Customer Reviews

The Way Of Love: The Cher Collection

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This, yet another in a growing line of Cher "collections" is one of the better ones. It includes many tracks from her early 70's MCA albums that have not yet appeared on CD in the states (although all of her MCA albums have appeared on CD in Europe). It also includes the b-side "Don't Put It On Me" which has not appeared on CD anywhere, as far as I know. Included are a few tracks from her early Imperial days, but the main focus is the MCA output. Her first KAPP/MCA single "Classified 1A" is here right up thru her last MCA single "I Saw A Man And He Danced With His Wife". Closing out the 2CD set is her 1979 "comeback" disco track "Take Me Home". Totally missing, once again, is anything from her 1975-1978 days at Warner Bros. none of these tracks have been issued on CD anywhere in the world. With this new collection, pretty much every Cher song (and good deal of the Sonny & Cher duets) has found it's way to CD. The only missing era are Warner Bros. years. Maybe someday, a label will compile a boxed set of all of Cher's best stuff from the last 35 years, including something from the various labels she's been signed to. Until then, this set will do for those have not been able to search out the imports. This is also a good start for the "Believe" fans who want to sample Cher when she hit it big the first time.

This 2-CD Cher "collection" obviously gives the impression that this is a true collection, which it is not. After years of buying Cher's collections on her various labels I was hoping I would be able to eventually buy one set so I could archive or delete her numerous "best" or "greatest hits" collections that I have acquired. I thought this Christmas that the ghosts of Christmas past and present could get together and get it right. Obviously this is an impossibility for U.S. labels that would rather issue collections primarily filled with their own material than by doing it right and cross-licensing (which is regularly done overseas). If you are a true fan you must keep her Legendary Masters Series CD, probably her MCA collection, and certainly her Geffen (import) "Greatest Hits" with "The Shoop Shoop Song," "If I Could Turn Back Time," and "Dead Ringer for Love" (with Meatloaf). So instead of archiving or deleting, I am just adding another collection to the four or five I already own. As a Cher fan this new CD is a must have for the remastering alone. Unfortunately I am thinking of what could have been...maybe the ghost of Christmas future can eventually get it right.

I've been waiting for an ultimate, truly definitive collection of early Cher material for years. This one also has key Sonny & Cher tunes as well and all of the major recordings from her MCA, Imperial & Kapp years with major emphasis on the LPs - Gypsys Tramps & Thieves, Foxy Lady, Half Breed and Dark Lady. This is a MUST HAVE set for Cher fans who want her hits and other excellent LP tracks in one collection. I was especially pleased that the B-side recording (on both The Way Of Love & Classified 1A) entitled "Don't Put It On Me" is FINALLY available on compact disc for the first time. 40 Cher classics, 24-bit mastered from the original master tapes, in one reasonably priced collection - Now, that's a bargain! It was wonderful to hear her version of Paul McCartney's "My Love" and Three Dog Night's "Never Been To Spain" on CD for the first time. I will play this 2-CD set over and over again. The song, The Way Of Love, is simply one of the most beautiful songs ever recorded - and nobody can do it like Cher. Now - if only someone would release the original, full-length 70s Kapp LPs of Sonny & Cher on CD - especially their entire "All I Ever Need Is You" album.

