Always Guaranteed

Always Guaranteed
Studio album by
Cliff Richard
Released14 September 1987
RecordedSeptember – November 1986
StudioRG Jones, London
GenrePop
LabelEMI (except USA, Canada)
Striped Horse Records (USA)[1]
Capitol Records (Canada)[2]
ProducerAlan Tarney
Cliff Richard chronology
The Rock Connection
(1984) 		Always Guaranteed
(1987) 		Private Collection: 1979–1988
(1988)
Singles from Always Guaranteed
  1. "My Pretty One"
    Released: 8 June 1987
  2. "Some People"
    Released: 17 August 1987
  3. "Remember Me"
    Released: 19 October 1987
  4. "Two Hearts"
    Released: 1 February 1988
Alternative cover
US release
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[3]
BBC(favourable)[4]

Always Guaranteed is the 28th studio album by Cliff Richard, released in 1987. The album peaked at number 5 in the UK Albums Chart, and spent a total of 24 weeks on the chart over 1987–88.[5] The album was certified Platinum by the BPI and achieved sales over 1.3 million globally.[6][7][8] The album was produced by Alan Tarney who had produced two of Richard's previous albums, Wired for Sound and I'm No Hero in the early 1980s and written Richard's highest selling single "We Don't Talk Anymore" in 1979. Tarney wrote all but one track on the album.

Four songs from the album were released as singles - "My Pretty One" (UK No. 6), "Some People" (UK No. 3 and certified silver for 250,000 sales), "Remember Me" (UK No. 35) and "Two Hearts" (UK No. 34).

The album marked another strong chart comeback for Richard, giving him a second spell of success in the 1980s, which continued with "Mistletoe and Wine" as the single following on from "Two Hearts".

As was sometimes the case on albums written and produced by Alan Tarney, this album contains two songs that Tarney had previously provided to other artists. "Remember Me" had first been recorded by David Cassidy on his 1985 Romance album. However, Tarney further refined the song for Richard, including rewriting the verses' lyrics. "My Pretty One" had first been recorded by Jamie Rae in 1985 and released as a single but had not become a hit. Richard is quoted as saying he'd never have recorded the song if he'd known someone else had recorded it, but also said after finding out, he didn't mind and later, when discussing the varied styles of songs he'd sung, said about "My Pretty One", "It's just a great pop song".[9]

In the US, the album was retitled simply as Cliff Richard. Richard's original 1965 self-titled album had not been released in the US, so there was no conflict.

  1. ^ "Cliff Richard (1987 US Self-titled album)". Discogs. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
  2. ^ "Always Guaranteed - Cliff Richard (Canada release)". Discogs. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
  3. ^ "Cliff Richard: Always Guaranteed". AllMusic.
  4. ^ Smith, Jack (2004). "Cliff Richard Always Guaranteed (Remastered.) Review". bbc.co.uk. BBC.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference OCC was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ "BBC review". BBC Music. Archived from the original on 11 November 2012. Retrieved 14 February 2012.
  7. ^ "Cliff Richard - The Six Continental Man" (PDF). Billboard: 72. 12 February 1994. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
  8. ^ "Official Charts Company". Archived from the original on 5 April 2015. Retrieved 14 February 2012.
  9. ^ "My Pretty One - Cliff Richard Song Database". cliffrichardsongs.com. Retrieved 2 August 2017.