Cher and Warner Bros. records have released a sudden, new Cher compilation, likely to provide something for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame record bins.
Like for the Christmas albums, there were alternate covers and I pooped-out at silver, red and blue copies. It turns out there are purple and gray covers as well.
I’m already tired of this device. Probably this is because this comp isn’t as good as the last official Best Of comp of 2003 or last year’s Christmas album where I gleefully bought multiple copies and also because I’m over this devise already and will not be buying these multiple versions anymore unless years from now I see them in used CD or vinyl bins for a dollar.
Before we talk about the Forever comps, there was also a new Sonny & Cher vinyl compilation released this summer, Now Playing, a Rhino release covering the ATCO era with a sea blue vinyl record. Not only is the selection meagre, there’s only a one paragraph liner note full of incorrect statements such as describing the songs as “easy-going tunes with cross-generational appeal.” Do Sonny & Cher have cross generational appeal? Like Cher does? But I don’t know many people beyond Boomers and Gen Xers who find Sonny all that appealing beyond an historical understanding of Cher. The liner note goes on to say the songs are “full of uplifting messages and harmonies” Harmonies? I don’t think Sonny & Cher are known for their harmonies. And “What Now My Love” is practically suicidal so…
And I do not understand why the good people who made this have swapped out the hit “Just You” for the non-U.S. hit “Sing C’est La Vie.” Robrt Pela reminded me that “Sing C’est La Vie” might be there because it went to #1 in a some European countries.
And why did “I Walk on Guilded Splinters” make it on here, a song I love but which seems completely out of place in this set. Cher was really exploring a new sound by the 3614 Jackson Highway album. It really sticks out.
Honestly, I don’t like anything about this product, the packaging, the selections. Robrt again reminded me that this comp is not trying to be “an all-inclusive ATCO comp,” but rather a sampling for new vinyl fans.
By the way, Robrt Pela and I reviewed all the previous comps here and have added these latest three comps which puts us up to 150 comps now. Oy.
Now on to the Forevers.
First of all what is up with the name of the shorter, physical compilation? Some outlets like Amazon and the spine of the CD have the title in all caps, FOREVER. The CD sticker has the name as FOREVER CLASSICS. Some outlets like Tidal and Spotify streaming just have the title caps of Forever? Or is it Cher Forever?
What is the official title? And what does Forever even mean? I always struggle with the guiding organizing principle of comps anyway and this title doesn’t help. Are these hits, the best ofs? Nine times out of ten it seems these things are a big compromise or sometimes a nonsensical cash-in.
The first two songs are the iconic fan favorites “Believe” and “Turn Back Time,” which was not a #1 hit but has become an iconic Cher song and super-meme for daylight savings. The CD tracks are ordered nicely by how they sound next to each other, not chronologically. And they’ve done a good job here in that. The songs sound good on top of each other which is not always an easy task. Sometimes it’s hard to integrate the Cher decades.
Since the last sanctioned Warner Bros. comp Best Of (2003), a lot of minor hits have fallen off to be replaced by some subpar additions, somewhat-hits like “We All Sleep Alone,” “Just Like Jesse James,” “All or Nothing,” all which have fallen off Forever Classics (I’m going with that title to differentiate it from Forever Fan; I’m not a fan of the yelly all-caps). We’re also missing “All I Really Want to Do” (Cher’s first big hit), and insanely “Bang Bang” (arguably Sonny’s most covered Cher song). But also “Alfie” and “You’d Better Sit Down Kids.” Some of these (not “Alfie” or “You’d Better Sit Down Kids”) find their way onto the Fan Forever streaming-only edition. And why is it streaming-only for the longer comp? Fans are the ones most wanting and willing to buy physical media so why not cash in on that? Maybe some of the newly compiled, mid-70s Warner Bros songs are only suitable yet for streaming.
On the “Classics” set, there are 21 songs of which 9 or 10 are real hits, about 6 were semi-hits or hits on a minor chart like dance or adult contemporary like “Love and Understanding,” “Strong Enough,” “Save Up All Your Tears,” “One by One,” ”I Hope You Find It,” and “DJ Play a Christmas Song.”
There are 4 somewhere-hits, like “Walking in Memphis” which has become a concert favorite with fans and the nonfans who get dragged to Cher concerts (I have causal polling on this). The song was actually a semi-hit in the UK and Australia. Ditto with “The Shoop Shoop Song” being a hit in the UK and then there’s the fact that Cher likes it and fans love Mermaids.