Well, the packaging , liner notes and photos are a real lure for fans here.This set was lovingly done.Lisa Sutton gives us some good notes. If you have been a collector for some time, you probably already own most of the MCA tracks on the euro only two for one collection of all Cher's snuffy Garrett lp's that were so nicely produced in her television heyday.Snuff did a clean job on the tracks he produced for Cher.They are some of her most tasteful. Added are the best of Sonny and Cher from these years, though only 5 with the Bono, they are a nice addition to her solo work here.. A lovely remastering job is evident here, as well as tracks from her early Imperial lps. Those tracks include only her greatest top ten hits,and just five at that. God knows why "Classified 1 A "(Sonny Bono written, produced) appears everywhere lately,including on "Not Commercial". This cut is hardly a Cher triumph!It is over the top, and a difficult song to sing period.This production must have inspired MCA to hire Snuff Garett,hoping to put Sonny's ideas for Cher in the background. . And the never on cd "Don't Put it on me" is Cher in a quasi rock-burlesque format. I have to bristle when I listen to that arrangement.The rest of this 2 cd set is terrific, and the drawbacks of the mentioned odd cuts have an amusing perspective for the long term fan. All in all though this is very welcome for the US fans who have hoped to get a decent package of Cher's 70 output. The disco one hit "take me home" is the final cut here. Favorite cuts from this reviewer include, "What'll I do",Bang bang (my baby shot me down", and "Living in a House Divided". Buy it if you're a fan. It is the Cher collection of the 60-70s output in the states for now.Thanks MCA, now put those 70's lps out in their original form like you did in Europe!

These two discs incorporate Cher's first solo work (slightly before up until 7 years after her break up with sonny). To sell records, ofcourse, the songs are mostly singles from albums that had hit songs, along with Take me Home which is far out of place (her disco single from 79 that went top ten), and some live performance stuff with Sonny. Left out are her seemingly un-known albums only known to die-hards such as "Stars", "Cherished", "Allman and Woman", and "I'd Rather Believe in You". The leaving out these albums is what makes "Take Me Home" so out of place, because most of the content in it is separated from Take Me Home bye these "unknown" albums. (The record companies excuse is that these albums were all with Warners..whatever). The fact of the matter is...its a great collection of early Cher music. Much of this cannot be found ANYWHERE else. My opinion is...buy it if you're a casual Cher fan wanting to reminisce the early 70's in your car stereo or just joining the rankings of the SUPER CHER FANS!!! Once you learn about some of the other stuff you may be dissapointed, however. All the music on this disc is great, but it receives a "4" because its not a complete collection.

I'm not sure why there is not a complete box set covering all of Cher's best material from her hits in the 60's with Sonny to her current Believe CD. There is quite alot of material and rarities! This collection gives us a 2 disc set featuring most of her hits of the 60's and 70's and some rarities released for the first time like Classified 1A and Don't Put It On Me. There is the live versions of I Got You Babe and The Beat Goes On recorded as I remember as a child in the 70's when Sonny & Cher's live LP was released. They also released them on the Greatest Hits LP, but these versions weren't released on disc. There are some songs like David's Song that I would have replaced with Needles And Pins or I Go T Sleep. But otherwise it's a consistant collection that will please alot of Cher fans and will be fun for those looking to check out her earlier material.

i bought this album for dark lady and gypsy's tramps and thieves. i had no idea how many cher songs i knew already! definitely a great purchase!

this is what i was going for when i wanted to get some of cher's more standard love songs that she would do on the sonny and cher hour. i was pleasantly surprised to find a wide range of hits. not only by sonny and she but on her own. starting with her early solo hits and going into her 70s heyday. and even having remastered versions of the comeback hits of sonny and cher ALL I EVER NEED IS YOU and A COWBOY'S WORK IS NEVER DONE. which are priceless. there are a few rare tracks a two sided anti vietnam single and sonny doing the honors on an original cher hit YOU BETTER SIT DOWN KIDS. i like cher's spin on mc cartney's MY LOVE a song i thought i could never stomach again. and it was nice to hear the old budweiser commercial redone WHEN YOU SAY LOVE. nicely remastered and nice booklet.

this is an interesting collection in that it takes songs from the years 1965-1979 & shows Cher in many different lights-also with Sonny as well-i would've liked to have seen even more variety in the styles of the selections-but all in all it does collect some from 1971-1974 that have about half of the albums of that period on it- & has a few not well known Sonny Bono compositions in there

This collection might be easier to appreciate if so many of its tracks weren't available elsewhere. Even so, taken on its own, it's the most comprehensive collection of Cher's 1971-1974 output you're likely to find. Only the inclusion of her 1979 hit, "Take Me Home" seems out of place here, since you're skipping five years from '74 to '79. Now if Warner Bros. would just re-issue the '75-'78 material.