Answering your mystical call

Continuing my trip back in time through the album charts

15/05/83 : Dressed For The Occasion - Cliff Richard


Ah.  So you know how I was saying only yesterday how there was a certain kind of album I hoped to meet in 1983?  Well - this isn't it.  A couple of times I've come close to meeting Mr Richard, but it appears my luck has finally run out.  Now, it's easy to rude about Cliff...

...so why don't I go right ahead and do that?  Awww - I can't bring myself to.  He'd just get a hurt look on his face, wouldn't he?  But it's safe to say I'm not looking forward to this - and yes, I totally checked hoping it was a greatest hits album, so I could swerve it.

But no, it's one of those "let's do something with an orchestra" albums - and I've done a few of those and found that it never makes things better.  To be fair to the lad here, it doesn't really make things worse - but that's a low quality bar to get over.  It all feels very dated - if anything he manages to make "True Love Ways" sound more old-fashioned than Buddy Holly's original, which was recorded in 1958.  I actually don't mind "Carrie" as a song, but he doesn't half butcher it on this album - however I will grudgingly admit that "Devil Woman" is at least listenable.  But there's plenty to balance the tolerable moments with "Daddy's Home" and "Oh Little Town" being particularly dreadful and there's 70 minutes of it to endure in total - so, like Cliff, I was left proclaiming Jesus well before the end.  It probably won't surprise you to hear that neither of us have ever come close to owning this - 10/33 (although amusingly Mrs Reed has seen him live).

We're at #7 with a new entry in the charts this week and he managed a run of 15 weeks and then a couple more weeks before disappearing from view in September.  Above him were Michael, Spandau, David, Heaven 17, New Order (which I initially thought I'd get to listen to, because I'd forgotten I'd already written it up) and Tears For Fears  (those last three are a strong 80s showing!).  The next new entry was Chart Encounters Of The Hit Kind (#15) but the next proper new entry was Blackfoot (#28) - who I have to say I don't remember at all.

Wikipedia doesn't have a lot on the album and I can't claim to be disappointed at that.  "Customers also listened to" The Shadows, Hank Marvin and, errr, Lee Mead.  OK.  If you like Cliff, then I guess you might like this album but it probably won't surprise you when I say it's definitely not for me.

08/05/83 - A surprisingly successful album
22/05/83 - The sort of album I want every week from 1983

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