Customer Reviews

Gold

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Wow. Well this has been a very long time coming. Of course, two CDs won't cover Cher's releases and for the insane Cher fans - well, you will have to wait for the box set. This GOLD CD, however, is a gem. I have NEVER heard ALFIE sound like this I had to play it 5X in a row and then it rocks right into this amazing remaster of THE BEAT GOES ON - I didn't know how my speakers picked up this clarity.

Geffen somehow secured the rights to these recordings to RE-RELEASE them after Cher's multi-platinum THE VERY BEST OF CHER that coincided with the winding up of her outrageously successful Farewell Tour. The European version of her hits was a 2 disk affair that had a lot of wonderful Cher hits.

THIS CD has most of Cher's top 40s but most importantly it is chronological and so there is a beauty in hearing the vocal changes stylistically, artistically and age encumbering that have made Cher one of the greatest vocalists of all time. She deserves this type of treatment. The songs are remastered so amazingly you will wonder why we had to hear them in their previous versions - is is THAT GOOD!

The clarity is amazing. Buy this for yourself and a friend. Everyone secretly (and not so secretly) loves Cher.

Cher is amazing.

This is the correct track listing for both disc:
Disc: 1
1. I Got You Babe - Sonny & Cher
2. Baby Don't Go - Sonny & Cher
3. All I Really Want to Do
4. Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)
5. Alfie
6. Beat Goes On - Sonny & Cher
7. You Better Sit Down Kids
8. Gypsys, Tramps and Thieves
9. The Way of Love
10. All I Ever Need Is You - Sonny & Cher
11. Living in a House Divided
12. Cowboy's Work Is Never Done - Sonny & Cher
13. Half-Breed
14. Dark Lady
15. Train of Thought
16. Take Me Home [Extended Version]

Disc: 2
1. I Found Someone
2. We All Sleep Alone
3. After All (Love Theme from Chances Are) - Cher & Peter Cetera
4. If I Could Turn Back Time
5. Just Like Jessie James
6. Heart of Stone [Remix][Mix]
7. Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)
8. Love and Understanding
9. Save Up All Your Tears
10. Love Hurts
11. One by One [Junior Vasquez Vocal Edit][Mix]
12. Believe
13. Strong Enough
14. All or Nothing
15. Song for the Lonely
16. A Different Kind of Love Song [Rodney Jerkins Main Mix (Faster)]

There are lots of Cher "Greatest Hits" CDs out there, but this is the only one with all (except one: the #25 hit "Where Do You Go" is left off in favor of non-hit track "Love Hurts") of her U.S. hits. The sound quality is amazing, better than any Cher CD I have heard (and I have heard all of them). The remastering job is awesome, and it serves "Alfie" (Cher's hit first, thank you) and "The Way Of Love" particularly well; unguessed layers of those songs rise to the surface. A terrific remastering job throughout!

For hardcore and casual Cher fans alike, this is THE hits collection from this talented, captivating artist.

(Please note that the remix of "Heart of Stone" included here is the version released as the hit single in 1990. This is not a "dance remix" of the song, but the version from the radio that we all know and love.)

At last, the best of the Virgin Mary... Hang on, that's not...it's CHER!
I was wondering where all that plastic surgery was leading...

Most people are either in the Everything-Cher-Does-Is-Great category or the Too-Cool-To-Admit-Anything-She-Does-Is-Good category. The reality is somewhere in-between.

Cher has done a lot of junk in her career (both music and film) but she's also made some doozies too. Unfortunately, those few doozies are spread across 40 years of different record companies, so until recently there was no way to get them all under one roof.

Now, there are two: Gold and The Very Best Of Cher
As both collections are around the same price, you need to ask yourself: How much Cher should I subject my few remaining brain cells to?

All her essentials are on both. However, the version of "Take Me Home" on Gold is the long album version and the one on Very Best is the short single version. Other than that it's just a matter of deciding just HOW MUCH CHER CAN I TAKE!?

Don't get me wrong Cher, I do love you, but you're a goose sometimes.

When I honestly look at divas today, I really seem to see a whole lot when it comes to artyists that trry to sound exactly the same as one or another. Yet, with so many manufactured acts like Kelly Clarkson, Britney Spears, Beyonce', and others, it is just too easy to forget about the real legends that have maintained the test of time. Cher is arguably one of those few. For over forty years, she has came back again and again to re-conjure herself for a whole new generation. Nevertheless, it has continued to work for so many. While she hasn't been able to have a actual reflective collection of her music, now there actually is one to truly believe in.

