Now You See Me… Now You Don’t

Description

Now You See Me… Now You Don’t is a studio album by the British singer and songwriter Cliff Richard, released on EMI Records in August 1982. The album was recorded during September 1981 by John Walker at Abbey Road Studios in London, England; and during January, March and April 1982 by Keith Bessey at Strawberry Studios in Stockport, England; with Cliff Richard and Craig Pruess producing. Mixed by Keith Bessey at The Town House in London.

Now You See Me…Now You Don’t peaked at No. 4 on the UK album chart, and has been certified Gold in the UK. The singles released from the album were “The Only Way Out” (No. 10), “Where Do We Go from Here” (No. 60), as well as “Little Town” (No. 11), the latter Cliff’s first Christmas song released as a single. According to All Music Guide “the playing is as terrific as you’d expect from a band that includes Dave Mattacks, Mo Foster, Peter Skellern, and Mel Collins (among others), and the speed with which it was recorded adds a welcome spontaneity to the proceedings.”

Similar to Cliff Richard’s gospel oriented album Small Corners released in 1978, most of the songs on Now You See Me…Now You Don’t were written by various singers/songwriters from the contemporary Christian music field. “It Has To Be You, It Has To Be Me” and “Thief In The Night” were written – and originally recorded – by Paul Field (formerly of Nutshell) with the latter song co-written with Dave Cooke (who did release Thinking It Over on EMI Records in 1974); “Where Do We Go From Here” and “Discovering” were written by Chris Eaton of Mark Williamson Band; “First Date” and “Now You See Me, Now You Don’t” were written by Aleksander John (featuring lyrics by Nick Battle formerly of After the Fire and Writz, and poet/author Steve Turner, respectively); as well as “Son Of Thunder” and “Be In My Heart” written by John Perry, a member of the vocal backup trio Cliff did use for many years. (The latter song was also recorded by Phil Keaggy on his 1990-album Find Me In These Fields.)

CLIFF RICHARD – Now You See Me … Now You Don’t, EMI America ST17081. Produced by Cliff Richard, Craig Pruess.

Richard’s latest continues the pattern of his recent LPs, concentrating on sleek, buoyant pop tracks that bristle with excitement. There are also a few ballads for balance, including two traditional pieces – «The Water Is Wide» and «Little Town», where a new melody was put to the Christmas favorite «Oh Little Town Of Bethlehem». Richard has made some of the best pop singles of recent years, and several cuts here are worthy to join that list. [Billboard Magazine, October 2, 1982, Top Album Picks column – Pop section (Survey for week ending 10/2/82)]

Released in 1982, this clocked in at number four in Britain’s mainstream album chart and was the follow up album to ‘Wired For Sound‘. Four years previously Cliff had released his first set of contemporary Christian music songs and he had begun to include Christian songs in his pop concerts as well as do specifically gospel tours. For this album he wanted to release a set of Christian songs but not advertise them as such. The ploy worked and people took the album as an ordinary pop album even if he was pretty blatant on the TOTP (BBC’s Top of the Pops) performance of the first single from the set, «The Only Way Out» with a well-chosen point upwards towards God at the appropriate point in the lyrics. There are some top writers here. Aleksander John and Nick Battle penned «First Date» and Chris Eaton has three songs including his rewriting of «Little Town» which became Cliff’s first Christmas single to be released. Eaton’s song «Discovering» is one of the cleverest Christian songs ever recorded. To the uninitiated it sounds like a love song but has a deeper meaning. The classic Paul Field song «Thief In The Night» is given the Cliff treatment and became a dramatic live favourite. Ultimately this album continued Cliff’s run of success in the ’80s. I wonder whether it’s time he did another “Christian” record with the songwriters working today. There would be a rich seam to mine. [Mike Rimmer, Cross Rhythms, October 2016]

Here’s the one a lot of American, Christian rock fans have been awaiting for years. Though Cliff Richard has done full albums of Christian music in the past for British audiences (six of them since his conversion in the late ’60s), U.S. fans have only enjoyed a smattering of Cliff Richard-performed Christian songs. Canadians seem to benefit better from access to their British cousin and his albums, but the last U.S. albums of Cliff’s which were predominately Christian songs were two movie soundtracks, ‘His Land‘ and ‘Two A Penny‘, released by Light in 1970.

Cliff’s latest LP, ‘Now You See Me, Now You Don’t’ (EMI America ST-17081) is and isn’t a Christian album; that is, it is not an album of Christian songs for Christian people to pacify themselves on (though that’s possible). It is an album of secular songs performed by a Christian performer and Christian songs performed for secular audiences (and Christian bystanders, too, I’m sure).

More than half of the 11 songs on the album are distinctly Christian – a refreshing aspect viewed from our side of the fence; but the fact that some of them are so hymnic – so obviously religious in tone – makes one wonder whether they may or may not cause confusion or even chagrin to the average buyer who expected Cliff’s usual rock presentation.

But no one can handle the balance better than Cliff. He’s withstood the criticism of the cynics for years, and he’s managed to be one of the few musicians who has been able to maintain his pop-rock status and his Christian witness at the same time. Time will tell whether it will work on American soil.

Here, on one album, he goes from the light rock of «The Only Way Out» and the driving beat of «Now You See Me, Now You Don’t» all the way to «Be in My Heart», and organ-backed chorale complete with soprano choir, and «Bethlehem», a paradoxically contemporary/traditional rendition of the «O Little Town…» Christmas carol. There’s no question: he handles each of the songs masterfully and inimitably. There’s still no other voice like Cliff’s – clear as a bell.

In-between the varied styles lies a prime cut from a Christian perspective, «Thief in the Night». The Omartian-style, massive-production arrangement of the Paul Field song has Cliff singing at his gutsiest. The allusions to the Gospel story are plentiful: “The rider in the sky… lamb and lion rest side-by-side… children of the Kingdom… like a thief in the night He will come… there will be nowhere left you can run… you can rise with the Son.”

«The Water is Wide», «Where Do We Go From Here», and «Discovering» also lean toward the spiritual side of things. And «Son of Thunder» leaves no doubt of where Cliff’s heart is at. As Christians, we can only hope and pray he effectively gets the message into the hearts of his unsaved fans. [Paul Baker, CCM, December 1982]

> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/now-you-see-me-now-you-dont-remastered/696019273)

LP tracklist:

Side One
A1. “The Only Way Out” – 3:20
A2. “First Date” – 3:33
A3. “Thief In The Night” – 3:50
A4. “Where Do We Go From Here” – 2:53
A5. “Son Of Thunder” – 3:58
A6. “Little Town” – 4:03

Side Two
B1. “It Has To Be You, It Has To Be Me” – 4:17
B2. “The Water Is Wide” – 3:50
B3. “Now You See Me, Now You Don’t” – 3:00
B4. “Be In My Heart” – 4:38
B5. “Discovering” – 4:50

Note: Simultaneously released on cassette and 12-inch vinyl LP by EMI Records. Later re-issued on CD.

The October 1983 issue of CCM Magazine featured a cover story on Cliff Richard.

An advertisement promoting Cliff Richard’s album Now You See Me…Now You Don’t was featured on the frontpage of the September 18, 1982 issue of Billboard Magazine.