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Cher |
| Craig and Eddie own and cherish the following works. The most recent is listed first. | Go back
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 Farewell Tour 2002 & DVDCraig and Eddie caught the Farewell Tour at Staples Center in downtown L.A. in August. Cher's hometown show was terrifically entertaining, with gorgeous sets, energetic production numbers, fun video retrospectives, and beautiful costumes. She was in fine voice, and she had the sold-out crowd on their feet. |
| Craig
was disappointed that the Living Proof album was
underrepresented.
The song lineup was too close to the Believe Tour. Only one song from Living
Proof was performed, even though it's her latest album and contains some of her best material ever. She opened and closed with the same numbers ("I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" and "Believe"), and the centerpiece was a joyous '70s medley slightly rearranged from how it was presented on the Believe Tour. |
| Another
stellar warm-up concert from Cyndi Lauper, whose Shine EP had
just
hit the stores, made for a perfect night of music. |
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 Living
Proof.A superb set of catchy, imaginatively produced pop gems, many united by themes of loneliness and longing. "Song for the Lonely" is a terrific choice for a first American single, and there are half a dozen strong contenders for a follow-up. "A Different Kind of Love Song," "Real Love," and "Love Is a Lonely Place Without You" are especially good too. "The Music's No Good Without You" has a way of getting under your skin, but it shines better on the CD single (below), where it is remixed expertly by Almighty. A little too much voice processing perhaps, but then again Cher started that trend so who else deserves to continue it? Fans of her beautiful, unadorned voice will wish this album contained a ballad or two. |
Song for the Lonely A Different Kind of Love Song Alive Again The Music's No Good Without You Rain, Rain Real Love Love So High Body to Body, Heart to Heart Love Is a Lonely Place Without You Love One Another When You Walk Away When the Money's Gone |
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 The Music's No Good Without You: CD2The midtempo, melancholy song from Living Proof gets a swell remix by Almighty on this second edition of the single. It was the first single from the album to be released in Europe. The talented folks of Almighty added some club muscle while retaining the wistful, dreamy vibe of the original. |
Full Radio Version Almighty 12-inch Mix All Or Nothing (Danny Tenaglia Mix) |
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 Do You Believe: DVD. If you missed seeing this blockbuster concert live or on HBO, or if, like Craig and Eddie, you saw it live and on HBO but also want a beautifully crisp, easily accessible version for posterity, this great DVD is for you. The bonus features amount to some Bob Mackie sketches of the costumes. It's too bad you don't get the roughly 15 minutes of behind-the-scenes footage HBO broadcast in promotional snippets in August 1999. Also, it would also have been great to preserve Cyndi Lauper's stellar warmup concert. Nonetheless, you don't need extras when you've got Cher on stage before hundreds of thousands of fans. She's a consumate entertainer. The DVD image is astonishingly clear -- you'll think it's 3D. |
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 All or Nothing / Dov'e l'Amore: Maxisingle. This great double-maxi would have been a treasure if it carried only the scintilating, red-hot Tony Moran Anthem of "Dov'e l'Amore." It is a gorgeous, thoughtful treatment of Cher's lovely English-Italian midtempo ballad and guaranteed to pack the floor at any club. (By the way, the title means "Where's the Love.") But the fun doesn't stop there. You get a couple more versions of that song as well as a few interpretations of "All or Nothing." The Almighty Definitive Mix, which Craig had purchased as an import a couple of months earlier, is still his favorite take on that great song, but Tenaglia's dark, haunting International Mix rewards repeated listening. |
ALL OR NOTHING DOV'E L'AMORE |
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| Do You Believe: Tour '99. What can we say? She brought the house down! The audience had barely recovered from the smashing warm-up performance by Cyndi Lauper when the curtains parted, the lights blazed on, and Cher rose like a goddess on a platform, singing a dance resurrection of U2's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For." It was the first, electrifying moment of a dazzling 90-minute show, which incorporated nine costume changes, film and video clips, acrobats, and one beloved hit after another. |
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 I Paralyze. This late-1999 reissue of a low-selling 1982 album features solid pop songs like "Rudy" and "Back on the Street" and lilting ballads like "When the Love Is Gone" and "Do I Ever Cross Your Mind." Cher's voice is beautifully utilized. "Rudy" and "Walk With Me" recall the girl-group sound of the late '60s. The title track is catchy but sounds like the early '80s single it was. The ballads are ageless. This is a worthy addition to your own Cher collection, but with only nine tracks, it's probably too slight and eclectic an album for Believe -era fans. |
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 Strong Enough: Maxisingle.
Yes, the song is strong enough to follow up the universal smash "Believe." The album version paid homage to the victorious disco divas of yesteryear, leading some critics to call the approach retro or just plain old; but these remixes make it clear that the song belongs right here in 1999 on a dance floor near you. The Club 69 contributions are impressive. They show more ingenuity than C69's "Believe" reworks did. Craig's immediate favorite, however, is the strangely titled club mix by the Pumpin' Dolls, which is a little dizzy and fun but completely credible. Next favorite is the one from Marc Andrews, which Craig and Eddie have been hearing in the clubs. Its main drawback is the omission of Cher's prelude ("I don't need your sympathy..."), but otherwise it's an ecstatic whirlwind of brass and percussion. |
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 Bittersweet.
