Always Guaranteed

Always Guaranteed
Studio album by
Released14 September 1987
RecordedSeptember – November 1986
StudioRG Jones, London
GenrePop
LabelEMI (except USA, Canada)
Striped Horse Records (USA)[1]
Capitol Records (Canada)[2]
ProducerAlan Tarney
Cliff Richard chronology
The Rock Connection
(1984)
Always Guaranteed
(1987)
Private Collection: 1979–1988
(1988)
Singles from Always Guaranteed
  1. "My Pretty One"
    Released: 8 June 1987
  2. "Some People"
    Released: 17 August 1987
  3. "Remember Me"
    Released: 19 October 1987
  4. "Two Hearts"
    Released: 1 February 1988
Alternative cover
US release
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[3]
BBC(favourable)[4]

Always Guaranteed is the 28th studio album by Cliff Richard, released in 1987. The album peaked at number 5 in the UK Albums Chart, and spent a total of 24 weeks on the chart over 1987–88.[5] The album was certified Platinum by the BPI and achieved sales over 1.3 million globally.[6][7][8] The album was produced by Alan Tarney who had produced two of Richard's previous albums, Wired for Sound and I'm No Hero in the early 1980s and written Richard's highest selling single "We Don't Talk Anymore" in 1979. Tarney wrote all but one track on the album.

Four songs from the album were released as singles - "My Pretty One" (UK No. 6), "Some People" (UK No. 3 and certified silver for 250,000 sales), "Remember Me" (UK No. 35) and "Two Hearts" (UK No. 34).

The album marked another strong chart comeback for Richard, giving him a second spell of success in the 1980s, which continued with "Mistletoe and Wine" as the single following on from "Two Hearts".

As was sometimes the case on albums written and produced by Alan Tarney, this album contains two songs that Tarney had previously provided to other artists. "Remember Me" had first been recorded by David Cassidy on his 1985 Romance album. However, Tarney further refined the song for Richard, including rewriting the verses' lyrics. "My Pretty One" had first been recorded by Jamie Rae in 1985 and released as a single but had not become a hit. Richard is quoted as saying he'd never have recorded the song if he'd known someone else had recorded it, but also said after finding out, he didn't mind and later, when discussing the varied styles of songs he'd sung, said about "My Pretty One", "It's just a great pop song".[9]

In the US, the album was retitled simply as Cliff Richard. Richard's original 1965 self-titled album had not been released in the US, so there was no conflict.

Track listing

[edit]
# Song title Songwriter length
1 "One Night" Alan Tarney 4:31
2 "Once Upon a Time" Tarney 4:34
3 "Some People" Tarney 3:52
4 "Forever" Tarney 4:03
5 "Two Hearts" Tarney 4:10
6 "Under Your Spell" Chris Eaton 4:20
7 "This Time Now" Tarney 3:59
8 "My Pretty One" Tarney 3:58
9 "Remember Me" Tarney 3:54
10 "Always Guaranteed" Tarney 4:40
CD Re-issue: Bonus tracks
11 "Under the Gun" J. D. Martin, James Andrew Rushing 4:13
12 "Brave New World" Tarney 4:19
13 "Wild Geese" Jon Sweet, Rod Trott 4:39
14 "Love Ya" Richard 3:28
15 "One Time Lover Man" Richard 3:31
16 "Another Christmas Day" Richard 3:08
17 "Yesterday, Today, Forever" Richard 3:36
18 "Reunion of the Heart" Maldwyn Pope 4:24

Personnel

[edit]
  • Cliff Richard – vocals
  • Alan Tarney – guitar, bass, keyboards, backing vocals, programming, arrangements
  • Chris Eaton – additional backing vocals
  • Paul Cox – photography

Charts

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Weekly charts

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Chart (1987–88) Peak
Position
Australian Albums (Australian Music Report)[10] 6
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[11] 23
Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[12] 4
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[13] 9
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[14] 19
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[15] 3
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[16] 49
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[17] 21
UK Albums (OCC)[5] 5

Year-end charts

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Chart (1987) Peak
Position
United Kingdom (OCC)[18] 28

Certifications

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Country Provider(s) Certification Sales/Shipments
Australia[19] ARIA Platinum 70,000+
Austria[20] IFPI No Certificate 8,000+
Denmark IFPI Platinum 30,000+
Germany IFPI No Certificate 40,000+
New Zealand[21] RIANZ Gold 10,000+
Sweden IFPI No Certificate 5,000+
Switzerland[22] IFPI No Certificate 25,000+
UK[23] BPI Platinum 300,000+

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Cliff Richard (1987 US Self-titled album)". Discogs. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
  2. ^ "Always Guaranteed - Cliff Richard (Canada release)". Discogs. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
  3. ^ "Cliff Richard: Always Guaranteed". AllMusic.
  4. ^ Smith, Jack (2004). "Cliff Richard Always Guaranteed (Remastered.) Review". bbc.co.uk. BBC.
  5. ^ a b "Cliff Richard | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
  6. ^ "BBC review". BBC Music. Archived from the original on 11 November 2012. Retrieved 14 February 2012.
  7. ^ "Cliff Richard - The Six Continental Man" (PDF). Billboard: 72. 12 February 1994. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
  8. ^ "Official Charts Company". Archived from the original on 5 April 2015. Retrieved 14 February 2012.
  9. ^ "My Pretty One - Cliff Richard Song Database". cliffrichardsongs.com. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
  10. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. Australian Chart Book, St Ives, N.S.W. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  11. ^ "Austriancharts.at – Cliff Richard – Always Guaranteed" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
  12. ^ "Always Guaranteed - Cliff Richard - Danske Hitlister". danskehitlister.dk. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
  13. ^ "Charts.de: Cliff Richard (albums)". Media Control. Charts.de. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
  14. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Cliff Richard – Always Guaranteed" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
  15. ^ "Charts.nz – Cliff Richard – Always Guaranteed". Hung Medien. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
  16. ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Cliff Richard – Always Guaranteed". Hung Medien. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
  17. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Cliff Richard – Always Guaranteed". Hung Medien. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
  18. ^ UK Best Selling Albums of 1987
  19. ^ "Cliff Richard Australian Certifications". ARIA. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
  20. ^ "Austrian Certification (IFPI)". International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. Archived from the original on 18 May 2007. Retrieved 7 May 2007.
  21. ^ "New Zealand Certification (RIANZ)". Recording Industry Association of New Zealand. Archived from the original on 4 May 2007. Retrieved 12 May 2007.
  22. ^ "Swiss Certification (IFPI)". IFPI. Archived from the original on 15 April 2007. Retrieved 12 May 2007.
  23. ^ "UK Certification (BPI)". British Phonographic Industry. Archived from the original on 15 January 2013. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
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