37:46
Label| Columbia (EMI)
Producer| Norrie Paramor
Cliff Richard and The Drifters chronology
|  | Cliff
(1959)  | Cliff Sings
(1959)

|
|

Alternative cover

French release Dance with Cliff Richard

Cliff is the 1959 debut album of British singer Cliff Richard and his band the Drifters (later known as the Shadows).[1][2]

The album is a live-in-the-studio recording of Richard's and the Shadows' early rock and roll in front of an invited audience of several hundred fans. It was recorded over two nights during February 1959 in Studio 2 at EMI Recording Studios (later known as Abbey Road Studios) with Norrie Paramor as producer. [3][4][5]

The album contains renderings of Richard's hit single "Move It", both tracks of the yet to be released Drifters' instrumental single "Jet Black" and "Driftin'" and covers of rock 'n' roll standards made famous by Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, Ricky Nelson, Ritchie Valens and Gene Vincent.

The album reached number 4 in the UK album chart and spent 31 weeks on the chart - a time when the chart was only a top ten.[6]

## Release

[edit]

The album was released originally in mono only (Columbia 33 SX 1147) but was also released in two parts as 45rpm EPs (Cliff No.1 and Cliff No.2 in both mono and stereo. Both versions use the same takes but with slightly different audience noise.[5]

The album was repackaged with the title Dance with Cliff Richard for release in France (Columbia 33 FPX 185).[7]

The album was first released on CD in 1987 (EMI CDP 7482772) in the original mono version. It was reissued in 1998 (EMI 495 4382) with both the mono and stereo versions on the same disc. It was also released in 2001 (EMI 534 6002) with the stereo version only along with the stereo version of the follow-up album Cliff Sings as part of the 2 on 1 series.

## Track listing

[edit]

Side oneNo.| Title| Writer(s)| Original artist| Length

|
|
|
|

1.| "Apron Strings"| George David Weiss, Aaron Schroeder| Billy the Kid| 2:40
2.| "My Babe"| Willie Dixon| Little Walter, Elvis Presley| 2:21
3.| "Down the Line"| Roy Orbison| Roy Orbison| 1:59
4.| "I Got a Feeling"| Baker Knight| Ricky Nelson| 1:48
5.| "Jet Black" (The Drifters[A])| Jet Harris| The Drifters[A]| 2:13
6.| "Baby I Don't Care"| Leiber and Stoller| Elvis Presley| 2:08
7.| "Donna"| Ritchie Valens| Ritchie Valens| 3:06
8.| "Move It"| Ian Samwell| Cliff Richard| 2:09

Side twoNo.| Title| Writer(s)| Original artist| Length

|
|
|
|

1.| "Ready Teddy"| John Marascalco, Robert Blackwell| Little Richard| 1:47
2.| "Too Much"| Lee Rosenberg, Bernard Weinman| Elvis Presley| 2:16
3.| "Don't Bug Me Baby"| Leon Luallen, Johnny Bragg| Milton Allen| 2:16
4.| "Driftin'" (The Drifters[A])| Hank Marvin| The Drifters[A]| 2:46
5.| "That'll Be the Day"| Buddy Holly, Jerry Allison| Buddy Holly| 2:09
6.| "Be-Bop-A-Lula" (The Drifters[A])| Gene Vincent| Gene Vincent| 2:13
7.| "Danny"| Ben Weisman, Fred Wise| Elvis Presley| 2:54
8.| "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin On"| Dave "Curly" Williams| Big Maybelle, Jerry Lee Lewis| 2:59

Notes:

A ^ Refers to the original name of UK band, the Shadows, as they were known from August 1958 until October 1959 (when "Travellin' Light" was released). The UK band are not be confused with the US band of the same name.

## Unreleased tracks

[edit]

Some tracks were scheduled or recorded for the album but not included. A version of Elvis Presley's "One Night" recorded in the same session was later released on The Rock 'N' Roll Years 1958-1963 (1997). Two other tracks were recorded but not released - Conway Twitty's "It's Only Make Believe" and The Weavers' "Kisses Sweeter than Wine" (which had been a hit in the UK in 1958 for Frankie Vaughan).[8][4]

## Personnel

[edit]

Cliff Richard and the Drifters

* Cliff Richard – lead vocals
* Hank Marvin – lead guitar
* Bruce Welch – rhythm guitar
* Jet Harris – bass guitar
* Tony Meehan – drums

Additional musicians

* Mike Sammes Singers – background vocals ("Donna" and "Danny")