Cher: Gold, Universal's answer to Sony's Essential packages, is a double album reflection of Cher and her longtime career. The album arguably remains more definitive than many could imagine. There are just so many Cher classics to be showcased here including If I Could Turn Back Time, Half-Breed, I Got You Babe, I Found Someone, Believe and others. This shows her career from Warner Brothers, Geffen, Universal, and other labels. There are just so many greats to offer. Yet, while there are just so many sides to be offered here. There is always a con from each hits package. The album overshadows a few gems Cher has made her own including Love One Another, It's A Man's World, as well as other classics from her days with Sonny Bono.

All in all, Cher: Gold is truly as definitive as Cher has made her statements in music for years. It is just a shame she isn't recording any great music anymore. Nevertheless, her music will continue to turn back time. This is truly the best from someone who still sings for the lonely.

Album Cover: B

Mastering: A-

Songs: B+

Price: A-

Overall: B+

Ok, Cher now has AT LEAST 17 hits compilations out there. Most of them cover the same material. So there really is no need for this new collection. What is needed is a defintive boxed set! But what we have is another in the "Gold" series. This collection covers Cher's hits starting with 1965's "I Got You Babe" up thru "A Different Kind Of Love Song" from 2002. That's a pretty large gap and one very few artists can claim. What makes this collection slightly more essential than previous compilations is that the songs are arranged chronologically. You get to hear Cher's various styles and how her voice has changed. This is most evident with "You Better Sit Down Kids" from 1967 where she sounds like a Sonny Bono clone to 1971's "Gypsy's Tramps & Theives" with her throaty vocal she sounds more like she does thru the rest of her career. It's too bad a track from her 1969 album "3614 Jackson Highway" wasn't included, on that album you can hear vocal elements of both the 60's Cher and the 70's and later Cher. What you do get though are pretty much all of her big hits solo and with Sonny. The record labels covered include her stints on Imperial, ATCO, Kapp, MCA, Casablanca, Geffen, and Reprise. My personal favorite era for Cher has always been her 70's and 80's material. I don't much care for her 90's and beyond stuff, but that's me. The stand-out tracks on this album include the Sonny Bono original "You Better Sit Down Kids" about a FATHER telling his kids about the impending divorce. A great song with a horrible fade out. I've long thought the song should have ended before the sax/circus like music at the end. A surprisingly great Sonny Bono original is "A Cowboy's Work Is Never Done" which was pretty much the last hit for the duo. It's interesting to note that although credited to both, Cher sings most of the song with Sonny singing on the choruses and the last line of the song. Of course you also get Cher's three #1's from the 70's, "Gypsy's Tramps & Thieves", "Half Breed" and "Dark Lady". But you also get "Living In A House Divided" from 1972. The single only hit #22 on the pop charts, but is among Cher's best from the era.
Disc one ends with her 1979 "comeback" single "Take Me Home". Once again nothing from her 1975-1977 records on Warner Bros. is included. Cher cut some great songs during this period and it's strange that they have yet to resurface on CD.
By the late 80's Cher had yet again reinvented herself as sort of a female Bon Jovi. These are also some her best records. Stand-out tracks from this era include "Just Like Jesse James", "Heart Of Stone" (heard here in it's remixed form), "Save Up All Your Tears" and of course "If I Could Turn Back Time".
Disc two rounds out with her massive comeback (again) hit "Believe" as well as tracks from that album and it's follow up "Living Proof". There is no other artist who was making hits in the 60's and is still having hits today, Cher is alone in that area. Be it 60's folk/pop, 70's story songs, disco, power ballad rockers, or techno dance, Cher has had hits with all formats, she is one of a kind. Her recent "Farewell" tour has finally ended, but she has said that the farewell was to touring, so her hit making days may not be over just yet.
A note about the album's packaging. This is the first album in the "Gold" series to have it's own unique artwork, it doesn't follow the formula used on the other titles in the collection. The booklet features an essay about Cher's career as well as chart info for each track.
It's not the much needed boxed set, but it is among the best collections for Cher out there.

