Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, where we reflect on well-known albums of the past and the reissues they could someday see. Before Madonna, before Lady Gaga, there was Cherilyn Sarkisian LaPiere Bono, better-known as Cher. Today, we look at a largely forgotten period of the diva's career, now entering its sixth(!) decade.
Cher's latest hit song may be titled "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me," but really, who thought we had? We listeners don't need a modest little Diane Warren power ballad to remind us that Cher isn't going anywhere. Even as she bade farewell to the concert stage for the umpteenth time, we knew we hadn't seen the last of Cher. And so it wasn't surprising that the superstar recently became the first artist in Billboard history to attain a chart-topping single in six consecutive decades when the Golden Globe-winning "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me" (from the critically-lambasted film Burlesque) hit No. 1 on the Dance/Club Play chart. (Only Barbra Streisand holds a similarly impressive record, with No. 1 albums in five consecutive decades.) What is a surprise, however, is that the ever-chameleonic singer/actress/entertainer still hasn't had her entire catalogue represented on CD.
In 1975, Cher signed with the decade-defining Warner Bros. Records label, after a long string of solo hits first overseen by Sonny Bono at Imperial and then Snuff Garrett at Kapp and MCA. (Sonny & Cher's duet records were released on Atlantic's Atco division, and a brief detour to Muscle Shoals in 1969 produced one of Cher's most underrated solo albums, 3614 Jackson Highway, for that label. It was expanded by Rhino Handmade in 2001 and then reissued as a bare-bones edition by Collectors' Choice in 2009.) Yet none of Cher's albums or singles released between 1975 and 1979 has received CD release. How could Cher's Warner Bros. output could be successfully reissued? Today's Reissue Theory answers with A Woman's Story: The Warner Bros. Years.
The Warner Bros. years found Cher experimenting with a variety of musical styles and producers for a handful of singles and four complete albums: Stars (1975), I'd Rather Believe in You (1976), Cherished (1977) and Two the Hard Way (1977). The lineup of talent who joined Cher at Warner Bros. is staggering: Phil Spector, Harry Nilsson, Jimmy Webb, Snuff Garrett, Steve Barri, then-husband Gregg Allman, and even Sonny Bono.
Hit the jump for the details on how we would collect this sadly-neglected period of Cher's career as a two-CD set, and a full track listing with pertinent discographical information!
By 1975, Warner Bros. Records was prospering under the aegis of Mo Ostin, and the combined Warner group boasted a roster drawn from not only the parent label but Reprise, Elektra, Atlantic and David Geffen's Asylum. Artists being nurtured under this system ranged from Alice Cooper to Randy Newman. The family of labels was releasing an unheard-of amount of records; in 1976 alone, over 300 titles hit stores. Luminaries on Warner's A&R team included Lenny Waronker, Ted Templeman, Russ Titelman, and Tommy LiPuma, among others. Cher should have been able to continue her successes under this productive and inspiring climate, but things weren't destined to go so easily for her.
For her first recordings under the Warner Bros. deal, Cher was paired with Phil Spector, for whom she had sung background vocals during the halcyon Philles days of a decade earlier. Spector was establishing his own Warner Spector imprint, but as it turned out, Cher's releases would be among the small amount of new material ever issued on the label. Notoriously expensive sessions with the legendary (and legendarily mercurial) Spector yielded two singles. "A Woman's Story" b/w "Baby, I Love You," a dirge-like, lengthy remake of The Ronettes classic , comprised Warner Spector single SPS 0400. A duet with Spector's friend and drinking buddy Harry Nilsson of Holland/Dozier/Holland's "A Love Like Yours (Don't Come Knocking Every Day)" was Warner Spector SPS 0402, but Warner dipped into the Atlantic vaults for its B-side, 3614 Jackson Highway's "(Just Enough to Keep Me) Hangin' On." While the duet is fun and even commercial, Nilsson asserted to Creem that the backing track was actually intended for John Lennon's Rock 'n' Roll album! Needless to say, the Harry & Cher pairing didn't have the same kind of success that Sonny & Cher did.
The Nilsson duet was relegated to promo status as a single, and was also found on the Warner Bros. sampler Burbank's Finest: 100% All Meat (Warner Bros. LP PRO 604), but didn't have much of a chance to become a hit. The Warner Spector label soon foundered, leaving Cher without a producer and Nilsson back at RCA. We've included the original single mixes of all three Spector-produced tracks at the end of Disc Two of our compilation. (These three tracks were also included on the various artists compilation Phil Spector 74/79 (Philles SUPER 2307 015) which was only released internationally.)