Production

* Produced by Norrie Paramor
* Engineered by Malcolm Addey

## External links

[edit]

* Retrospective review: Classic Album: Cliff - Cliff Richard and the Drifters by Randy Fox, 19 July 2020, Vintage Rock, vintagerockmag.com
* Allmusic review: Cliff at AllMusic by Bruce Eder

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Eder, Bruce. "Cliff Richard - Cliff". Allmusic. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
2. ^ Eder, Bruce. "Cliff Richard - Dance with Cliff Richard". Allmusic. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
3. ^ Cliff Richard (1959). Cliff (LP record). Great Britain: Columbia (EMI).
4. ^ a b Lewry, Peter; Goodall, Nigel (1991). Cliff Richard The Complete Recording Sessions 1958-1990. London: Blandford. pp. 18–20\. ISBN 0-7137-2242-8.
5. ^ a b "Cliff Richard Song Database - 1950s Songs". Robert Porter. Retrieved 22 February 2010.
6. ^ "Cliff Richard UK Chart History". officialcharts.com. Official Charts Company.
7. ^ "Dance with Cliff Richard (French version)". discogs.com. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
8. ^ The Rock 'n' Roll Years 1958-1963 (box set) (booklet). Cliff Richard. EMI Records. 1997. 857881 2/4.`{{cite AV media notes}}`: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)

* v
* t
* e

Cliff Richard

Albums (UK)|

| 1950s:|

* Cliff (1959, live)
* Cliff Sings (1959)

|

1960s:|

* Me and My Shadows (1960)
* Listen to Cliff! (1961)
* 21 Today (1961)
* 32 Minutes and 17 Seconds (1962)
* The Young Ones (1962, soundtrack)
* Summer Holiday (1963, soundtrack)
* When in Spain (1963)
* Wonderful Life (1964, soundtrack)
* Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp (1964, cast album)
* Cliff Richard (1965)
* When in Rome (1965)
* Love Is Forever (1965)
* Kinda Latin (1966)
* Finders Keepers (1966, soundtrack)
* Cinderella (1967, cast album)
* Don't Stop Me Now! (1967)
* Two a Penny (1968, soundtrack)
* Sincerely (1969)

1970s:|

* Tracks 'n Grooves (1970)
* Take Me High (1974, soundtrack)
* I'm Nearly Famous (1976)
* Every Face Tells a Story (1977)
* Small Corners (1978, gospel)
* Green Light (1978)
* Thank You Very Much (1979, live)
* Rock 'n' Roll Juvenile (1979)

1980s:|

* I'm No Hero (1980)
* Wired for Sound (1981)
* Now You See Me, Now You Don't (1982, gospel)
* Dressed for the Occasion (1983, live)
* Silver (1983)
* The Rock Connection (1984)
* Always Guaranteed (1987)
* Stronger (1989)

1990s:|

* From a Distance: The Event (1990, live)
* Together with Cliff Richard (1991)
* The Album (1993)
* Songs from Heathcliff (1995, stage show album)
* Real as I Wanna Be (1998)

2000s:|

* Wanted (2001)
* Cliff at Christmas (2003)
* Something's Goin' On (2004)
* Two's Company (2006)
* Love... The Album (2007)
* Reunited – Cliff Richard and The Shadows (2009)

2010s:|

* Bold as Brass (2010)
* Soulicious (2011)
* The Fabulous Rock 'n' Roll Songbook (2013)
* Just... Fabulous Rock 'n' Roll (2016)
* Rise Up (2018)

2020s:|

* Music... The Air That I Breathe (2020)
* Christmas with Cliff (2022)
* Cliff with Strings – My Kinda Life (2023)

EPs (UK)|

* Serious Charge (1959)
* Expresso Bongo (1960)
* Cliff's Silver Discs (1960)
* Dream (1961)
* Hits from the Young Ones (1962)

Compilations (UK)|

* Cliff's Hit Album (1963)
* 40 Golden Greats (1977)
* Love Songs (1981)
* Walking in the Light (1984, Gospel)
* Private Collection: 1979–1988 (1988)
* The Hit List (1994)
* At the Movies 1959–1974 (1996)
* The Whole Story: His Greatest Hits (2000)
* The Platinum Collection (2005)
* And They Said It Wouldn't Last: My 50 Years in Music (2008)
* The 50th Anniversary Album (2008)
* 75 at 75 (2015)
* Stronger Thru the Years (2017)

Related articles|

* Albums discography
* Singles discography
* Videography
* The Shadows

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