Search - Sonny & Cher :: The Beat Goes On / I Got You Babe

So Close To A 5-Star Rating

gassy goon | 09/02/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This has almost everything needed in a CD to rate 5-stars by a completist collector. Almost - but not quite. Purporting to cover their best for Atlantic's Atco subsidiary label, where they had 14 Billboard Pop Hot 100 singles from 1965 [I Got You Babe - # 1 that summer] to 1968's Good Combination [# 56 in January] you get all but one. They even provide the Reprise label hit, Baby Don't Go [# 8 in September 1965], and a marvelously detailed 20 pages of liner notes written by Ken Barnes, including a complete discography of the contents, mixed with some classic pictures of the duo.



There are, in addition, five B-sides: Sing C'est La Vie; Hello; Leave Me Be; Love Don't Come; and It's The Little Things. These backed, respectively: Just You (# 20 in September 1965); But You're Mine (# 15 in November 1965); Have I Stayed Too Long (# 49 in July 1966); Living For You (# 87 in December 1966 and The Beat Goes On (# 6 in early spring 1967 - note that Love Don't Come was the B-side to those last two hits; and Plastic Man (# 74 in June 1967).



By including the uncharted flip of that last one, but not the hit itself. they lost 1 star from this reviewer. Could it not have been included to make an even 22 selections or, at the very least, be included in place of Sonny's failed 1967 solo My Best Friend's Girl Is Out Of Sight?



Another oversight was the omission of The Letter. First released on Vault 909 in 1963 when they recorded as Caesar & Cleo, it was re-released in late 1965 on Vault 916 after they had become a hit, and this time it made it to # 75. If they could include the Reprise release why not this one?



I was, however, pleased to see the inclusion of Hello. This is not a song, but rather their spoken thanks to their fans b/o But You're Mine in 1965, not without some humour surrounding Cher's "shyness" at the time.



For those who are not obsessed with getting ALL the hits this is, however, very much a 5-star release which should not be missed."

Great CD But Incomplete

gassy goon | 12/18/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"A great CD of Sonny & Cher's first era of hits in the 60's. Very underrated pop classics, especially the songs written by Sonny. They are all here, as far as the biggest chart hits. Nice liner notes & photos too. This was the VERY first Sonny & Cher best of CD in the US issued in the early 90's. It is a superb collection of the duo's greatest hits, plus a couple of Sonny's solo chart hits, like the punkish LAUGH AT ME.



The ONLY thing that could have made it more complete would be the inclusion of S&C's late 60's Atco singles that were not hits. Songs like Sonny's original tunes for them like CIRCUS, GET IT TOGETHER, HOLD YOU TIGHTER and others would have made it far more complete. Seeing as how this CD was issued in the early 90's, and with Sonny's passing, it would be a wonderful idea for Rhino to do a more complete history of S&C's music , and include all the early Reprise songs from where BABY DON'T GO , LOVE IS STRANGE, DO YOU WANT TO DANCE, and others began their career to the end of their Atco contract in 1969-1970. Too much to ask or not?



A fine CD of some of the much loved pop duo, and their enduring hits here. A 2 CD set that includes the non-LP and not yet on CD songs is needed for the collector's, diehards & music fans . There is much material not on CD that Sonny & Cher cut."