From late-March to early-April, 'Cher News' asked all of its visitors to vote for their all-time top five favorite Cher albums, in order. The votes were cast, collected and counted to form this list.
The majority of it has now been posted, and right now, we're going into the top ten, where you'll see - well, just look for yourself:
10. I'd Rather Believe In YouReleased in 1976
Tracklist: Long Distance Love Affair; I'd Rather Believe In You; I Know (You Don't Love Me No More); Silver Wings & Golden Rings; Flashback; It's A Cryin' Shame; Early Morning Strangers; Knock On Wood; Spring; Borrowed Time
Cher had three non-charting albums with Warner Brothers in the late-1970's, two of which we've already seen in the top 25 - the under-promoted and seemingly-rushed 'Cherished' and the problem-soaked 'Two The Hard Way' with Gregg Allman. And whilst those two have clear reasons as to why they did not do too well commercially - despite the fact they are good records - 'I'd Rather Believe In You' is a surprise non-charter. The tracks are fantastic and there was some for it promotion but just like 'Cherished', which came afterwards, perhaps there wasn't enough promotion - only one single was released from it, 'Long Distance Love Affair'. Warner: put these albums on CD!
Released in 1974
Tracklist: Train of Thought; I Saw A Man & He Danced With His Wife; Make The Man Love Me; Just What I've Been Lookin' For; Dark Lady; Miss Subway of 1952; Dixie Girl; Rescue Me; What'll I Do; Apples Don't Fall Far From The Tree
Another 1970's album here - with a not-totally-dissimilar cover as the last. Well, as its name hints, this album had a smash hit included on it that ensured that the album did at least OK - and OK is how it did. The singles did a lot better. Title track 'Dark lady' became Cher's third US number 1 single of the 1970's and reached the top 10 in Canada, Denmark, France, Norway, South Africa and Sweden, and sold 1.6 million copies worldwide. Follow-up single 'Train of Thought' didn't do too badly either - it gave Cher another top 40 hit by reaching number 27 in the US and 18 in Canada. 'I Saw A man & He Danced With His Wife' just missed out on the US top 40 by reaching number 42 but reached number 31 in Canada. 'Rescue Me' was also a very minor hit in Canada the following year. The album itself peaked at a not-massively-impressive number 69 in the United States but reached a much better number 33 in Canada.
Released in 1987
Tracklist: I found someone; We All Sleep Alone; Bang Bang; Main Man; Give Our Love A Fightin' Chance; Perfection; Dangerous Times; Skin Deep; Working Girl; Hard Enough Gettin' Over You
The first of Cher's three commercially-successful Geffen studio albums. At age 41, Cher had a massive music comeback with this album and its singles. She had pretty much abandoned her music career for the last five years to concentrate on a very successful into movies. Before that, her last three albums had failed to chart. So when this pop-rock album reached number 32 in the US and number 26 in the UK, Cher was in the top 40 for the first time in a while. First single 'I Found Someone' - originally a minor hit for Laura Branigan - reached the top ten in the US, top five in the UK and sold just a under a million copies worldwide. Follow-up 'We All Sleep Alone' reached number 14 in the US and sold over 450,000 copies there. 'Skin Deep' was also a minor US hit. With around a million copies sold worldwide, the album became her best-selling album since 1971's 'Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves' / 'Cher'.
Released in 2000
Tracklist: Still; Sisters of Mercy; Runnin'; Born with The Hunger; (The Fall) Kurt's Blues; With or Without You; Fit To Fly; Disaster Cake; Our Lady of San Fransisco; Classified 1A
This self-proclaimed un-commercial album is mostly written by Cher herself, and deals with many subjects - and contains many lyrics - that you just wouldn't find on your everyday commercial album. The album was released in 2000, shortly after Cher's biggest commercial-success 'Believe' and its acoustic soft-rock sound very much contrasts with the high-energy dance music that 'Believe' mostly consisted of. 'Not.com.mercial' was released solely on the internet - as Cher's record label refused to released it properly - and just last year, it was somewhat-re-released, again on the internet. Despite the album's way of release, and the fact that no singles were released, track 'Born With The Hunger' found its way onto the 2-disc version of 2003's 'The Very Best of Cher'.
Released in 1991
Tracklist: Save Up All Your Tears; Love Hurts; Love & Understanding; Fires of Eden; I'll Never Stop Loving You; One Small Step; A World Without Heroes; Could've Been You; When Love Calls Your Name; When Lovers Become Strangers; Who You Gonna Believe; The Shoop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss) (outside US)
Here's another one of Cher's successful albums that she released with Geffen Records. The album (which has two covers, the later one showed above right) has sold around 600,000 copies in the US - which isn't made clear by its poor peak position of number 48 there. In the UK, the album topped the charts for 6 weeks, earning triple-platinum status and selling around 900,000 copies! Number one positions in Austria, Ireland and Norway, top ten positions in Germany, New Zealand Sweden and Switzerland, plus other top 40 placements ensured that the album sold almost 2.5 million worldwide. What fueled the high level of success outside the US was the single 'The Shoop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss)'. The song could initially only be found on the 'Mermaids' soundtrack album but outside the US, the song was also added to 'Love Hurts'. The single reached the top 5 in a dozen countries, including the UK, where it spent five weeks at number one. It only reached number 33 in the US, a moderate performance to match the moderate performance of 'Mermaids' there. Altogether, the single sold around 1.7 million copies. 'Love & Understanding' - the first single from the album that was made especially for it - reached number 17 in the US, 10 in the UK, and scored impressive placements in the countries that 'Shoop Shoop' had paved the way for it to - it sold around 650,000 copies along the way. 'Save Up All Your' Tears reached number 37 on both sides of the Atlantic, selling 350,000 copies, before title track 'Love Hurts' and 'Could've Been You' were made into minor hits in the UK.
Well that's it - another installment completed and delivered to you! Next time, the top five - including the all-important number one position - will be revealed in the list of your all-time favorite Cher albums!
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