The Love Songs. This January 1999 release contains the complete 1973 album Bittersweet White Light, which has never before been available on CD. The first nine tracks are from that album, and they showcase Cher's young, countryish vocals amid a backdrop of updated, folksy arrangements. These tracks won't be to every fan's liking. Luckily, the remaining songs (starting with "What'll I Do") are strong enough to carry the show. They're drawn from other mid-'70s albums. Cher breezes effortlessly down the Beetles' "Winding Road." The peculiarly titled "David's Song" is a gem. And of course "The Way of Love" is a Cher classic. |
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 The First Time. Cher published her autobio in November 1998. The format is original and stimulating: Cher tells the story of her life in terms of first times, with a brief chapter for each. The style is spare and conversational, with plenty of warmth and humor. (Jeff Coplon has "as told to" credit.) |
Some of Cher's first times . . . |
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 Believe. The album every one of her fans in the club world wanted: Cher danced up and turning it out! Besides the ubiquitous title track, there are dynamite tunes like "All or Nothing" and "Taking Back My Heart." Cher even sings a little Italian on the beautiful ballad "Dov'e l'Amore." Following in the tradition of Cher, on which she re-recorded her earlier song "Bang-Bang," Cher re-records the Cher song "We All Sleep Alone" here, with DJ composer Todd Terry throwing down the beats. |
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 Believe: Maxisingle.
If the tune didn't start playing in your head right after you read the title, you must have lived under a rock from November 1998 to...oh, mid-1999. This is the song that went to No. 1 in two dozen countries, including the U.S. It's a splendid combination of vocal hooks and a driving melody, and the remixes on this maxisingle do the song proud. The "Almighty Definitive" and "Phat 'n' Phunky Club" mixes are Craig's favorites. |
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| Paradise Is Here: Maxisingle.
Cher's previous 1996 maxi, "One by One," ignited dance floors around the word, and no one seemed to notice when this fine followup appeared on the scene a bit later. Craig and Eddie partly blame the late, lamented Groove Radio in L.A. (the nation's only pure-dance station), which aired a soulless dub thrown together by one of its jockeys instead of playing one of the super mixes available on this CD. "Junior's Arena Anthem" is everything the name promises. A couple of years have gone by, and Craig still finds himself singing this song around the house. |
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 It's a Man's World.
A few weeks before this 1996 album's release, Cher was setting the world on fire with the stupendous danceclub and pop radio success of "One by One," which Junior Vasquez had remixed expertly. Hearing the album version comes as a shock at first: "It's a ballad?!" In fact, the album is mostly ballads and soft rock. And it's terrific. Cher flexes her voice into higher notes on many songs, to lovely effect. "Paradise Is Here" spawned another club-quaking maxisingle. "What About the Moonlight" and "The Gunman" are especially good too. The latter extended into the '90s Cher's gun-as-love motif, which began in the '70s with "Bang-bang" and continued into the '80s with "Just Like Jesse James." |
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 Love Hurts, A bit weaker than the two albums that preceded it, this 1991 collection still has its stellar moments, namely "Fires of Eden," "I'll Never Stop Loving You," and "Could've Been You." Also good is the ballad "When Lovers Become Strangers." |
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 Heart of Stone. This was the album's shockingly hideous original cover in 1989. It looked like a high school art project. Is her arm broken? The record company wasted no time reissuing the album with the cover you see at right. As for the contents, they're uniformly strong. There are pop hooks and melodies aplenty, and Cher's voice is gorgeously utilized. One final note about the original cover: Cher's eye at the bottom of the cassette spine is created out of four flying bats. |
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 Cher. After being absent from the recording studio for a few years, Cher returned in 1987 with an attention-getting set of expertly crafted pop-rock songs. She's a force to be reckoned with in the triumphant "I Found Someone" and "Dangerous Times." She brings out Sonny's "Bang-bang" from the vault (she originally recorded it in the '70s) and gives it a big '80s power-pop sound. She's tender in "Main Man" and "Hard Enough." It's Cher full-spectrum! |
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 Take Me Home / Prisoner.
Two complete 1979 albums on one 1993 CD. The earlier album Take Me Home is the better one, with such great songs as the disco title track, "Say the Word," "Happy Was the Day We Met," and the ballads "It's Too Late to Love Me Now" and "My Song." Prisoner was put out later the same year, and it sounds like it's made up mostly of B-list tracks from the earlier recording session. The title track is decent, "Boys & Girls" has an undeniable manic energy, and the roller-disco ditty "Hell on Wheels" is campy fun (she's your roller mamma!), but overall the songwriters let Cher down with too many half-hearted rock songs and not a single ballad. |
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 Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves.
The classic 1971 album. Plenty of pure pop like the title track, "I'm in the Middle," and "Touch and Go" (can you believe that people used to write 1-minute-57-second songs?). Cher's take on the James Taylor classic "Fire and Rain" is terrific. |
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 Half Breed. A 1992 collection of songs from 1972-73. There's a lot of good stuff here, including "Let Me Down Easy" and "Train of Thought." The standout, however, is the lovely "Song for You." Karen Carpenter would later make the song her own (you get goose bumps when Karen sings, "And when my life is over / Remember when we were together"), but Cher does a fine job with it here. |
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 You
Better Sit Down, Kids. Imported from Holland, this CD presents lots of older, obscure Cher material from 1965 to 1975. Mostly the stuff is mid- to late-'60s. Cher sounds like a teenage boy on some of the earlier stuff. She's exquisite on "Sunny," "Our Day Will Come," and "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me." Craig would say this is a must for true Cher fans, but they probably already own it.
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