It's difficult to complain about the contents of this double-disc set, including 38 songs drawn from Sonny & Cher's second era of success (1971-1974 on Kapp Records), nicely remastered and assembled in impeccably logical fashion. The duo's (and Cher's solo) studio cuts make up the first disc, while the second is comprised of songs from the duo's two live recordings done two years apart in Las Vegas.
Fifty songs spread among two CDs, various attributed to Cher, Sonny & Cher, and even "Caesar & Cleo," through which we trace the evolution of this duo from a doo wop-influenced pop team into folk-rock and protest mavens, to the media's reigning early-'70s pop/rock team. The sound is very good, and the range of music is almost dizzying, as the influence of Phil Spector wafts in and out over the recordings, and the duo turns its talents toward just about every sound that was selling at the time. There's a huge amount of good music here, much of it familiar from other collections, including "Sunny," "I Feel Something in the Air," and "All I Really Want to Do" – other notable cuts, apart from such solo Sonny Bono stuff as "The Revolution Kind" and "Laugh at Me," include Cher's renditions of "Alfie" and "Needles and Pins" and her first, failed, "comeback" attempt, "Classified 1A."
The Very Best of Cher is a 2003 compilation album by Cher. The album includes many of Cher's most popular songs, such as "If I Could Turn Back Time" and "Believe".
On October 19, Cher will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. One month later, on November 19, Cher releases the first volume of her long-awaited autobiography. The Memoir: Part One will be preceded on September 20 by the superstar's latest hits anthology - her first in nearly two decades. Forever, featuring 21 newly remastered songs curated by the artist, arrives from Warner Records on 1 CD or 2 LPs (pressed on crystal-clear vinyl). On the same date, the Forever: Fan Edition arrives digitally with a couple of true rarities that still await physical release.
Cher returns to the dancefloor for her latest effort, Living Proof, churning out a dozen electronic, beat-heavy tracks about heartbreak, loneliness, and survival. Songs about strength and perseverance are no anomaly coming a woman who has managed to sustain a career that has lasted four decades; and it's no mystery that Cher would be the first to be right there when you fall, telling you to get up on your feet, dust yourself off, and get out on that dancefloor. And get up you will, with this peppy dance album that spouts warm sentiments and reverberating sounds to keep you going all night long. But the power of the album's punch loses its luster each time the auto-tuner kicks in, contorting Cher's deep, sexy voice into some kind of canned electronic robot dialect.