My Amazon Reviews: Cher "The Very Best of Cher"

When you turn back time, this is what you should find
 4 Out Of 5 Stars

By far the best of Cher's many hit collections, this single disc "Very Best Of" takes the bulk of her top tens (even with Sonny) from assorted labels (Warners, Geffen, MCA, Casablanca) and packs the CD to its running limit. As Cher is one of the few performers to have managed a multi-decade run of chart toppers (she's been in the Top Ten every decade since the 60's, lastly in 2002), this is a testament to her longevity. She's also the oldest woman in rock history to top the charts, when "Believe" did so in 1998.

What makes Cher such pop flypaper? It's that she's such a force of personality that she could adapt to changing trends and genres, and still sound like herself. While some may find this facile, when pop is concerned, it is pure gold. It means you can get the hippie vibe of "I Got You Babe," the pure camp of "Gypsies Tramps and Thieves," the Casablanca Disco of "Take Me Home" and one of the first of the huge Auto-Tune hits in "Believe." Behind it all is Cher's deep, resonating vibrato of a voice, plowing into each song with both her skill and the song's need. Who else could take the sweet-syrup of Diane Warren's ballads and the lit-rock of Bob Dylan and claim them as her own?

More than anything else, Cher is a great song stylist. There are 21 songs here, and I can easily think of another half dozen that could have come on board. (My best choices would have "Walking In Memphis," the Marc Cohn hit and "We All Sleep Alone," or some of the Black Rose or Gregg Allman album tracks.) However, for pure pop history and chutzpah, "The Very Best of Cher" takes the prize for Cher collections.