''Cliff'' is the 1959 debut album of British singer

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is an Indian-born British musican, singer, producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist who holds both British and Barbadian citizenship. He has total sales of over 21.5 million s ...

and his band

the Drifters The Drifters are several American doo-wop and R&B/soul vocal groups. They were originally formed as a backing group for Clyde McPhatter, formerly the lead tenor of Billy Ward and his Dominoes in 1953. The second group of Drifters, formed in ...

(later known as the Shadows). The recording is the first white professionally recorded live

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm a ...

album. The album is a live-in-the-studio recording of Richard's and the Shadows' early rock and roll in front of an invited audience of several hundred fans. It was recorded over two nights during February 1959 in Studio 2 at

EMI Recording Studios Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music c ...

(later known as Abbey Road Studios) with

Norrie Paramor Norman William Paramor (15 May 1914 – 9 September 1979), known professionally as Norrie Paramor, was a British record producer, composer, arranger, pianist, bandleader, and orchestral conductor. He is best known for his work with Cliff R ...

as producer. The album contains renderings of Richard's hit single "

Move It "Move It" is a song written by Ian Samwell and recorded by Cliff Richard and the Drifters (the English band that would later become "The Shadows"). Originally intended as the B-side to "Schoolboy Crush", it was released as Richard's debut sing ...

", both tracks of the yet to be released Drifters' instrumental single "Jet Black" and "Driftin'" and covers of rock 'n' roll standards made famous by

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

, Buddy Holly, Little Richard,

Jerry Lee Lewis Jerry Lee Lewis (September 29, 1935October 28, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Nicknamed "The Killer", he was described as " rock & roll's first great wild man". A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis ma ...

, Roy Orbison,

Ricky Nelson Eric Hilliard Nelson (May 8, 1940 – December 31, 1985) was an American musician, songwriter and actor. From age eight he starred alongside his family in the radio and television series ''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet''. In 1957, he bega ...

Ritchie Valens Richard Steven Valenzuela (May 13, 1941 – February 3, 1959), known professionally as Ritchie Valens, was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. A rock and roll pioneer and a forefather of the Chicano rock movement, Valens was killed ...

and

Gene Vincent Vincent Eugene Craddock (February 11, 1935 – October 12, 1971), known as Gene Vincent, was an American musician who pioneered the styles of rockabilly and rock and roll. His 1956 top ten hit with his backing band the Blue Caps, " Be-Bop-a-Lula ...

. The album reached number 4 in the

UK album chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

and spent 31 weeks on the chart - a time when the chart was only a top ten.

Release

The album was released originally in

mono Mono may refer to: Common meanings * Infectious mononucleosis, "the kissing disease" * Monaural, monophonic sound reproduction, often shortened to mono * Mono-, a numerical prefix representing anything single Music Performers * Mono (Japanese b ...

only ( Columbia 33 SX 1147) but was also released in two parts as 45rpm EPs (''Cliff No.1'' and ''Cliff No.2'' in both mono and stereo. Both versions use the same takes but with slightly different audience noise. The album was repackaged with the title ''Dance with Cliff Richard'' for release in France ( Columbia 33 FPX 185). The album was first released on CD in 1987 (

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...

CDP 7482772) in the original mono version. It was reissued in 1998 (EMI 495 4382) with both the mono and stereo versions on the same disc. It was also released in 2001 (EMI 534 6002) with the stereo version only along with the stereo version of the follow-up album ''

Cliff Sings Cliff Sings is the second album by British Cliff Richard and his first studio album. It was released in November 1959 through EMI Columbia Records and recorded at Abbey Road Studios. It reached No. 2 in the UK album chart. No singles were rel ...

'' as part of the ''2 on 1'' series.

Track listing

Notes: :''A'' Refers to the original name of UK band, the Shadows, as they were known from August 1958 until October 1959 (when "

Travellin' Light "Travellin' Light" is a UK No. 1 single recorded by Cliff Richard and The Shadows and released in 1959. It was the follow-up single to Richard's first No. 1, " Living Doll" and remained at No. 1 for five weeks (one less than "Living Doll"). "Tra ...

" was released). The UK band are not be confused with the US band of the same name.

Unreleased tracks

Some tracks were scheduled or recorded for the album but not included. A version of

's "

One Night One Night or 1 Night may refer to: Film * ''One Night'' (2002 film), a film produced by Winchester Films * ''One Night'' (2005 film), an Iranian film directed by Niki Karimi * ''One Night'' (2007 film), a film featuring Christian Campbell and ...

" recorded in the same session was later released on ''The Rock 'N' Roll Years 1958-1963'' (1997). Two other tracks were recorded but not released - Conway Twitty's "

It's Only Make Believe "It's Only Make Believe" is a song written by drummer Jack Nance and Mississippi-born singer Conway Twitty, while both were touring across Ontario, Canada in 1958. The song was recorded on May 7 for MGM Records; produced by Jim Vienneau, it fe ...

" and

The Weavers The Weavers were an American folk music quartet based in the Greenwich Village area of New York City originally consisting of Lee Hays, Pete Seeger, Ronnie Gilbert, and Fred Hellerman. Founded in 1948, the group sang traditional folk songs fr ...

' " Kisses Sweeter than Wine" (which had been a hit in the UK in 1958 for

Frankie Vaughan Frankie Vaughan (born Frank Fruim Abelson; 3 February 1928 – 17 September 1999) was an English singer and actor who recorded more than 80 easy listening and traditional pop singles in his lifetime. He was known as "Mr. Moonlight" after his ...

Personnel

;Cliff Richard and the Drifters *

– lead vocals *

Hank Marvin Hank Brian Marvin (born Brian Robson Rankin, 28 October 1941) is an English multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and songwriter. He is widely known as the lead guitarist for The Shadows, a group which primarily performed instrumentals and was the ba ...

–

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featu ...

Bruce Welch Bruce Welch (born 2 November 1941 as Bruce Cripps) is an English guitarist, songwriter, producer, singer and businessman best known as a founding member of the Shadows. Biography Welch's parents (Stan Cripps and Grace Welch) moved him to 15 B ...

- rhythm guitar *

Jet Harris Jet, Jets, or The Jet(s) may refer to: Aerospace * Jet aircraft, an aircraft propelled by jet engines ** Jet airliner ** Jet engine ** Jet fuel * Jet Airways, an Indian airline * Wind Jet (ICAO: JET), an Italian airline * Journey to Enceladus ...

–

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

Tony Meehan Daniel Joseph Anthony Meehan (2 March 1943 – 28 November 2005), professionally known as Tony Meehan, was a founder member of the British group the Drifters, with Jet Harris, Hank Marvin and Bruce Welch, which would evolve into the Shadows. ...

– drums ;Additional musicians *

Mike Sammes Singers Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and documen ...

–

background vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

("Donna" and "Danny") ;Production * Produced by

* Engineered by Malcolm Addey

External links

* Retrospective review:
Classic Album: Cliff - Cliff Richard and the Drifters
' by Randy Fox, 19 July 2020, Vintage Rock, vintagerockmag.com * Allmusic review: by Bruce Eder

References

{{Authority control Cliff Richard albums The Shadows albums 1959 debut albums EMI Columbia Records albums Albums produced by Norrie Paramor British rock-and-roll albums