Cliff Richard – The World Tour (2003)

 

Picture: C     Sound: C+     Extras: C     Concert: C

 

 

Cliff Richard is one of England’s huge hitmakers, but he barely had such success in The United States.  However, when he finally did hit, there were some good records that resulted to join his long spanning career.  Cliff Richard – The World Tour (2003) is a taping of one of his stage dates, which are part of this kind of tour he had never done before.  Too bad the concert is a mess.  First, the tracks:

 

1)     We Don’t Talk Anymore

2)     Move It

3)     Somewhere Over The Rainbow/What A Wonderful World

4)     Dreamin’

5)     Born To Rock ‘N’ Roll

6)     D In Love

7)     Claudette

8)     Green Light/Devil Woman/Carrie medley

9)     Too Much/Don’t Be Cruel medley

10)  Be Bop A Lula

11)  No Particular Place To Go

12)  Come Go With Me/Dream Lover/Since I Don’t Have You medley

13)  Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On

14)  Right Here Waiting

15)  Let Me Be The One

16)  All Shook Up

17)  I Honestly Love You

18)  Some People

19)  Girl You’ll Be A Woman Soon

20)  Gee Whiz It’s You/I Could Easily Fall In Love With You

21)  The Day That I Stop Loving You

 

 

On the opener, he cannot hit al the higher notes, the covers of the many 1950s songs are overdone beyond belief, made worse by some of the worst medleys I have ever encountered.  Remember the Phil Hartman as Frank Sinatra skit where he is recording his Duets album and each song is done in 15 seconds?  That is how Richard tosses away Devil Woman and the recent hits.  Instead of doing Suddenly solo, a duet he did with Olivia Newton John, he covers her early hit I Honestly Love You.  Add the dancers who look like the children of dancers from old Donnie & Marie shows and you have a concert without focus or being memorable.  His voice is better here than Peter Cetera from a recent Soundstage show, but forget it otherwise.

 

The letterboxed 1.78 X 1 image is softer than it should be, even without being anamorphic.  Color is weak and depth is not what it should be.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo has barely any surround information and is adequate for a new recording.  Extras include an interview with Richard about his career and approach to life now, plus some behind the scenes footage.  Next time, lets hope for an earlier concert or remastered hits set.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo