CILLA BLACK - CILLA SINGS A RAINBOW / DAY BY DAY WITH CILLA CD

UPC/Barcode: 5013929848221

Cilla Black was the best-selling, British female recording artist in the U. K. during the 1960s. An accomplished and truly popular song stylist, she continued her legendary association with Beatles' producer Sir George Martin into the early 1970s. The two classic albums that make up this comprehensive 2-disc set provide documentary evidence of this stellar creative association at the peak of it's artistry with all songs on both the expanded edition albums herein produced by Sir George Martin; 'Cilla Sings A Rainbow' (1966) and 'Day By Day With Cilla' (1973). 'Cilla Sings A Rainbow' spent 15 weeks on the British album chart peaking at No. 4. This, her second ever LP, remains to this day Cilla's biggest-selling studio album. Cilla was inspired to cover the title track having seen Peggy Lee singing the number in a dramatic scene in her musical film 'Pete Kelley's Blues'. It could be seen, as a song choice, as a statement of intent to move in the direction of a family entertainer, foreshadowing her soon to be parallel career as a much loved television personality! The song was memorably showcased, alongside the album's lead single, Top 5 hit 'Love's Just A Broken Heart' on the top rating TV variety show Sunday Night At The London Palladium in early 1966. The album further expanded Cilla's immensely popular big ballad repertoire by finding songs in this vein from the worlds of pop, soul and rock. Cilla's seventh studio album, 1973's 'Day by Day with Cilla', was her final LP to be recorded with her long-time producer Sir George Martin. Sir George had been the architect of Cilla's best-loved and biggest-selling music releases since her debut in 1963. Very much seen, by 1973, as predominantly a television celebrity, rather than the pop princess of the decade previous, Cilla's final collaboration with Sir George, nonetheless, marked a notable change of approach, featuring a more sophisticated and mature song selection. She sang challenging big musical theatre numbers 'Day By Day' (from 'Godspell') and 'I Don't Know How To Love Him' (from Jesus Christ Superstar), her version of which is lyricist Tim Rice's favourite. The album also includes a wealth of more delicate singer-songwriter creations that demonstrate Cilla's great tenderness in her storytelling; Cook and Greenaway's 'I've Still Got My Heart Joe' and opening number 'Without You'. Another album highlight is Cilla's cover of the Sonny And Cher classic 'Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves' of which Cilla said, It was for me, a modern day Judy Garland number... If there was ever a modern day Garland, I would say, at that time, Cher was it with that song!. It is on this final Cilla album to be produced by Sir George Martin, that she truly delivered some of her all-time greatest vocal performances. This latest release in the 'Cilla Original Album Series' comes, as ever, with a richly illustrated 32 page photo booklet with sleeve notes and quotes from a 2009 interview with Cilla herself. The release is produced with the full support and input of the Cilla Black Estate.