Recently I was sitting on my ex-sister-in-laws couch waiting to leave for a concert and she was telling me about all the stuff she was trying to get rid of and so I showed her all the Cher stuff I had pre-ordered sitting on my Amazon orders page. I’m going the other way, you see.

Sonny & Cher Compilation – out now

While I was gone I ordered the new Sonny & Cher “curated” compilation from the Now Playing series (I got mine from Barnes & Noble). The comp only has 10 songs on sea-blue vinyl. There are some unusual choices in the non-hit “Sing C’est La Vie” and the Cher solo non-hit “Walk on Guilded Splinters.”

Cher Compilations – out 20 September

The day I left for Boston Cher released news of a new compilations series “Cher Forever Classics” and “Forever Fan.” This was a confusing set of options to sort through, different media, different track lists and different cover art choices. I’m also confused about the title. The CD art sticker shows “Forever Classics” but the listing in Amazon and on Cher.com is just “Forever.” I think the difference is one set is “Forever Classics” and the other is “Forever Fan.” You may recognize the cover art from the CR Fashion Book photo shoot with Kim Kardashian and Naomi Campbell.

Let’s start with the CD options of Forever Classics:

  • Black and white cover CD (baseline) – 21 tracks
  • Blue cover CD (Amazon exclusive) – no track list
  • Red cover CD (Cher.com) – 21 tracks

These are the vinyl options for Forever Classics:

  • Black and white cover, 2 clear vinyl (baseline)- 21 tracks
  • Blue cover, 2 blue vinyl  (Amazon exclusive) – no track list

Apparently the other version, Forever Fan, will be streaming only and include 40 songs with some deep-cut tracks: https://genius.com/albums/Cher/Forever-fan

To support the Forever Fan, Cher has rereleased her 1974 Warner Bros single “A Woman’s Story” as an online single in streaming platforms and on her YouTube channel. In fact, the singleness of it made me think this was a new song being released with possibly the same name. It’s an interesting strategy to highlight this lost song in such a public way but I’m glad Cher did so. Although it makes you wonder what a single really is in this day and age. Not only is this an old song, but hasn’t Taylor Swift made the idea of a single obsolete in the last year of every song of her album charting because it’s stream-able over and over again?

This song is later-day Phil Spector production and I think his style really gives the song an ethereal and lush lifeforce. Thanks to remastering I finally understand the line “And if it had to be tried, I tried it.” It also makes me understand Rona Barrett’s odd interview question to Cher about whether she ever sold her body for sex. Possibly Barrett had just heard this song and wondered if Cher was singing from experience.

I had heard about this very single in Cher biographies and had just gotten my drivers license in 1985 but was afraid to drive on St. Louis highways so I took back roads down to a south St. Louis county used record store where I found the 45. I was so excited, like I had struck gold; but the drive home took so long I was almost late for a dinner out with some visiting family and my mother was really pissed (this before the days of cell phones). Needless to say I had to wait later until that night to hear it. And I love to eat out so this was an odd torture for me. This was pre-Internet and I had not heard not a note of it before. I loved it and also its b-side cover of The Ronettes’ “Baby, I Love You” (not on the Forever Fan compilation). It took me decades longer to find the remaining Spector song in the trilogy, the Harry Nilsson duet which I found one day at a used record store near Kent State in Ohio while driving from St. Louis to Yonkers, New York.

Here is the song from Cher’s Youtube. Cher Universe has already made a fan video from the CR fashion book photo shoot film as a base.

There’s possibly a new tour in the works, the Hall of Fame induction in need of merch and credibility, and a memoir that needs a soundtrack. This new compilation and this new lead song might help assist all those ventures in spirit.

Cher, the Memoir – out 19 November

Which brings us to the memoir.

The Christmas Album Vinyl – 11 October

Cher’s Christmas album is also being re-released this year in a cracked blue vinyl as an Amazon exclusive. My high school friends and I used to watch Rankin & Bass and other animated Christmas specials in July for fun so I took the opportunity to do a summer listen to the Christmas album again.

The “Met Gala” Funko Pop – out any day now

My Funko Pop order was again marked as a problem. This happened last time too with the Ringmaster version. Mysteriously it just hasn’t shipped yet and the doll is now listed at a higher price ($18 instead of $12). Annoying.