#24 Cliff Richard & The Shadows: 21 Today

More rice cake than birthday cake…

(Columbia EMI)

Released: 14th October 1961

Topped the Chart:

29th October 1961 (for 1 week)

1 week total

The classic narrative for the career of Cliff Richard is that he arrived with an explosive debut single in 1958 (Move It), fell asleep at the wheel and then woke up around the release of Devil Woman 18 years later. Irresistible cliché it may be, but the evidence on display with his fourth album doesn’t exactly help.

Where Richard started his career as Britain’s answer to Elvis, by the age of 21 (21 Today was released on the day itself) listlessness had crept in, leaving the songs feel more maudlin than moody—Cliff now sounds more like Britain’s answer to Johnny Ray, prone to burst into tears at any point. But where Ray's sorrows were part of his charm, Cliff's misery is cloying in comparison and whil other British rock n roll wannabes like Billy Fury had made similar moves in their sound around the same time, they at least pumped more energy and vigour into their songs than Richard could muster.

Coming off the back of huge commercial and critical success with their own work, The Shadows return to backing band status on 21 Today, and provide a nice opening with their twangy and primal take on Happy Birthday to You…for the first 20 seconds. After that, they fade into the background as fake party chat swamps their sound. None of it sounds convincing and, from a 21st century point of view, it’s probably a relief that we leave the room shortly after someone suggests, “Shall we get these girls a drink?”

The Shadows remain low in the mix from there. Tony Meehan’s drumming on tracks like Chuck Berry’s Forty Days stand out, transforming the song into a Eddie Cochran groove, and Hank Marvin’s twangy wail sings out occasionally. It’s a highlight, but the album doesn’t really know what to do with them in a light entertainment mould: Without You is a paint-by-numbers rocker that’s self-penned by Cliff and the band which stinks of a reach for a royalty check alone, while the grit that Richard puts in his voice on Tough Enough and Outsider falls flat. Worst of all is Y’Arriva, a failed injection of energy in a Mariachi style, with an unconvincing lead vocal from Richard and half-hearted background shouts of “Andele! Andele!” Everyone involved sounds embarrassed.

The Shadows were Cliff's secret weapon, but listeners can be forgiven for barely registering their involvement here.

Cliff himself is more comfortable on the orchestrated songs, though he rarely elevates the material. While some of the arrangements by producer Norrie Paramour are effective, recalling the best of Nat King Cole’s string work with Gordon Jenkins, the problem is Cliff’s limp, lifeless tone, covering these songs with a blanket of self-pity. He’s both a Poor Boy and A Mighty Lonely Man on songs that, along with Fifty Tears for Every Kiss, aim for the “teen tragedy” style on the rise in the US at the time. But where songs like Leader of the Pack by the Shangri-Las or Last Kiss are packed with memorable characters and sad endings, Cliff’s attempts feel more like a sad bloke writing bad poetry about girls he’s never spoken to. The one bright spot is How Wonderful to Know where Cliff finally sounds engaged with the more emotional material he is working with.

Overall though, 21 Today feels like the sound of an entertainment veteran bereft of energy and ideas, the kind of album you’d expect to be pumped out after several decades of work. It’s quite impressive that Cliff Richard appears to have arrived at that point before the age of, yes, 21. All was not lost as, unlike his hero Elvis, the big screen would do wonders for Cliff’s recordings.

Happy birthday, indeed.

Score: 4/10

Track listing:

SIDE A

1.      Happy Birthday to You

2.      Forty Days (To Come Back Home)

3.      Catch Me

4.      How Wonderful to Know

5.      Tough Enough

6.      Fifty Tears for Every Kiss

7.      The Night is So Lonely

8.      Poor Boy

SIDE B

9.      Y’Arriva

10.  Outsider

11.  Tea for Two

12.  To Prove My Love for You

13.  Without You

14.  A Mighty Lonely Man

15.  My Blue Heaven

16.  Shame On You