''I'm Nearly Famous'' is the eighteenth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

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 ...

, released in May 1976. The album is considered one of his finest works and is held as the album which brought about Cliff Richard's revival as a major chart act. The lead single on the album, "

Miss You Nights "Miss You Nights" is a song written by Dave Townsend and made famous worldwide by Cliff Richard. The song has been recorded by numerous other artists, most notably Westlife, who released it as the second track on a double A-side single in 2003 ...

", made number 15 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in early 1976, followed by " Devil Woman" which showed a new harder-edged side to Richard's music and became one of his biggest worldwide hits, peaking at number 9 in the UK and becoming his first US Top 10, reaching number 6 and earning a gold disc for sales of half a million. " I Can't Ask for Anymore Than You" was the third single, reaching number 17 in the UK and number 80 in the US.

Background

Cliff Richard's career had seen a downward slump in the 1970s compared to his success in the previous decade, culminating in his not hitting the chart at all in 1975 - the first year of his career not to do so. Bruce Welch set about finding new songs for Cliff and was to produce the album which would mark his comeback. The lead single on the album was "Miss You Nights". Although it was released in November 1975, it did not make the UK charts until early 1976, eventually peaking at No.15. The follow-up, "Devil Woman" showed a new harder-edged side to Richard's music and became one of his biggest worldwide hits, peaking at No.9 in the UK and becoming his first ever top 10 hit in the US. Third single, "I Can't Ask for Anymore Than You" backed with album track "Junior Cowboy" completed the hat-trick of UK top 20 entries, while the album itself reached No.5 and remained in the charts for 21 weeks - his most successful album for over a decade. It was also his first hit album in the US (peaking at No.76). The album received rave reviews in the press and received kudos from celebrities such as

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

and

Elizabeth Taylor Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was a British-American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 1950s. ...

who wore T-shirts emblazoned with the ''I'm Nearly Famous'' logo. ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...

'' was particularly enthusiastic about the album, with Geoff Brown writing: The album was remastered and re-issued on Compact disc in 2001, where it again received rave reviews from ''

Q Magazine ''Q'' was a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1986 by broadcast journalists Mark Ellen and David Hepworth, who were presenters of the BBC television music series ''The Old Grey Whistle Test''. '' ...

'' and ''

Record Collector ''Record Collector'' is a British monthly music magazine. It was founded in 1980 and distributes worldwide. History The early years The first standalone issue of ''Record Collector'' was published in March 1980, though its history stretches ba ...

'' among others.

Track listing

Side One # " I Can't Ask for Anymore Than You" (Ken Gold, Michael Denne) – 2:50 # "It's No Use Pretending" (Michael Allison, Peter Sills) – 3:22 # "I'm Nearly Famous" (Michael Allison, Peter Sills) – 3:54 # "Lovers" (

Mickey Newbury Milton Sims "Mickey" Newbury Jr. (May 19, 1940 – September 29, 2002) was an American songwriter, recording artist, and a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Early life and career Newbury was born in Houston, Texas, on May 19, ...

) – 2:58 # "Junior Cowboy" (Michael Allison, Peter Sills) – 2:54 # "

" (

Dave Townsend Dave Townsend is a British songwriter, lyricist, and singer, and was born in Somerset, in South West England. Aside from a solo career, he was also a vocalist for The Alan Parsons Project, singing lead vocals on "Don't Let it Show" on the album, ...

) – 3:57 Side Two # "I Wish You'd Change Your Mind" (

Terry Britten Terence Ernest Britten (born July 1947) is an English-Australian singer-songwriter and record producer, who has written songs for Tina Turner, Cliff Richard, Olivia Newton-John, Status Quo and Michael Jackson amongst many others. Britten (along w ...

) – 3:04 # " Devil Woman" (Terry Britten, Christine Holmes) – 3:41 # "Such is the Mystery" ( John Dawson Read) – 5:11 # "You've Got to Give Me All Your Lovin'" (Ken Gold, Michael Denne) – 3:06 # "If You Walked Away" (

David Pomeranz David Pomeranz (born February 9, 1951) is an American singer, composer, lyricist, and writer for musical theatre. He is also an ambassador for Operation Smile. Solo career Born and raised on Long Island, Pomeranz expressed interest in music from ...

) – 3:02 # "Alright, it's Alright" (Michael Allison, Peter Sills) – 2:33 2001 re-issue bonus tracks # "Love Enough" ( Tim Moore) – 2:50 # "Love On (Shine On)" (

) – 3:04 # " Honky Tonk Angel" (

Troy Seals Troy Harold Seals (born November 16, 1938, in Bighill, Madison County, Kentucky, United States) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is a member of the prominent Seals family of musicians that includes Jim Seals (of Seals and C ...

, Denny Rice) – 3:03 # "Wouldn't You Know It" (Alan Tarney, Trevor Spencer) – 3:03 # "It's Only Me You've Left Behind" (

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 ...

John Farrar John Clifford Farrar ( ; born 8 November 1946) is an Australian music producer, songwriter, arranger, singer, and guitarist. As a musician, Farrar is a former member of several rock and roll groups including The Mustangs (1963–64), The Stra ...

) – 3:07 # "You're the One" (

Alan Tarney Alan Tarney (born 19 November 1945) is an English record producer and musician. He was born in Northside, Workington, Cumberland, but spent his teenage years in Adelaide, Australia, where he met his songwriting and musical partner Trevor Spencer ...

Trevor Spencer Trevor Spencer (born 1947 in Adelaide, Australia) is an Australian songwriter, record producer and drummer. He studied drums and percussion from the age of 10. By the age of 14, he was playing professionally in bands in Adelaide and Melbourne, w ...

) – 3:42

Arrangements

Andrew Powell Andrew Powell (born 18 April 1949) is an English musical composer, arranger and performer, born of Welsh parents. He himself moved to Wales in 2003. Early life Powell was born Surrey, England. He began piano lessons at the age of four and late ...

on "Miss You Nights" *

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 ...

– tracks 1-3, 5, 7, 8, 10, 12 *

Richard Hewson Richard Anthony Hewson (born 17 November 1943) is an English producer, arranger, conductor and multi-instrumentalist, who created the studio group RAH Band. Career Hewson began in the late 1960s as an arranger, and has worked with musicians s ...

Background

Track listing

Arrangements

Charts

Singles

References