CHER/GOLDEN HITS OF CHER SLS 50378 (-76) UK

 A to my taste valuable collection of twelve 45 A-sides recorded between 1965-67, at a time she was still involved with Sonny Bono, who produced and co-arranged all tracks and also wrote five of them. A mix of true and fake stereo, probably due to some of the cuts were made for 45 use only and therefore only existed in mono when this was compiled. Audio shifts a little between tracks, but non comes out bad and most very enjoyable. Reason I think it's valuable is it offers background to one of the most prominent musical carreers from the seventies and on. She's sold over 100 million records and won many awards - Grammy, Emmy, Golden Globe and Academy to mention some. She's also the only artist who's had #1 singles on Billboard during six decades. However her beginnings seems to have been more tenative, which is shown here. Far from the grandiose shimmer carrying most of her later hits. Instead I get comparatively simple recordings, made with four-channel equipments and probably under stress. More intimate for sure, bringing me closer. Even if not all cuts here have a lasting hit quality, there are a couple of gems standing the test of time - of course "Sunny", "Bang Bang" and "Where Do You Go", but I also like her version of "Hey Joe", coming out both surprisingly soft and rather odd. This was first released in UK and Israel only 1972 on United Artists (UAS 29317). Second issue 1976 on Sunset over Europe and in Canada. UK re-press had label as shown here in a laminated cover.