Gotta mention ..... have been working on a great project with Cliff Richard ... Now if you have just reeled in shock and horror, I must put you straight. Cliff was a hero to us all when we were kids .... perhaps most of all to Freddie ...who, in his first band, the Hectics somewhere way over there ... played Cliff songs ..like "Please Don't Tease", "Move it", "Livin' Doll" ...... I know, because Freddie used to talk of it proudly, and when he finally got to meet Cliff he was thrilled. They became very good friends.

Well, one day last month I was surprised (very suprised!) to get a phone call from Cliff, asking me if I would be interested in conributing to his forthcoming Duets album. He said he had always regarded "Move It" as a duet in a sense, because there is a kind of response thing going on between the vocal and guitar. He asked if I'd like to duet with him on a new version of "Move It". My mind started racing immediately ... with lots of ideas about jow it could be done ... I said yes of course .... how could anyone refuse a challenge like that ? And that was that.

It has become a really stimulating project. Brian Bennett, the legendary drummer of the Shadows for most of their hits, with and without Cliff, is an old friend of mine, and a great drummer indeed ....a great influence on Roger, Roger has always told me .... he has real "chops", says Roger, and is rare in that generation of Drum Owners in that he was, and is, a hard hitter. He has many other talents too, however - is an experienced producer, and has has written and produced many orchestral scores for TV and film. Brian B was already involved in producing material for this Cliff album, and we resolved to do it together.

The thing is ... Cliff is enormous - a phenomenon - and if he appears anywhere around here he is guranteed to cause a stampede for tickets. But among the young, there is not a great awarenesss ...or if people are aware, they often regard Cliff's music as something their parents might like but they don't. And in the USA, there is a similar gulf ... folks simply do not see Cliff as an act that is relevant to them. Now to us, he is the man who used to come on Jack Good's "Oh Boy" TV show and Rock the house - he was the heaviest thing around ... much more serious and incisive than the music that was around until then. He was, to England, a lot of what Elvis was for the States. Unfortunately this tends to go against him in some people's estimation, because they feel he is merely an Elvis imitator. This is a gross underestimation of Cliff Richard as an artist. We all have influences - we were certainly influenced by The Who, Zeppelin, Cream - but that doesn't make us imitators ...we went on to define ourselves uniquely by our output. Well, so did Cliff. He has got to be the the most consistent hit-maker in the history of the British charts .... and has never repeated himself of become slap-dash. Many of his later records are too MOR to appeal to the Rock fans, but to us, he is still that smouldering firework we want to see ignite again ...

This is the nature of the challenge as I see it. I became taken over by the idea that Cliff should once again be recognised as a force in Rock - it seems so odd that, for instance, Tom Jones should be invited to represent 'rock' at the Palace a couple of years ago, but not Cliff. (nothing against Tom, by the way - he is a superb talent).

Well, we went on the studio last week, and had an intense, and immensely enjoyable session. The session was in Abbey Road 2 - the exact place where the original version of "Move it" was made in 1958. And also of course, later, frequented by that other English phenomenon, The Beatles. Cliff sang. Mo Foster played bass - a mighty force in himself. I played guitar, Brian Bennett drummed, and ...we had a blast as a four-piece all day.

The result will be two separate new versions of the song. They are both in production now. Brian and I spent a 16-hour day on Thursday, tidying up, sculpting and mixing one of the versions .... but with a firm commitment to keeping it raw and real, as the day had been. Cliff was in great voice .. and really went for it ... I strongly feel this stuff will turn heads.


RETIRADO DO SITE DO BRIAN.