Reviewed by Mike Rimmer

In 1983, Cliff was celebrating his 25th year in pop music and this album was released to commemorate it. Initial copies of the vinyl release of the album came along with "Rock'n'Roll Silver" which was a set of vintage rock'n'rollers given the Cliff Richard twist. Various CD versions have had some of those tracks as bonus songs. This one includes an excellent version of Little Richard's "Lucille" which was a B-side of "Never Say Die (Give A Little Bit)" which was a hit from the album and one of the funkiest things the singer ever released. I remember hearing Cliff bemoan the fact that in a year that had Culture Club's lightweight "Kharma Chameleon", he's done the heavier "Never Say Die" and it had only got to #15. There is plenty of variety on the album from great '80s pop like "Front Page" written by Aleksander John and Nick Battle through to the gorgeous ballad "Please Don't Fall In Love" (written by Womble Mike Batt) which charted at number seven. The B-side was "Ocean Deep" which was flipped over due to fans really loving the song. Other curious tracks are his original version of "The Golden Days Are Over" which was later covered by Bucks Fizz and my favourite tracks "Locked Inside Your Prison". This features some tight production from Craig Pruess and a great sax solo and shows Cliff able to move with the times and do a totally synth-driven song. The broad eclectic mix of pop, rock'n'roll and ballads on this album wasn't as big a hit as the 'Wired For Sound' album but it was a worthy celebration of 25 years of memorable pop music.

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