For those unaware, available at last, this 2CD set is an extended version of our much-praised ten-inch LP of the same title, released last year. These recordings are previously unissued on CD. Broadcast on the Light Program’s Saturday Club in the 50s and 60s, we are fortunate that these masters of Cliff as a primal rocker have survived, enabling us to hear the early days of a kid with a very big future.

Rock’n’Roll has become a generic term these days. It is even used in the USA to describe current recordings by artists that make genuine Rock’n’Roll fans cringe. Real Rock’n’Roll comes from the 50s and early 60s, and no matter how much they are imitated by tribute bands and the like, the originals remain the best.

Cliff Richard soon hung up his Rock’n’Roll shoes (despite what he says on the last track of CD2 in this collection) as he became (shudder!) an all-round entertainer. We watched it happen. We could do nothing. The BBC and ITV TV shows of the time welcomed this taming of the Rock’n’Roll beast.

They were never going to allow the likes of Vince Taylor and Screaming Lord Sutch into our living rooms; broadcasters had learned that teenagers were not a mass audience, but soon found out that their mums and dads quite liked Cliff.

That settled it. But before Cliff slipped into a smart suit and tie and clipped his hair, there was a brief period when TV’s Oh Boy and radio’s Saturday Club featured just enough wild rockers to keep us watching and listening to them. After all, those shows were all there was.

Cliff and the Drifters were stars of both programs and, thanks to their almost instant baptism via live shows in theatres following the chart success of Move It, they were soon belting out quality 50s Rock’n’Roll on the airwaves.

Just to give you a little history about The Light Program’s origins, the Home Service was created on the outbreak of War in September 1939, as a merger of the former ‘National’ and ‘Regional’ programs: it was feared that enemy bombers might use differential signals from regional transmitters as navigation guides. The Light Program on the other hand was launched as the War ended, in July 1945, making use of the old ‘National’ longwave frequency which was now freed up again.

The Light Program’s Saturday Club had actually started life as Saturday Skiffle club in 1957 hosted by Brian Matthew and was broadcast from 10am to 12noon Saturday mornings on the BBC Light Program. Cliff was obviously still in his teens and most likely wearing his Christian cross with pride.

Simply put, in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Cliff Richard was Britain’s first major teenage rock and roll idol. Often marketed as the UK answer to Elvis Presley, he bridged the gap between skiffle and energetic rock. And all these tunes are just fabulous to now here compiled under the one roof, so to speak.

Two CDs and a 44-page booklet are enclosed, with notes by Rob Finnis, many illustrations and a detailed Saturday Club Session File.

CD 1:
1. Dynamite!; 2. I’m In Love Again; 3. Guitar Boogie; 4. Dream Lover; 5. Mean Streak; 6. Driftin’ (The Drifters); 7. Rip It Up; 8. Jet Black (The Drifters); 9. Living Doll; 10. C’mon Everybody; 11. Steady With You; 12. Ready Teddy; 13. Apron Strings; 14. Never Mind; 15. Danny; 16. Don’t Bug Me Baby; 17. I’m In Love Again; 18. Gee Whiz, It’s You; 19. You’re Just The One To Do It; 20. Apache (The Shadows); 21. What’d I Say; 22. Where Is My Heart?; 23. Quatermassters Stores (The Shadows); 24. Please Don’t Tease; 25. Hang Up My Rock’n’roll Shoes; 26. Move It!; 27. My Babe; 28. Baby I Don’t Care; 29. High Class Baby; 30. Baby I Don’t Care; 31. Down The Line; 32. Danny; 33. Summertime Blues; 34. Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On

CD 2:
Live Music, Introductions and Interviews from Saturday Club (1958-1960)

Official Purchase Link

www.cliffrichard.org