Cher turned to another sixties wunderkind, Jimmy Webb, to produce, arrange and conduct her proper Warner Bros. debut, the April 1975 LP Stars. This LP remains one of Cher's strongest ever, despite its lack of availability in the CD era. Oddly, acclaimed songwriter Webb only contributed one track of his own, "Just This One Time," and instead curated a collection of diverse covers. But "Just This One Time" was a doozy. This grandiose, dramatic track sounded more like prime Spector than did Spector's recent productions. Among Stars' remaining tracks, Cher recorded Neil Young's "Mr. Soul," Jackson Browne's "These Days," Lowell George's "Rock and Roll Doctor," Michael Martin Murphey's "Geronimo's Cadillac" and the Janis Ian song which gave the album its title. All were aided immeasurably by Webb's sympathetic arrangements. Cher appeared on The Flip Wilson Show and The Carol Burnett Show to promote Stars, but to little avail, as the album peaked at No. 153. One unreleased track is known to exist from this period, a beautiful version of "Love Song." Cher's take on Lesley Duncan's haunting melody (recently revived by Neil Diamond on his Dreams) has circulated among collectors, and may be an outtake from Stars. We've included it after the original Stars album in our sequence.
Over a year passed until the October 1976 release of I'd Rather Believe in You, with Steve Barri and Michael Omartian in the producers' chairs. This was decidedly a more pop effort than Stars, which had had the flavor of the label's Los Angeles singer-songwriter family (Webb, Browne, Young, George) but with Webb's trademark lush arrangements. Cher covered Eddie Floyd's "Knock on Wood" and Barbara George's "I Know (You Don't Love Me)" while Omartian himself contributed the strong title track. Cher also tackled "Early Morning Strangers," a particularly underrated track written by the unlikely pairing of Barry Manilow and Hal David, in his period of estrangement from Burt Bacharach. (Manilow contributed a melody worthy of Bacharach, and the song was also performed by Dionne Warwick on her 1977 Warner Bros. LP Love at First Sight. Manilow himself introduced it on Barry Manilow II in 1974.) Omartian felt that lack of label promotion doomed I'd Rather Believe in You, and the album didn't chart.
Eleven months later, the Dark Lady reunited with Snuff Garrett (the producer behind "Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves," "The Way of Love" and "Half-Breed") for September 1977's Cherished. Perhaps predictably, the album was another commercial failure. Garrett attempted to recapture the sound of those early '70s story-songs, but despite the minor chart success of "Pirate" (which hit No. 93), Cher would still have to wait two years for another hit single. "She Loves to Hear the Music," written by Peter Allen and Carole Bayer Sager, was a fun, theatrical album track, and John Durrill's teaming with Brill Building stalwart Doc Pomus for "Love the Devil Out of Ya" was a winning one. Even the album artwork, photographed by Harry Langdon, was designed to recall the earlier part of the decade, with Cher strikingly decked out in Native American garb. Yet potential buyers stayed away.
Cher's next and final album for Warner, a duet album with then-husband Gregg Allman, may be her best-remembered LP for the label, not for its contents but because of the tumultuous marriage itself. Credited to Allman and Woman, Two the Hard Way was released just a couple of months after Cherished, and also sank like a stone. The album itself, with production by Allman Brothers collaborator Johnny Sandlin, is an uneasy blend of pop and southern rock that largely doesn't work, but the experiment remains fascinating. Allman sounds as if he assumed the lead, and he gave Cher a potent solo spot on his bluesy "Island." His solo was Jackson Browne's "Shadow Dream Song," and like Browne, Stars alumnus Jimmy Webb returned via their recording of his classic "Do What You Gotta Do." Also worth hearing is "You've Really Got a Hold on Me," a song which was previously recorded by Cher with ex-husband Sonny Bono.
One irony of this period is that despite her lack of success in the record stores, Cher was still extremely popular thanks to her visibility on television; CBS-TV's The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour had run from 1971 to 1974, after which Cher and Sonny launched competing solo programs. After nearly a year with the solo Cher show, it was announced that Cher would reunite with her former other half for The Sonny & Cher Show in 1976. Despite many feeling that the magic was gone (the playful banter seemed a little more mean-spirited after the divorce, after all), the show was successful enough to be picked up for a second and final season.
