Four Gems!

Conceptually, this is a companion piece to Cliff's 40 Golden Greats (1958-77),in that it contains 22 bona fide UK Top 30 hits, from the 1958-72 period, which couldn't be squeezed onto the 40 Golden collection. And such is his hitmaking ability that no fewer than 8 of the"surplus" 22 are UK Top 10 hits, including one #1!

The quality runs from plain terrific to merely pleasant with the 5 star rating being attributable to four particular gems. First, there's Dynamite from 1959. Written by Ian Samwell, this is a truly magnificent driving rocker. For my money, better than the more famous Move It. From 1965 come two minor hits, both of which marked a change from the highly accessible melodic pop which was Richard's trademark. On My Word is a rhythmic mid-tempo piece with vague bluesy latin overtones and The Time InBetween is a uptempo mix of adult rock and bossa nova. The fourth gem is a UK Top 10 hit from 1966, a highly infectious rocking piece from the Finders Keepers movie called Time Drags By. There's lots of other highly listenable stuff on this album, but those four are worth the purchase all by themselves.