There are even a few bombs, like “S.O.S.” which as a single but did not chart at all.
Then there are songs missing that were as much of a minor hit as to the ones which were included, like maybe they went to #1 on the dance chart like “When The Money’s Gone.” That wasn’t included but “Woman’s World” and “You Haven’t Seen the Last of Me” were.
The most shocking part of the new comp is the dropping of the #1 hit single “Half Breed,” presumably for PC reasons. This was recently discussed in this Rolling Stone article about artists censoring themselves as they work on their legacies. I agree with the author, David Browne, here. “Half Breed” was a good-intentioned song about the experience of racism. The stereotypical musical elements undercut this but, considering the context of its time, it was historically significant and a huge part of Cher’s legacy, so much that it became one of her forever nicknames.
It’s always problematic if a culture evolves and then a once well-intentioned song starts to bring pain to a community. This is probably why the song was dropped. But what about the term “gypsies,” which is also no longer PC? No one seemed concerned about the cringe-worthy French stereotypes in “Sing C’est La Vie” when that was added back into the new Sonny & Cher comp this year. Eventually all the words become problematic and the PC efforts become unsustainable. The whole point of the songs “Half Breed” and “Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves” was to describe how hurtful those words were and still are. We’re getting stuck in the weeds here. Not to deny the problems of the tom-toms and the chanting (and Cher’s infamous Mackie Half Breed dress), but I think chastising after the well-meaning is counter-productive. As Maya Angelou says, “when you know better, you do better.” What does revamping history serve? What’s more important is what we do now. I guess dumping the song from new comps makes it feel like doing something now. But it isn’t really.
You can’t really please anyone in this case. People will be upset if the song is included or excluded.
Forever Fan (the streaming-only set) has 40 songs and includes all of the first 21 songs from Cher Classics plus some of the dropped semi-hits mentioned above, plus songs like “The Music’s No Good Without You,” and “D’ove L’amore.”
Forever Fan also includes songs that were never even singles like “Welcome to Burlesque” (although the song is a staple of the last few tours), the critical favorite “One of Us,” the self-published “Still” and “I’d Rather Believe in You.” Some good songs but none of them were singles.
There are also some complete bombs like “A Woman’s Story,” “I Paralyze,” and “Move Me,” but these are songs either fans or Cher loves anyway. “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” the U2 cover, is another live show staple but the streaming song title (is there a streaming booklet of credits I missed?) oddly makes no mention of which live show the recording comes from. It’s from the Farewell TV special of 2003.
There are only four songs from the 1960s added to Forever Fan, “Bang Bang,” “Baby Don’t Go,” “The Beat Goes On” and “I Got You Babe,” a #1 song egregiously missing from the Cher Classics.
“Hell on Wheels” would have been a nice add. “Love One Another” and “All I Ever Need Is You” were nominated for a Grammy. “Fernando” was very popular, more so than any of the other ABBA songs on Dancing Queen.
Then there’s the packaging which seems to be trying to appeal to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as if rockers and bikers are synonymous. Cher has plenty of other performing shots that denote her rock star cred more authentically. Plus these shots are all old by now, magazine and advertising images that seem entirely tangential to her stage work. And the back CD promotional shot from the Laurie Lynn Stark promo feels fine for what it was created for, but for making the case of rock credibility, it seems to be trying too hard.
And then there are no liner notes! Ugh. There’s a missed opportunities for liner notes at every release these days. I know, I’m a writer and love to read liner notes, but those words mean something. She deserves much more of them and it’s painful to see booklets come and go without them. I keep hearing Tom Cruise in my head from A Few Good Men, “He’s arguing. He’s making an argument.” Legacy releases and re-releases are making an arguement.
The booklet is slim and fans are left mulling over the thank-you credits. As a kid, this was one of my favorite parts of a new album release. Cher “first and forever thanks her devoted fans” and okay now I’m feeling like a complete asshole for complaining about this comp so much. This is now my favorite part of this release.
Cher also thanks “My mom—she’s helping me” and family members including Chaz and Elijah, Jen twice (personal assistants should get two thank yous), Paulette and other longtime friends and her boyfriend Alexander has his own line. Which is sweet.
I know I’ve complained a lot but there are some nice perks here. These are all remasters. And some thought was put into the track order.
The fact that Sonny & Cher tunes were sacrificed for ABBA songs makes me think this thing was targeted for younger generations. But they, more than anybody, need their history lesson of 60s Cher. For those fans, I would still point them to the Best Of or Gold comps of the early 2000s.
Go, Mary!!!