1979 Cliff Richard: We Don't Talk Anymore

'Round about the time the first punks were plugging in, a voice from the past was re-booting his own image with a comeback of sorts. Not that Cliff Richard ever went away you understand, his chart singles have always been consistent but for the next few years he would tap back his roots to present a rockier image than the family entertainer he'd become. It was a bit like Elvis' '68 Comeback re-told for a PG audience; Richard was never going to zip into a leather jumpsuit or start spitting anarchy, but 'Devil Woman' was a racy enough affair from a born again Christian to raise eyebrows. That's about as far as Cliff was ever willing to push the boat out though; 'We Don't Talk Anymore' is a soft MOR rocker with the bluntest of bites that keeps Cliff in safe harbour.

It's a song that allows Richard to acquit himself well. He's comfortable with the medium, has fun with the key changes and lets rip with some impassioned falsetto that you wouldn't normally have seen coming in something with his name on it. That's all well and good, but it's the music he's given to sing over that let's the song down. It doesn't share Cliff's enthusiasm and instead drags its heels in a chug-a-lug of synth bursts and muted power chords that ring with the conviction of a pub covers band trying to get down with the kids. Cliff's the star here and nothing around him makes any attempt to steal his thunder, but though he has the connections, he can't perform miracles by himself to make this anything other than plain old average.

Perhaps the biggest handicap for 'We Don't Talk Anymore' is its mid-place setting in a year of some sparkling number ones. Posterity has been kinder by merging it anonymously into the amorphous 'Cliff Richard's Back Catalogue' catch all, but coming in-between the Dury's and the Numan's, it's attempt to make Cliff modern and relevant come across as well as comparing a cassette walkman with an Ipod. True, the walkman will always have its fans, but let's not kid ourselves here.