Essential Collection [Original recording remastered]

Cher | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (December 4, 2001)
• Original Release Date: 1965
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Hip-O Records
• ASIN: B00005RZY0
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #125,746 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Very Good overview of Cher's career 1965-85, December 10, 2001

By 

Ward J. Lamb (slate hill, new york United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Essential Collection (Audio CD)

Now this is an interesting over view of the Cher evolution. Beginning with the first chart hit, "All I Really Want to Do", and ending with her live duet with Sonny, "I Got you Babe", the essential collection spans two decades of "smart" pop music.With producers ranging from Sonny Bono,Snuff Garret, Bob Esty, and Jim Steinman(with Meatloafe- "Dead Ringer for Love").The cd liner notes include one particularly riveting photo of Cher with her viking head gear!(only Cher can do it and get away with it!)
The producers vary, and the tone of the music changes, from folk-rock, to 70's pop, and onto the disco floor, which has once again given Cher new life in the new millenium.(" Believe", "Strong Enough"," All or Nothing", "Music's No good")
Cher is perhaps one of the most popular single artists, and this collection features some non singles too.
Standouts(unreleased on cd) is the song, "Bad Love", a cousin to "hot stuff" by Donna Summer is introduced to cd here.A notable track from the "Black Rose" period "Young and Pretty", finds Cher singing with power and emotion,while "Rudy", her 1st of two Columbia singles harkens back to the Phil Spector sound...
Oddly missing again is any indication of the Warners yrs. What has Warners done with the tapes of Cher's 1975-7 output? It is very weird that not any of these lp tracks from the Cher solo years following the Sonny & Cher yrs are to be found on cd!
I blame Warners for this, not the compiler of this very cool cd. I remember hearing "Alfie", by Cher in 1967, in the motion picture starring Michael Caine. It is still my favorite version. Cher has been a chart topper on and off for years, and "The Essential Collection" bridges more periods than any other...An essentially bright collection!Favorite tracks include "You better sit down kids","Alfie","Wasn't it Good",and "Gypsies Tramps and Thieves" and the novel "Cowboys Work is Never Done", with Sonny.Well Cher is still cranking out the hits, and many of us are in line for each offering!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not exactly a comprehensive Cher collection..., April 9, 2003

By 

jon sieruga (Redlands, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Essential Collection (Audio CD)

Most Cher collections(and there are many, many of 'em!)peter out somewhere between 1987 and 1993. This one doesn't even stretch that far, instead highlighting Cher's pre-and-post disco years of the 1970's. Still, it contains non-hits(but fun ones)like "Hell on Wheels"(from "Roller Boogie")and "Bad Love"(from "Foxes"), plus songs with Black Rose(her metal period)and Meatloaf! Cher's throaty voice and non-expressive delivery bring out the campy side of the lyrics. She would later become a rock-lite belter and actually gain some much-needed vocal range, but that's a DIFFERENT collection! A-

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Essential" perhaps, but not "Definitive" or "Exhaustive", December 8, 2001

By 

J. Collins "Paradise Bar & Grill" - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Essential Collection (Audio CD)

Seems like at any given time there are at least as many Cher compilations available as there are original albums. Since her career spans at least a half-dozen record labels, everyone from Casablanca to Imperial to Warners has material to re-package as a "Best of" or something similar. Sad to say, few of them are really comprehensive, and they tend to favor certain "eras" or music styles. Stylistically, Cher has run the gamut, though she has yet to do an aria.

This collection has charms O plenty, with some nice selections from her early "solo" records, which Sonny produced. These tracks segue into her early 70's material, which features her immortal "swarthy trio" ("Half-Breed," "Dark Lady" and "Gysies..."). There are also a few (non-hit) album tracks of note: "Don't Hide Your Love" is a good example. From there it's on to the disco days of the late 70's, with a handful of songs from her "Take Me Home" and "Prisoner" albums. The chronology runs out in the early 80's, with a rare track from Black Rose the highlight. The material in this disc all pre-dates Cher's mid-80's career boost as a rocker in the Bon Jovi mold; it also omits her more recent dance smashes, like "One on One" and "Believe".

I tend to take album titles quite literally...so any "best of" collection that omits significant hits won't receive more than average marks from me. This "essential" disc really does include essential material from Cher's catalog, and if you're not fond of her recordings of the last 15 years or so, this may be the only Cher compilation you need. In the absence of a box set or multi-disc compilation that adequately documents her 30+ year career, Cher completists will have to buy several releases to get the same results. This disc would be an excellent place to start your collection. If your interest in Cher is limited to her dance music, you'd be better off finding a CD reissue of "Take Me Home", and buying her most recent releases.

J