Rare B-Sides   

1963-1989

With the advent of the CD single, the concept of the B-Side has gone the same way as 12-inch vinyl albums - a format prized by collectors but alien to much of today's music-buying public. Although CD singles are a popular format and also feature more than one track,  it is common for the extra tracks to be remixes, instrumentals or dance mixes of the lead song. However, to many there will always be a fondness for the often overlooked song that appeared on the other side of a 7-inch vinyl hit single. Cliff Richard has released over 130 singles, most of which were original vinyl 45s and Rare B-Sides 1963-1989 brings together some often forgotten tracks that, with the exception of the extended version of Stronger, are making their first appearance on CD.

The opening track on this CD, Say You're Mine, was recorded at the Jubilee Hall in Blackpool during a Cliff & The Shadows season in the town. It was issued in 1963 as the B-side to #2 hit Don't Talk To Him. This is followed by the Bruce Welch composition True, True Lovin', the other side of the Constantly single which peaked at #3 in 1964.

Renowned singer/songwriter Neil Diamond scored his first UK hit in 1970 with Cracklin' Rosie and went on to have hits with Sweet Caroline, Song Sung Blue, Forever In Blue Jeans and many others. However, many years before he hit the big time, he was writing songs for other artists and in August 1964, during a series of sessions at the Columbia Studios in Nashville, Cliff recorded one of his compositions, Just Another Guy, released as the flipside of the #1 hit The Minute You're Gone.

Next up are Just A Little Bit Too Late and Somebody Loses which were found on the other side of On My Word and Blue Turns To Grey, Top 20 hits for Cliff in 1965 and 1966. The following year Cliff turned once again to Neil Diamond for I Get The Feelin' which was issued as the flip of I'll Come Running, released in 1967.

Two of Cliff's biggest singles in 1967 were The Day I Met Marie and All My Love,  and their respective B-sides Our Story Book and Sweet Little Jesus Boy, are included here. The latter was the first time Cliff released a Christian-themed song on a single. From 1968 and 1969 come Occasional Rain and She's Leaving You, released on the other side of the  Good Times (Better Times) and Big Ship singles.  So Long became the flip side of Cliff's last single released in the1960s, With The Eyes Of A Child.

Jerry Lordan had written many of The Shadows’ hits, including Apache, Wonderful Land and Atlantis, and he co-wrote Monday Comes Too Soon with Hank Marvin. Cliff released the song in 1970 as the flipside of I Ain't Got Time Anymore.

In 1971 Cliff released four singles, Sunny Honey Girl, Silvery Rain, Flying Machine and Sing A Song Of Freedom, of which two were issued as maxi-singles and featured two tracks on the flipside. Sunny Honey Girl was backed  not only with  I Was Only Fooling Myself but also with a duet with Olivia Newton-John - Don't Move Away. The inclusion of this song may have been an attempt to bring her music to a wider audience as her career was just beginning to take off.  It has not been included in this set as it has made an appearance on CD previously. Silvery Rain, another maxi-single, featured both Time Flies and Annabella Umbrella as B-sides, while Cliff's final single of the year, Sing A Song Of Freedom was paired with the Hank Marvin/Bruce Welch composition A Thousand Conversations.

Early 1972 saw the release of Jesus, which had Mr Cloud as its B-side, and this is followed by the Don McLean composition Empty Chairs which featured on the flip of the Top 20 hit Living In Harmony. The same year Don McLean, the New York based singer-songwriter, was enjoying success with his classic American Pie and its follow-up, Vincent, which had reached #2 and #1 respectively.

Brand New Song, released towards the end of 1972, became the first single by Cliff not to chart. Its flipside, Raymond Froggatt's The Old Accordion, is included here. Froggatt was a Birmingham-based singer-songwriter who struggled to gain recognition although he did release material with his group Monopoly and had his song Red Balloon covered by the Dave Clark Five. Despite the previous single failing to chart, Cliff was back on form with his next single, Power To All Our Friends which, helped by the fact that it was the UK entry in the 1973 Eurovision Song Contest, peaked at a respectable #4.

I Only Know I Love You is a rare track and the first of the four bonus songs to appear on this CD. It was issued in Italy in 1963 as the B-side to Constantly and was not available in any other territories. Likewise Back In Vaudeville is another track that only found a release in foreign countries, this time Germany and Australia. The song was issued as the flip of Baby You're Dynamite, which, in the UK, had been paired with Ocean Deep.