Cilla Black, Completely Cilla (EMI) *****; Dusty Springfield, Goin’ Back – The Definitive Dusty (Commercial Marketing) **** (From York Press)
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Cilla Black, Completely Cilla (EMI) *****; Dusty Springfield, Goin’ Back – The Definitive Dusty (Commercial Marketing) ****
10:56am Friday 4th May 2012 in CD reviews By Ian Sime
ON hearing that her EMI and Parlophone back catalogue had been re-mastered and made available on iTunes, Cilla Black exclaimed: “But I’ve never been down-loaded in my life!”. Quite right, too.
Although the digital age of instant music access is great in theory, many still prefer physical discs and all the attendant paraphernalia.
EMI have released a handsome box set of Cilla’s finest musical moments, focusing on her recordings from 1963 to 1973. This mostly includes glorious collaborations with George Martin and works with The Beatles. In addition to the 139 studio recordings, the set comes complete with a DVD of clips from Cilla’s fabulously camp TV series.
Many will be overjoyed that the DVD includes Passing Strangers, her duet with Sir Cliff, and a rarely seen collaboration with Marvin Welch and Farrar covering Norwegian Wood. Sadly Cilla’s infamous duet with Marc Bolan, crooning Life’s A Gas, has still not made it on to disc. Surely, one day this has to be corrected!
Cilla’s lovely box set costs £18 and is great value. However, the same can not be said for the Dusty Springfield collection, which retails for a whopping £150!
Although also beautiful, this is a costly investment even for the most devoted of fans. To be fair, the very pink box does contain many treasures which can’t be found on Dusty’s already splendidly restored back catologue.
Mostly the items of interest to completists are visual clips from prime time television specials from the likes of the Morecambe and Wise and Tom Jones shows.
Additionally, interviews from the Old Grey Whistle Test, Wogan and the long forgotten Saturday Night At The Mill are to be discovered. However, Goin’ Back is definitely solely for the hardened devotee with very deep pockets.
