Day 497 - Cliff Richard - Thief in the Night

497. Cliff Richard - Thief in the Night
From the album Now You See Me, Now You Don't
(EMI, 1982)

"I do believe the only artist on this list to be officially 'knighted' is Cliff Richard. Not bad for a pop star and teen heart throb from the 1950′s and 60′s. Then again John Lennon was a fan and he is said to be the first real 'rock star' from Great Britain. Sir Cliff Richard has also been a devoted Christian and has recorded several Gospel themed albums. The one in question here is the very best as it is simply a pop album with Gospel themes rather than a Gospel album that tries to sound pop.

The album is also unique in that it also generated a comeback of sort for the artist in his native land after several years of unsuccessful pop albums. NYSMNYD went Gold in England and had several radio hits on both side of the Atlantic.

Released in 1982 Christian music was constantly gravitating toward 'pop stars' who professed a Christian belief (Bob Dylan, Joe English), but this album never saw Christian distribution and many missed this great album. Thief in the Night is a much heavier song musically than the normal Richard bubble gum and is the center piece to the whole project. It rocks and like the rest of the albums sounds like it was influenced by Mark Williamson and Chris Eaton.

The album has a bit of an Ambrosia feel with silky, pop driven rockers and big ballads meant for radio consumption. But the rockers stand out like the previously mentioned Thief in the Night and the bombastic Son of Thunder. Little Town, Chris Eaton's arranged version of O Little Town of Bethlehem would also be recorded by Amy Grant and Michael W Smith. Richard’s version would be the best." (source: CCM's 500 Best Albums)

I couldn't find the original album version of the song on YouTube, but this live version from Walking in the Light is very close to it. Here is that version of the song:



Here is another live performance video of the song from the BBC TV special Christmas With Cliff from 1980. Although his vocals get buried a bit by the 2 female singers, the music is excellent.