Cilla Black with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
The legend that is our Cilla from Liverpool has been brought back to life with these original vocal recordings that have been accompanied by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Forget all that Blind Date and Surprise, Surprise TV nonsense that elevated her from very famous to superstardom status as back in the day she made some very good music indeed, whether it was recording Lennon and McCartney songs such as Step Inside Love or the classic Alfie that was written by Bacharach and David. During her fifty year career in show business she had eighteen top forty hits, including eleven top ten hits and a posthumous number one album, shortly after her death in 2015.
In 1964 she got the nod over Dionne Warwick, to record Step Inside Love which was no mean feat at all as Warwick was already a very successful globally recognised recording artist. She also recorded Anyone Who Had A Heart which was actually originally recorded by Warwick. Cilla then went on to beat the her version to the number one spot so I am sure that Dionne would’ve been double pissed off at that!
Not bad for a Liverpool girl that started out as a cloak room attendant at the Cavern club where she went onto become firm friends with The Beatles, with one John Lennon introducing her to their manager Brian Epstein and it was he that then went onto help her launch her very successful singing career.
Love Of The Loved was her debut single and It’s For You was another Lennon and McCartney penned song but Something Tells Me, Your Song and Step Inside Love all sound just great and are the stars of the show on this recording.
What I really love about this album is the little bits of Cilla talking before some of the tracks, she sounds so sweet, although there is not enough of it and they (the songs) largely remind you that she was a very good and credible singer in her day. What I don’t get is why someone felt a need to add Cliff Richard’s, Rachel Ferguson and Sheridan Smith’s vocals to three of the songs! For me it ruins the concept, Cilla should’ve been left alone with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra as she was more than capable of holding her own in such esteemed company.