Cher's Warner Bros. tenure didn't end auspiciously as she reteamed with Bono in the studio as well, for one final Sonny & Cher project. The duo is said to have recorded as many as fifteen tracks for the reunion album. However, it remains unreleased to this day, with only the disco-style single "You're Not Right For Me" b/w "Wrong Number" emerging from the sessions as Warner Bros. WBS 8341. We've included this single at the end of Disc One of our set.
In another grand irony, Cher would have her longed-for hit almost immediately after leaving Warner Bros. She signed in 1979 with disco specialist Casablanca, home to Donna Summer. Her first album for the label, Take Me Home, spawned a hit single in the form of the title track, and the LP (produced by Bob Esty and Ron Dante) went gold. But that's a story for another day.
It's believed that various labels have approached Warner Bros. over the years about reissuing these albums, to no avail, and some have speculated that Cher herself has an ownership stake in the masters and could be preventing their release. We remain hopeful that these LPs will see the light of day on CD, as they would make for revelatory listening, especially when taken in the context of her entire, record-breaking career. So it's without further ado that we ask you to sit back and imagine A Woman's Story: The Warner Bros. Years, bringing four lost LPs back into the spotlight, Reissue Theory-style. Let's turn back time, shall we?
Cher, A Woman's Story: The Warner Bros. Years (Warner Bros. Records/Rhino Handmade)
Disc One
- Love Enough
- Bell Bottom Blues
- These Days
- Mr. Soul
- Just This One Time
- Geronimo's Cadillac
- The Bigger They Come, The Harder They Fall
- Love Hurts
- Rock and Roll Doctor
- Stars
- Love Song
- Long Distance Love Affair
- I'd Rather Believe in You
- I Know (You Don't Love Me)
- Silver Wings and Golden Rings
- Flashback
- It's a Cryin' Shame
- Early Morning Strangers
- Knock on Wood
- Spring
- Borrowed Time
- You're Not Right for Me - Sonny & Cher
- Wrong Number - Sonny & Cher
Disc Two
- Pirate
- He Was Beautiful
- War Paint and Soft Feathers
- Love the Devil Out of Ya
- She Loves to Hear the Music
- L.A. Plane
- Again
- Dixie
- Send the Man Over
- Thunderstorm
- Move Me
- I Found You Love
- Can You Fool
- You've Really Got a Hold on Me
- We're Gonna Make It
- Do What You Gotta Do
- In for the Night
- Shadow Dream Song
- Island
- I Love Makin' Love to You
- Love Me
- A Woman's Story
- Baby, I Love You
- A Love Like Yours (Don't Come Knocking Every Day) - Nilsson & Cher
Disc One, Tracks 1-10 from Stars (Warner Bros. LP BS 2850, 1975)
Disc One, Track 11 recorded circa 1975, previously unreleased
Disc One, Tracks 12-21 from I'd Rather Believe in You (Warner Bros. LP BS 2898, 1976)
Disc One, Tracks 22-23 from Warner Bros. single WBS 8341, 1977
Disc Two, Tracks 1-10 from Cherished (Warner Bros. LP BS 3046, 1977)
Disc Two, Tracks 11-21 from Two the Hard Way (Cher & Gregg Allman) (Warner Bros. LP BSK 3120, 1977)
Disc Two, Tracks 22-23 from Warner Spector single SPS-0400, 1975
Disc Two, Track 24 from Warner Spector single SPS-0402, 1975
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I have long wondered what the blockade is for getting this material onto CD! Especially hearing there is also unreleased material, it is just unfathomable as to why somebody hasn't reissued this! People tend to forget that Cher is a great singer, and these LPs and singles showcase her so well. Oh well, probably never gonna happen now...
We all know CHER is a great singer. I will never as long as I live understand why she isn't thought of in that way my musicians and critics a like. She should have at least 6-8 Grammy awards for a career lasting 6 decades. The good thing is CHER is a survivor, and I believe she has 3 4 Albums left in her. She needs some help being promoted by her record companies. We all LOVE CHER!
I once thought I had the entire Cher collection until one day years ago I learned about these lps. Being 14 8 years ago I didn't have the money or credit card to purchase them on eBay. I searched for bootlegs but everyone who rips them, uses noise removal and they end up affecting the original sound. Last year, I purchased sealed albums and ripped them myself with a new needle out of the package. I also didn't use ANY sound editing except raise the volume of the tracks. The rips sound equivalent to the quality of the Very Best Of Cher. I have the rips as well as rips of A Woman's Story/Baby I Love You from an unused 45. I have these rips if anyone needs them because my rips are the closest thing online anyone will get to a Remaster. Gaysk8erboi88@hotmail.com
I found the pressing on Stars wasn't the best,and I'd Rather Believe in you was pretty good,juzt a mention is all.
