Critic's Review
Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide
On the one hand, the availability of this look at the early years of Cliff Richard's music is welcome, both because he did some good rock & roll during that time that's undervalued, and because there's some good footage of early Richard performances. On the other hand, it's frustratingly disappointing, as it's too short (about 50 minutes), includes only portions of performances rather than full songs, and doesn't have interviews with Richard himself, or even with Richard associates. Instead, the commentary's supplied by fans, critics, musicians, and producers who, with the possible exception of British rock writer Chris Welch, will not be well-known to the average rock & roll enthusiast (and certainly don't have direct connections with Richard's career). The talking heads are reasonably astute in their observations, but one would have to think that interviews with Richard and the Shadows, whether archival or done specifically for a project such as this, would have been more illuminating. In addition, the length and the way the program's structured doesn't allow for a great deal of depth. Richard actually recorded a good number of decent rockers in the late '50s and early '60s, but you don't hear about too many of them here, and the impression's given that he moved into all-around entertainment almost immediately after rising to stardom, which is partially but not wholly true. Worst of all, although there are some excerpts of Richard singing and performing in late-'50s and early-'60s TV shows and feature films, these are truncated (even an exciting live 1960 television version of the classic "Move It"), sometimes sharing a split screen with one of the talking heads. What vintage footage there is has its interesting points, also including 1959 TV covers of "Turn Me Loose" and the Coasters' "Three Cool Cats" (the latter sung with fellow early British rockers Dickie Pride and Marty Wilde). But given better resources, it must be possible to fill a solid 90-minute documentary on the same subject with much more old footage and more relevant interviewees.
