Cliff Richard and The Shadows - Comment

  by Bob Nicholson

published: 19 / 12 / 2024

intro

Bob Nicholson enjoys the new release of Cliff Richard and The Shadows' Final Reunion tour from 2009. but asks why it is so belated and asks if recording remotely can ever replace working in a studio together.

Fifteen years late, but welcome nonetheless, a CD of a live performance from Cliff and The Shadows, “Final Reunion” was released in April 2024. The Final Reunion tour, and I think we can conclude it really was, played thirty six dates across three continents (Europe, Africa and Australasia) selling an estimated 440,000 seats in 2009/10. All of the nineteen dates in the UK were sold out. This CD was recorded at the O2 concert in front of 15,000 people. I saw the show in Manchester. The old friends performed brilliantly, augmented by regular Shadows sidekick Mark Griffiths on bass, Keith Hayman on keyboards and Warren Bennett on keyboards, accordion, harmonica and ship’s bell. The latter also edited the concert for the CD and has confirmed that there are no overdubs. They sound as they did on the night, tight, together, quite fantastic. A total of 42 songs were featured including nine Shadows instrumentals and three non-Cliff songs as tributes to the rock and roll genre ('Sea Cruise', 'Singing the Blues' and 'C’Mon Everybody'). The song selection was agreed between them though it’s said that Cliff wanted to include some of his later material, to no avail. The period covered is from 1958’s 'Move It' to 1966’s 'In the Country'. The previous live concert album from Cliff and The Shadows was an amazing forty five years ago. 'Thank You Very Much' was from the season at The London Palladium in 1978 to celebrate twenty years since formation. The From a Distance concerts (1990) were also released but involved a cast of thousands and The Shadows appear only briefly. Ahead of the tour in 2009, the group re-recorded twenty two songs which were released as the 50th Anniversary album. All of them were included in the set list. It is interesting to compare that album with this live set. In the former case, the players were not in the studio together – they sent their contributions in from Miami (Cliff), Australia (Hank) to Brian Bennett’s Honeyhill Studios in London where Warren Bennett acted as recordings co-ordinator. I am not a fan of this efficient, clearly cost effective way of producing music. For me, there’s no comparison with being together in one place, working through the material, inspiring and irritating each other. The concert will now be my default choice for the songs when I’m feeling nostalgic (a frequent occurrence). This CD release now, fifteen years later, and with little promotion, prompts a question. Why was it not released when the concert euphoria was still high? There was the DVD of course but you can’t play that in the car. It may be that Cliff didn’t want to distract from his recording strategy for that period. Over the next five years he recorded music in three different genres, from 'Bold as Brass' (standards), 'Soulicious' (with recognised soul stars), and two rock and roll CDs drawn from the Fifties and early Sixties. All had concert tours to promote them. The corollary therefore is what does this release mean for Cliff’s recording plans for 2024/25? There are no whispers of any recording scheduled. Still, better late than never. It is a joyous reminder of a great band still at the top of their game.

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