Green Light (Cliff Richard album)

{{short description|1978 studio album by Cliff Richard}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2014}}

{{Use British English|date=June 2014}}

{{italic title}}

{{Infobox album

| name = Green Light

| type = studio

| artist = Cliff Richard

| cover = Green Light (Cliff Richard album).jpg

| alt =

| released = 29 September 1978

| recorded = July 1977, January - April 1978 [http://www.cliffrichardsongs.com/crworks7.php Cliff Richard songs.com - Recording dates]

| venue =

| studio =

| genre = Pop, rock

| length =

| label = EMI, Rocket (US)

| producer = Bruce Welch

| prev_title = Small Corners

| prev_year = 1978

| next_title = Thank You Very Much

| next_year = 1979

| misc = {{Singles

| name = Green Light

| type = studio

| single1 = Please Remember Me

| single1date = 28 July 1978{{cite web |title=Please Remember Me |url=http://www.cliffrichardsongs.com/popup.php?data=PleaseRememberMe197849_popupplus |website=cliffrichardsongs.com |access-date=1 January 2021}}

| single2 = Can't Take the Hurt Anymore

| single2date = 3 November 1978{{cite web |title=Can't Take the Hurt Anymore |url=http://www.cliffrichardsongs.com/popup.php?data=CantTakeTheHurtAnymore197855_popupplus |website=cliffrichardsongs.com |access-date=1 January 2021}}

| single3 = Green Light

| single3date = 16 February 1979{{cite web |title=Green Light (UK single) |url=http://www.cliffrichardsongs.com/popup.php?data=GreenLight197842_popupplus |website=cliffrichardsongs.com |access-date=1 January 2021}}

}}

}}

{{Album ratings

|rev1 = Allmusic

|rev1score = {{Rating|3|5}}[{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r47947|pure_url=yes}} Allmusic review]

}}

Green Light is the 21st studio album by Cliff Richard, released in September 1978.

Richard had seen a dip in popularity in the early 1970s until his 1976 album I'm Nearly Famous gave him major success. This comeback kept him regularly in the charts until the mid-1980s. Of this period's release, only the 1978 Small Corners gospel album and Green Light failed to make the top ten. The latter, with full commercial expectations, was a particular disappointment, only reaching No.25 in the album chart and lacking any hit singles.{{cite web|title=Cliff Richard - full Official Chart History|url=http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/19899/cliff-richard/|website=Official Charts Company|publisher=Official Charts Company|access-date=19 January 2016}} These included "Please Remember Me" and "Can't Take the Hurt Anymore". This was the second year since 1958 that this had happened. A third and final release, the title track "Green Light" gave him a chart entry, but only crept to No.57.

Despite the commercial failure, Green Light was well received by critics. Allmusic said it is "Richard at his most commercial and appealing and deserved to be more widely heard - particularly in the US".[{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r607128|pure_url=yes}} Allmusic.com - Album review] Probably the most well-known song on the album is "Count Me Out", which was later released as the B-side to his 1979 single "We Don't Talk Anymore", the song that revived his career by selling more than any other.[http://www.cliffrichardsongs.com/crworks7.php Cliff Richard songs.com - "Count Me Out"] Another ballad, "Never Even Thought" whose orchestration builds to a dramatic crescendo, was first released by Murray Head in 1975 on his album Say It Ain't So and also covered by Colin Blunstone in 1978. He later added new instrumentation for his remix album My Kinda Life in 1992.

Since his 1977 Every Face Tells a Story album, Richard had released two more - a Christian music album, Small Corners and a compilation album 40 Golden Greats, which had reached No.1 in November 1977. Soon after this, he also released a live album, Thank You Very Much, which celebrated 20 years of he and The Shadows in the music business.

The title track was covered in 1979 by Yvonne Elliman on her album Yvonne. His album was remastered and reissued on Compact disc in July 2002.[http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/4845675/a/Green+Light.htm CD Universe.com - Re-issue information]{{Cite web |url=http://www.sir-cliff.com/rerelease2.html |title=Sir Cliff.com - 2002 Re-releases |access-date=26 November 2008 |archive-date=10 March 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080310030527/http://www.sir-cliff.com/rerelease2.html |url-status=dead }}