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Saturday, April 13, 2013

'Cher News' Presents Your All-Time Favorite Cher Albums 20-16

The countdown resumes! We've already seen five albums in the list of your all-time favorite Cher albums, and here are five more - numbers 20-16!

To recap: you were all given the chance to vote for your five favorite Cher albums, in order, in one many ways. Your votes have all been collected, and counted, to form the list of your all-time favorite Cher albums.

In this installment of the list, you'll see three compilation albums, starting with one here at number 20...

20. The Very Best of Cher
Released in 2003
Tracklist: Believe; Strong Enough; If I Could Turn Back Time; I Found Someone; Song For The Lonely; Walking In Memphis; Just Like Jesse James; One By One; Love & Understanding; Save Up All Your Tears; Più che puoi; Love Can Build A Bridge; Take Me Home; Rudy; Bad Love;  When The Money's Gone; All or Nothing; Alive Again; A Different Kind of Love Song; The Shoop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss); Heart of Stone; Dov'è l'amore; The Music's No Good Without You; Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves; Half Breed; Dark Lady; I Got You Babe; The Beat Goes On; Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down); The Way of Love; All I Really Want To Do; Train of Thought; A Cowboy's Work Is never Done; We All Sleep Alone; Love Hurts; Not Enough Love In The World; Born With The Hunger; After All; All I Ever Need Is You; Baby Don't Go; Dead Ringer For Love; Bang Bang

Look at that tracklist - it's obvious why this compilation album has made the list! The album came in a few vaersions - this one above is the "International Version", featuring 42 songs across two discs! And it's this version that a few of made clear was the one you voted for! But 'The Very Best of Cher', in whatever versions, was a big success. It racked up an impressive array of worldwide chart appearances and certifications by selling 3.5 million copies - much of which were bought by her US fans.

19. If I Could Turn Back Time: Cher's Greatest Hits
Released in 1999
Tracklist: Don't Come Cryin' To Me; Love & Understanding; Save Up All Your Tears; The Shoop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss); After All; If I Could Turn Back Time; Just Like Jesse James; Heart of Stone; I Found Someone; We All Sleep Alone; Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down); Take Me Home; Dark Lady; Half Breed; The Way of Love; Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves; I Got You Babe

This 1999 US Geffen compilation album is pretty similar to the 1992 Geffen compilation 'Greatest Hits: 1965-19992'  which was released outside of the US, just with slight track adjustments for the US market. Like the 1992 one, this one has on it previously unheard tracks, well one anyway - 'Don't Come Cryin' To Me'. And just like the earlier Geffen album, this one was a hit too; it only reached number 53 in the US but sold very well - just under a million copies in fact.

18. Half Breed
Released in 1973
Tracklist: My Love; Two People Clinging To A Thread; Half Breed; The Greatest Song I Ever Heard; How Can You Mend A Broken Heart?; Carousel Man; David's Song; Melody; The Long & Winding Road; This God-Forsaken Day; Chastity Sun

We move from the compilation albums now to a studio album - 'Half Breed'. One of a few early 70's MCA/Cher albums that sold well, this one reached number 21 in Canada and 28 in the US, achieving pretty decent sales of over 430,000 in North America. Only one single was released from the album during its initial release - its title track. The single was a major success, reaching number one in the US and Canada, and selling over 2 million copies worldwide. Before any more singles could be released from the LP, Cher had moved onto her next one, 'Dark Lady'. However, Another track from the album, 'Carousel Man', was released way down the line, in 1975, in Canada, where it only reached number 83.

17. The Greatest Hits
Released in 1999
Tracklist: Believe; The Shoop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss); If I Could Turn Back Time; Heart of Stone; Love & Understanding; Love Hurts; Just Like Jesse James; I Found Someone; One By One; Strong Enough; All or Nothing; Walking In Memphis; Love Can Build A Bridge; All I Really Want To Do; Bang Bang; Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves; The Beat Goes On; I Got You Babe; Dov'è l'amore

...And back to the compilations! Whilst the US were treated to the aforementioned 'If I Could Turn Back Tine: Cher's Greatest Hits', shortly afterwards, the rest of the world were treated to this compilation. It too was a great-seller - especially as it was released right after 1998's 'Believe'. It hit the top of many European album charts, and placed high on pretty much all the rest of them! In the process, it sold around 3 million copies!

16. All I Really Want To Do
Released in 1965
Tracklist: All I Really Want To Do; I Go To Sleep; Needles & Pins; Don't Think Twice; She Thinks I Still Care; Dream Baby; The Bells of Rhymney; Girl Don't Come; See See Rider; Come and Stay With Me; Cry Myslef To Sleep; Blowin' In The Wind

All the way to the start...  'All I Really Want To' - Cher's first solo album. Showcasing Cher's folk-rock abilities, the album of almost-all cover versions has one non-cover thrown in - the Sonny Bono-penned 'Dream Baby', which Cher released as a single in 1964 but didn't chart. Talking of singles, Cher's version of the title track became her first ever hit single - it reached number 15 in the US, reached the top 10 in the UK and sold around 750,000 copies. Meanwhile, the album itself was a big hit too! It reached number 7 in the UK, number 16 in America, and it's little-known, but the album was a million-seller! Not bad sales for a debut with just one hit!

There goes numbers 20-16! All the compilation albums in the top 25 have now been revealed, with 1999's 'The Greatest hits' being voted highest - is that surprising?

You'll soon see numbers 15-11 of your favorite Cher albums being posted here on 'Cher News' - all of which are studio albums from the 1960's and 70's!

2 comments:

  1. When you asked that we include her compilation albums, I was wondering how many would end up in the Top 25. Four is good... it's not too many, and I like all four of them. While I'm surprised TGH ranked highest, I'm even more surprised that GH:65-92 ranked lowest...

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  2. Nice to see Cher's 1965 gem All I Really Want to Do is here! I need to re-listen to it. Teenage Cher is so different style-wish then current Cher. This was a wonderful album.

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