I'm a huge fan of this lady. I, along with my parents, watched her television series with and without Sonny, was lucky enough to have her records around and now in my adulthood am able to convert some of those recordings to cd and purchase her later releases. I have her "Turn Back Time" greatest hits, her import hits comp, the "Ultimate Collection" from Hip-o and now "Gold". It may seem a bit redundant to own all these collections but I will keep them all because each collection lacks a song or two that are traded within each other but together make up an excellent comprehensive catalog. "Gold" could have made all other hits collections obsolete by simply including the "exclusive" songs from each seperate hits album on this one project, saving me some collection space. "Love Can Build A Bridge", "Paradise Is Here" and "Walking In Mephis" would have belonged here as would have the album track "Main Man" which had a video shot for it featuring that bagel boy whose name is lost from my memory. The songs are presented chronologically and the mastering is the best so far. The artwork featured on this set differs from the rest of the "Gold" series as this one is really ornate and not the stock white background with an archive photo of the artist(s). While there is room for so much more material this collection is still worth the price here, I've seen it priced elsewhere for $19.99.

Come on. 5 compilations in 5 years. With the same songs!! How about the "Warner Years" as 2 fers since Warners doesn't seem to think they will sell. Or the "Boxed Set". These record companies are wringing dollars out of Cher fans!! I am truly surprised that there is not at least one unreleased song on here to make all us Cher fans have to buy it!! I will get off my soap box now and patiently wait for the boxed set.

In theory, this is an excellent Cher compilation. The cover is lovely (and the first from Universal's 'Gold' series to deviate from their uniform aesthetic) and the tracklisting is a satisfactory overview of Cher's career. It certainly tops the domestic release of 'The Very Best of Cher' which was a skin-and-bones effort intended to offer the essential Cher songs and little else. Australia, Canada and parts of Europe, however, ended up with a far more interesting 2CD package. With a CD-busting length of 42 tracks, this deluxe release of 'The Very Best of Cher' leaves 'Gold' for dead. Although the two vary slightly on the earlier inclusions (you won't find Cher's brash reading of 'Alfie' on 'The Very Best of Cher', nor the iconic 'You Better Sit Down Kids' and 'Living In A House Divided) every song on 'Gold' appears on 'The Very Best of Cher' along with a healthy smattering of oft-forgotten cuts. Neither compilation addresses Cher's Warner albums from the mid-seventies, a shame considering 'Stars' and 'I'd Rather Believe In You' contain some of her best ever recordings, but at least 'The Very Best of Cher' makes more of an attempt to bridge the gap. 'Rudy' from 1982's 'I Paralyze' is a welcome inclusion, as is her otherwise unavailable on a Cher album disco cut 'Bad Love'. The Meat Loaf duet 'Dead Ringer For Love', a staple of Cher's hilarious/fabulous eighties schlock rock period, is also included, as is a cut from Cher's 1994 'not.com.mercial' CD which was sold exclusively through her website a few years back. There are also five songs from Cher's latest studio release 'Living Proof' which might seem slightly excessive, but the songs are frighteningly fun so the decision is justified.

Although the un-chronological sequencing on 'The Very Best of Cher' is rather frustrating - in that respect, 'Gold' is a more effective compilation - on content alone there is no contest. For the casual fan, the 2CD 'The Very Best of Cher' will be the only Cher album they ever need to own. For hardcores, it remains the most satisfying compilation and even offers a couple of rarities that make it a worthy purchase. Had Universal included a couple of unavailable tracks from Cher's mid-seventies period it would have scored extra brownie points, but as it stands 'Gold' is a fairly redundant release for the Cher connossieur and casual fans alike. The 2CD import version of 'The Very Best of Cher' is available here at Amazon. It may be twice the price but it is a far better investment.

"Gold" or not, there should have been at least one track from the long ignored mid-70's Warner albums. This recycling of what has already been made widely available, especially in the last few years, and is still in print, is criminal. As it stands, even the cover photo is not new, or even previously unseen. Cher is loved & relentlessly collected by this writer, but the grotesque marketing ploy of this release just bites.

Other writers have marveled in that Geffen has included tracks from a seemingly wide array of labels. Kids, Geffen is part of UMG [Universal Music Group] which has access to, and/or licensing arrangements with all the labels/companies of her past.

What would have been truly marvelous is a collection that includes those rarities that have fans spending tons of money on eBay, etc. Where is the legendary, albeit admittedly embarrassing, Bonnie Jo Mason single "Ringo I Love You?" Where are the two post-Sonny Warner/Spector singles? Where is the long-overlooked "Stars," the pop-confection "I'd Rather Believe in You," the southern/R&B influenced "Two the Hard Way" or the abysmal "Cherished" from 1975-77? "Black Rose?" Even a couple of non-album sountrack selections would be nice. Let's talk about variety.

Be warned, by one who cares: folks, this collection is nothing more than fool's gold.