I know studio time with Spector was expensive, but what do you think the chances are that there remains unreleased tracks from that session? A Woman's Story and Baby, I Love You are fantastic and moody, I can only dream what an entire album would have sounded like.
What a wonderful article,it is intelligent and informative.I love to read these type of articles.I hope to see these lps and sinles,released someday soon!
Thanks, Ward!!
It seems crystal clear that Cher do owns at least part of the materials and the masters.
Even if those albums bombed back in the day, a reissue of any kind would have been tried by Warner Bros. or Rhino.
I didn't know that Sonny & Cher did record a full album fro WB that never got released... that some heavy stuff as well!
This is a very very nice article. But I wonder if this is going to be an actual official cd-release... It was rumoured that Cher HERSELF owns the rights of her Warner Bros material, so I guess it's up to her if she wants these albums to be released on cd. I wonder how this company is going to do it.
Also- "Love Song" is a song that she performed live on "The Cher Show" in 1975, I don't think that she has ever recorded a studio-version of it.
Again; awesome article, but I doubt that this cd-set is going to be an official release...
Erick, thanks for your kind words! Our Reissue Theory posts are purely speculative, and reflect what we would like to see in an upcoming reissue. No such CD is planned for Cher's WB period, but we would certainly love to see one happen, and the great response we've gotten to this post indicates that there are many others who would enjoy such a release, too. Thanks again for reading.
Thank you for a well-researched and informative article. I have most of the LPs you have mentioned; and I think the line-up you have suggested would be ideal. To whom would one contact to suggest this? Thanks again.
Erick, do you know where one can find a decent quality version of "Love Song"? Was it ever released?
Thanks for this, a really interesting article, I had also never heard of the unreleased Sonny and Cher album. I think some of Cher's best vocals are on these, especially "Just this One Time". Fingers crossed we'll hear them again at some point.
It truly amazes me that these songs have not made it onto CD. What a treasure it would be. I have 2 different versions of A Woman's Story on 45, well not really 2 different versions but one of them was mixed differently towards the end of the song. One is a promotional-not for sale copy with A Woman's Story on both sides (this is the version I like best). She repeats a line at the end "Why can't we live our lives as one" and then a longer fade out with different music than the original version that has Baby, I Love You on the back. Anyone else have 2 versions of this?
Great article - thanks!! BTW the Nillsson / Cher duet WAS released commercially as a stock copy as well as a 2-sided promo copy. The UK version had a picture sleeve as well. From I have discerned Cher DOES own all the WB masters.
Thank you for a well-written essay about this singer's Warner Bros. years. One wonders why Cher would block the release of this material (if in fact she does retain some kind of performance rights) while allowing the dreck she recorded from Casablanca to be repackaged over and over again.
--R. Pela
Donna Summer also holds a similar record achievement but nobody ever seems to acknowledge her. She is the only artist to have a # 1 Billboard dance record in the past five decades, the most recent being " To Paris with Love" hitting #1 Oct 2010! Expect plenty more to come.
This would be cool..:-)
http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/6661422 I Have released the Warner Collection ripped from my own turntable.. All 45's are included as well as Sonny & Cher's last single. Warner lps are MINT
fantastic collection you ripped! Any possibility you have lossless versions of the files?
Lossless Waves? I have considered every cher lp and cd in wave but such a project would be a massive amounts of gigs..
You could split it up if it seems too big. You're own vinyl rips sound great, it's a shame to lose quality with MP3 compression. Thanks for sharing.
I know but the mp3s are 320 bitrates... wish I kept the waves.
Ok I will be providing the Warner Waves very soon... including all 45's (Inc Sonny & Cher)
I am currently as we speak, re-ripping every warner mint lp and all 45's "Baby I Love You," "A Woman's Story," "A Love Like Yours (Don't Come Knockin' Every Day), and the final Sonny & Cher SIngles "You're Not Right For Me" and "Wrong Number." All rips will be released as LOSSLESS WAVES. That means that this upload will be HUGE... maybe around 4 gigs (max.) I will not edit the sound by amplifying it or filtering noise as the albums and 45s are mint anyway. People who play with tools fuck up the original sound by trying to remove surface noise off of a crappy record. I think Pirate may have some light surface noise in the beginning.. kinda like Madonna's Erotica. This will be the COMPLETE and FINAL Warner release I upload this being the fifth over the last few years. This is as close to the original master tapes as we're gonna get. Will Post here with links!
