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A waive of pre-release publicity meant that Cilla fans, including myself, eagerly awaited this album. The vocals from Cilla’s original recordings have been given a similar treatment to those of Elvis and The Beach Boys with fresh orchestrations .In this case by The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.
Cilla’s eldest son, Robert Willis, is part of the team behind this release and it appears that much care has gone into the selections and their treatment. If you asked the public which songs they associate with her then “Anyone Who Had A Heart”,” You’re My World” and “Alfie” would come out on top and so it’s a shrewd move that these were used as duets, with Cliff Richard, Rebecca Ferguson and Sheridan Smith respectively, as it clearly distinguishes them from the originals. All are enjoyable and Rebecca’s duet is outstanding , powerful and one of the best tracks.
I was particularly keen to hear the treatment of Cilla’s first record, “Love Of The Loved”. Recalling the studio recording in an interview, some years later Cilla said, on hearing the arrangement , she thought it sounded “a bit too posh”. She was referring to the extra instruments George Martin had used as she’d been used to the Beatles playing it at Liverpool clubs, in true Mersey Beat style. Well, here we have even more instruments, but I’m sure Cilla would be pleased with the modernised treatment, as it seems to have lost none of its jaunty swing.
The song selection hasn’t been restricted to just Cilla’s singles as Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now” and Elton John’s “Your Song” appeared on two of her Parlophone albums. Cilla’s recording of “Your Song” predates Elton’s, but a strike at EMI, meant that her album, “Images”, was delayed and in the meantime Elton had a hit with it. The new arrangements suit both very well.
For the opening track, “Step Inside Love”, Cilla’s vocal is taken from the original 1967 session with Paul McCartney making this a bit special. (The hit version was recorded a few months later in March ‘68).At the moment it’s my favourite of the bunch. The track which make the album a ‘must have’ for fans is “Have I told you Lately That I Love You” as it uses a previously unreleased vocal making it totally new.
On Cilla’s original recording of “Surround Yourself With Sorrow” I loved the orchestral crescendo building up to Cilla’s “oo-oo!” . Both are missing here in this totally new arrangement, but then I suppose that was the whole point of the album to be different. To be honest, I think the original of that particular song will get more plays from me but it’s still a pleasure to have both the old and new. I can’t fault any of the productions. It has good packaging with a number of photographs and credits for both the original and new recordings.
George Martin’s original productions of most of these songs will always remain the definitive versions, but I’m sure that in the future this album will be looked upon as an exciting and unexpected extra to Cilla’s recording catalogue.
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