It's true I have an irrational fascination with the Cher-Compilation-Industrial-Complex. Secretly, I believe Oompa Loompas are in some factory putting these things out. This is an old rare one I've been hunting for many years…basically for the cover art….a painterly representation of Sonny & Cher. Now that I have it, I'm highly disturbed by it.
Hilariously, this MCA compilation, Sonny in Cher Once Again, was produced for Spencer Gifts in 1976. Any mall rat from the 1970s remembers the cheap gifts, sex games and back-of-the-store poster racks of their favorite mall store Spencers. The electronic puppy running into the wall at the front of the store? Where else could you get a pet rock? By the time I was frequenting their shelves, Sonny & Cher merchandise was long gone.
But back to this unusual cover art. The artist is not credited for some reason and the faces of Sonny & Cher are a bit off. Cher's lips and nose especially. Sonny looks more like Magnum PI, Cher like Lindsay Lohan. Secondly, their heads are taken from two completely different pictures…and you can kinda tell by the awkward positioning. Cher is from the back cover of the 1972 All I EVer Need is You album, the best S&C picture ever taken in my humble opinion.
I have no idea where Sonny's image was extracted from. That blue button down is totally unrecognizable to me. Especially without fancy embroidery on it. Does anybody know? The background is I guess some kind of a door opening into a large fern forest.
Once Again is a good name for a compilation from them. Other good compilation titles would be: Yet Again, More Random Selections from Sonny & Cher, You Haven't Seen The Last of a Sonny & Cher and/or Cher Compilation.
This is also a double album. It's got a mix of songs from their Live and Kapp/MCA albums…so you get "Train of Thought" bumping up on "Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show" and "Half Bread" inbetween "The Beat Goes On" and "Song for You." It ends on "United We Stand."
I love their version of that song. I really do.
You are my favorite pop culture historian, and not just because we share the same odd fascinations.
Speaking of disturbing Cher compilation covers, has there ever been a more terrifying album cover, ever, than CHER SINGS THE HITS? It always reminds me of a drawing done by a bored teenaged girl, doodling on her report cover during American History class. It SUCKS.
I have a sealed copy. And what exactly IS Springboard Records?
RP