And LOVE SONG will never be included as it was never released on a 45. It was a live track.. not a deleted song from Stars. Every other track mentioned in the reissue theory is available here as lossless wave. I've uploaded this numerous times as mp3 and I kept getting requests for waves.. so why not it sounds ALOT better wow even to me. Oh, there never was a "I'd Rather Believe In You" with "Pirate" as the initial beginning track. Pirate was produced by Snuff Garrett, and Michael Omartian produced "Believe In You." People who make this claim have never provided evidence.. its said just to keep spreading a dumb rumor. And no edition of Cherished was issued as "Images" in ANY country.
As an aside to the point above about Cherished not being released as Images anywhere, my lp version of Cherished is marked as Images on the actual record. I don't know if this is true of all copies.
Here are the Lossless WARNER Tracks!!! (Wave) http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/6703583
This rip was inspired by Cher of course, Jackie and Anna (Old Pals from Vienna Austria on Cherworld.com) and Erick D from Holland.. Love you guys.
Wonderful. Thank you!
You're welcome.. kinda ehhh about 3 songs thats all fade in n out maybe its dust.. i dont have cleaner.. ima bust out the other set of lps they are still mint but used for my personal n casual play. I take care of my lps idk how dust got on these.. I'm thinking about ripping the seals off my new MCA albums (Gypsies, Foxy, Bittersweet, Half-Breed, and Dark Lady) and ripping those into waves too.. Universal did a horrible job remastering that Pre-Warner era except for bittersweet. I have everything on lp new and mint for personal play... Columbia and Casablanca had acceptable masters so I don't need to touch those and people should buy what is still in print if it's good (Columbia's I Paralyze might be outta print now I think.)
I anxiously await all your rips! Thank you so much for sharing. If you have any extra mint/great copies you want to see, let me know, as I need to expand my collection.
Here is a promotional single "Borrowed Time" in wave.. its a sample while you wait for the long ass torrent to download. This will download quick in Meg aupload. http://www.megaupload.com/?d=CY0PVBB0
Great! Also, thank you for not ripping them at blown out volumes. So many people rip their vinyls too loud and it makes them sound as bad and harsh as the CD "remasters".
I KNOW that was a problem of mine with the previous MP3s I've been ripping for years. Now Bell Bottom Blues sounds so much more CRISP.
Torrent has been recreated... http://thepiratebay.se/torrent/7060122
So I think Cher is releasing Stars on CD VERY soon. Stars was recently her default pic on her Twitter in the summer. She also said her new album won't be the only album die-hard fans will be wanting to get in the very near future.
Stars is one of Cher's best records, representing the jaded '70s high-life in a superbly faux-gritty style like few other albums by any artist managed to do. And that cover is to die for!
I am late to this thread but in respond to the above comment "And no edition of Cherished was issued as “Images” in ANY country', on my Australian copy of cherished the lp is labeled as images rather than cherished. I don't know if this is true for all copies.
does anyone have track listings for these Sonny and cher lps:Our last show and untitled 1977 Warner Bros. release?
Hi Martin - there was never an "Our Last Show" LP - that was an MCA single by Sonny. As far as I have been able to find there are no other tracks listed for the WB Album - which I believe was to be called "Youre Not Right For Me" besides that track and Wrong Number, the B-side. How amazing would it be to hear those tracks? I would bet Cher owns those as well.....
It is Nutzzzzzzzz that Cher's Warner Bros albums are not on CD. It is crazzzy! I loved Stars, I'd Rather Believe in You, Cherished and Allman & Woman Two the Hard Way. These are gems and these 4 albums neeeeeeed to come out!
ALL us fans WANT THESE REALLY BAD ON CD
I can't think of an artist with a career going back 50 years with less stuff on ITune or in stores representing her back catalog. It is a shame really. Cher is CHER for God's sake and ALL her work should be out on CD and in stores and on I-tunes and the net. I mean it is foolish it is not. This Woman's Story idea is a very good one.
It's simple folks...go to the source, Cher herself, twitter leave comments on her facebook or twitter her. I asked several times it's time we actually campaign the woman herself and let her know how much we wants these on cd.
Looks like the "STARS" CD will finally be released by Binge Records on June 1, 2016.
I've always loved this period in Cher's career. Both "Stars" and "I'd Rather Believe in You" were top-notch LPs! "Long Distance Love Affair" should have been a huge hit... perfect '70s LA rock. I have NO idea why this hasn't seen the light of CD day! But Joe Marchese of Real Gone Music should be able to try and save the day!