Cher Album: “If I Could Turn Back Time: Cher's Greatest Hits”

Even before "Believe," Cher's reputation as a dynamic entertainer should never have been in question. "If I Could Turn Back Time, Cher's Greatest Hits" proves this. It is the best retrospective of Cher's career from 1965 to 1992.

The album opens with the previously unreleased "Don't Come Cryin' To Me." Recorded during the "Heart of Stone" sessions, the Dianne Warren penned tune combines heartbreak with the signature Cher toughness. The album begins the walk down memory lane with "Love and Understanding," "Save Up All Your Tears," one of Cher's best singles, and "The Shoop Shoop Song," Cher's classic cover from the 1990 "Mermaids" soundtrack. "After All" is one of the great duets of the 80s, hitmaker Peter Cetera complements Cher's voice perfectly.

"If I Could Turn Back Time" is Cher's best single, with the possible exception of "Believe," and it sounds better than ever on this collection. Other highlights from the 80s include "I Found Someone," "Bang-Bang," a remake of Cher's 60s Sonny Bono penned hit, and "We All Sleep Alone." Cher's first journey into dance pop is represented by 1979's "Take Me Home." This song stands as a great contrast to the 80s rock hits.

"If I Could Turn Back Time" closes with a look back at the 70s Cher and the 60s Sonny and Cher. "The Way of Love" is Cher's best ballad and the song sounds better now than ever. Story songs "Dark Lady," "Half Breed" and the Cher signature "Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves" might be dated, but they are still fun. The album closes with the Sonny and Cher classic "I Got You Babe." The 1965 charttopper stands the test of time.

There might be a few omissions on this collection. Not included is the 1987 standout "Main Man," and the 60s Sonny and Cher classic "And the Beat Goes On." Released in 1999, the album also omits hits from the under-appreciated "It's A Man's World" album. The collection is otherwise a complete retrospective of the pre-"Believe" Cher.

I tend to buy a lot of "Greatest Hits" CD's, because I despise the filler tracks that you find on most CD's these days. You get three good songs, and a lot of bad. This is the only Cher CD I own, and it's quite good. There are a LOT of good songs on this disc, the kind that you sing along to when they come on the radio. I didn't even realize how many of these songs I knew, I didn't recognize them from their titles, but once I listened to the CD for the first time, it immediately became one of my favorites. "After All", "I Found Someone", "If I Could Turn Back Time", and of course "I Got You Babe" are all great songs, and this is a great album for both Cher afficianados and people who just like good music...

In 1999 Geffen records released this compilation of Cher's Greatest Hits. Up until that point "If I Could Turn Back Time" was the most extensive collection of Cher's hit singles available. But it certainly left something to be desired because Geffen failed to include any of Cher's important hits from her early days at Imperial records. Having said that "If I Could Turn Back Time" does include 15 of Cher's most popular recordings. "Gypsys, Tramps and Thieves" went all the way to #1 in the fall of 1971 and was quickly followed by other huge hits like "Dark Lady", "Half Breed" and a personal favorite "The Way of Love". Her Top Ten hit from the height of the disco era "Take Me Home" is also included on this disc. It would be more than 8 years before Cher would reappear on the Billboard Hot 100. After signing a deal with Geffen records in 1987 Cher returned to the Top Ten with "I Found Someone". She remained a fixture on the charts over the next few years with great pop tunes like the title song "If I Could

Turn Back Time", a terrific remake of Betty Everett's "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss)" and her extremely popular duet with Peter Cetera "After All". You will find all of these among the 17 selections on this disc. The producers did make an effort to acknowledge her early work at Imperial records by attempting a remake of her 1966 hit "Bang Bang". Bad idea. This version can be best described as overproduced and well....dreadful.

In 1999, Cher stunned the music world by cranking out her biggest hit ever with "Believe". The tune would top the Billboard charts for 4 consecutive weeks. It is really quite remarkable when you consider that Cher was 53 years old at the time! The success of that single inspired Rhino records to release yet another Cher compilation cleverly titled "The Very Best of Cher". Here was an opportunity to correct the flaws I have been discussing in this collection. But alas, Rhino blew it as well by choosing to include only a pair of hits from her years at Imperial. Hits like "Alfie" and "You Better Sit Down Kids" are simply nowhere to be found. However, on balance I would have to say that given a choice I would probably opt for the newer Rhino offering. If you are in the market for a Cher anthology I would suggest that you carefully compare these two discs and choose the one more that is more to your liking.

There's a lot you can say about Cher, both good and not-so-good. However, the main point is that she has that magical something in her personality that comes across and attracts listeners who wouldn't ordinarily listen to her music.

There are only a few "best of" CDs which I feel worthy of 5 stars and this is one. So many miss the essence by spotlighting only the hits, but Cher's hits have the same depth as her basic album material.

I did have sort of a "Duh" reaction when I first thought it odd that these are arranged in reverse chronological order, and then realized that "Of course, the album's titled 'If I Could Turn Back Time'". And this arrangement works out exceedingly well. It should especially reach Cher's newest fans who were introduced to her by "Believe". I'm sure the earliest ones have a "hoky" sound to today's teens, and yet should be quite enjoyable especially due to the sequence.

And so this is most highly recommended to one and all.

When it comes to music, Cher's name is almost always synonomous with camp, particularly her early solo career that unleashed such head-scratching titles as'Gypsies,Tramps,and Thieves', 'Half-Breed', and 'Dark Lady'. All were and still are great songs, a little on the cheesy side but catchy as hell.She never seemed to outgrow that camp stigma, though, as evidenced on much of her future output, whether it be disco('Take Me Home') or corporate rock(all of her eighties stuff). Which is too bad, because though almost all of her albums had their share of filler--particularly her late eighties renaissance--she also spun off a ton of great singles, most of which are present and accounted for here. The first ten tracks represent material from her Geffen albums--most of them from Diane Warren, back when her songs didn't have the recycled feel that they have now--in actuality, everything here amounts to the only worthwhile tracks found on her trio of Bon Jovi-meets-Michael Bolton pop-rock albums. The rest of the set is filled out by her seventies solo hits, as well as the requisite 'I Got You Babe'. While it doesn't cover her grossly underrated IT'S A MAN'S WORLD set or her BELIEVE album, this remains the most concise Cher compilation you'll find stateside.