Green Light (Cliff Richard album)

Green Light
Studio album by
Cliff Richard
Released29 September 1978
RecordedJuly 1977, January - April 1978 [1]
GenrePop, rock
LabelEMI, Rocket (US)
ProducerBruce Welch
Cliff Richard chronology
Small Corners
(1978) 		Green Light
(1978) 		Thank You Very Much
(1979)
Singles from Green Light
  1. "Please Remember Me"
    Released: 28 July 1978[2]
  2. "Can't Take the Hurt Anymore"
    Released: 3 November 1978[3]
  3. "Green Light"
    Released: 16 February 1979[4]
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[5]

Green Light is the 21st studio album by Cliff Richard, released in September 1978.

Richard had seen a dip in popularity in the early 1970s until his 1976 album I'm Nearly Famous gave him major success. This comeback kept him regularly in the charts until the mid-1980s. Of this period's release, only the 1978 Small Corners gospel album and Green Light failed to make the top ten. The latter, with full commercial expectations, was a particular disappointment, only reaching No.25 in the album chart and lacking any hit singles.[6] These included "Please Remember Me" and "Can't Take the Hurt Anymore". This was the second year since 1958 that this had happened. A third and final release, the title track "Green Light" gave him a chart entry, but only crept to No.57.[6]

Despite the commercial failure, Green Light was well received by critics. Allmusic said it is "Richard at his most commercial and appealing and deserved to be more widely heard - particularly in the US".[7] Probably the most well-known song on the album is "Count Me Out", which was later released as the B-side to his 1979 single "We Don't Talk Anymore", the song that revived his career by selling more than any other.[8] Another ballad, "Never Even Thought" whose orchestration builds to a dramatic crescendo, was first released by Murray Head in 1975 on his album Say It Ain't So and also covered by Colin Blunstone in 1978. He later added new instrumentation for his remix album My Kinda Life in 1992.

Since his 1977 Every Face Tells a Story album, Richard had released two more - a Christian music album, Small Corners and a compilation album 40 Golden Greats, which had reached No.1 in November 1977.[6] Soon after this, he also released a live album, Thank You Very Much, which celebrated 20 years of he and The Shadows in the music business.

The title track was covered in 1979 by Yvonne Elliman on her album Yvonne. His album was remastered and reissued on Compact disc in July 2002.[9][10]

  1. ^ Cliff Richard songs.com - Recording dates
  2. ^ "Please Remember Me". cliffrichardsongs.com. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  3. ^ "Can't Take the Hurt Anymore". cliffrichardsongs.com. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  4. ^ "Green Light (UK single)". cliffrichardsongs.com. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  5. ^ Allmusic review
  6. ^ a b c "Cliff Richard - full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company. Official Charts Company. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
  7. ^ Allmusic.com - Album review
  8. ^ Cliff Richard songs.com - "Count Me Out"
  9. ^ CD Universe.com - Re-issue information
  10. ^ "Sir Cliff.com - 2002 Re-releases". Archived from the original on 10 March 2008. Retrieved 26 November 2008.