Very Best Of Cher CD

21 unforgettable Cher songs on one disc spotlighting Sonny & Cher along with her recent hits. slipcase. Warner/Geffen. 2003.

Personnel includes: Cher, Sonny Bono, Peter Cetera (vocals); Rodney Jerkins (keyboards, programming).
Producers include: Mark Taylor, Brian Rawling, Diane Warren, Desmond Child, Sonny Bono.
Compilation producer: David McLees.
Includes liner notes by Kurt Loder.
THE VERY BEST OF CHER: SPECIAL EDITION includes THE VERY BEST OF CHER and LIVE: THE FAREWELL TOUR recorded live at Miami Continental Arena in November 2002.
Personnel includes: Cher (vocals); Sonny Bono, Pete Cetera (vocals); David Barry (guitar, background vocals); Paul Mirkovich, Ollie Marland (keyboards, background vocals); Bill Sharp (bass, background vocals); Mark Schulman (drums); Stacy Campbell, Patti Darcy Jones (background vocals).
Producers include: Sonny Bono, Peter Aher, Snuff Garrett, Cher, Mark Taylor.
Compilation producer: David McLees.
Recorded between 1965 & 2002. Includes liner notes by Kurt Loder.
Audio Remasterers: Dan Hersch; Bill Inglot.
Audio Remixer: Junior Vasquez.
Liner Note Author: Kurt Loder.
Recording information: ??/1960-11/2002.
Photographers: Kevyn Aucoin; Norman Seeff; Harry Langdon; Sonny Bono.
Since it's a cross-licensed, 21-track collection, it stands to reason that Warner Strategic Marketing's 2003 The Very Best of Cher is finally the Cher collection that gets it right, presenting a fully rounded portrait of her long, winding, multi-label career. It's not, but it's closer than any previous collection, eclipsing Hip-O's 2001 The Ultimate Collection by containing hits from every aspect of her career, from Sonny & Cher's "I Got You Babe" to her 1999 comeback, "Believe" and beyond to the new, Rodney Jerkins-produced "A Different Kind of Love Song" (yes, it does feature heavy vocoder work). Where other collections emphasized her '70s hits, this focuses on the Geffen work, which may be appropriate since they rarely appeared on hits compilations before this, along with the late-'90s comeback on Warner. This is all pushed toward the front, taking up the first 11 songs, which, frankly, is infuriating sequencing, especially since it bounces between the Geffen album rock and the post-house, neo-disco of the Warner years. Also, there is simply too much Warner material, given that apart from "Believe" it was entirely too generic and also not big hits. They nearly knock the collection off track by providing a dead stretch in the middle of the record before it regains momentum with 1979's "Take Me Home" and then more or less works its way back to her beginning. This is a bewildering choice in sequencing, and it hurts the general listenablity of the record; even if all periods are represented and all the big hits are here, the lack of logic leads to a herky-jerky sequencing that is tiring on the ear. That said, this does have all the big hits -- "Believe," "If I Could Turn Back Time," "Just Like Jesse James," "After All," "I Found Someone," "The Shoop Shoop Song," "All I Really Want to Do," "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)," "Half-Breed," "Gypsies Tramps & Thieves," among them. And even if the presentation leaves a lot to be desired, it's still nice to have all these in one place. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
The word "diva" has been thrown around a great deal in the pop world since the '90s, but Cherilyn Sarkasian, better known as Cher, was one of the original pop divas. As such, she's not only survived but prospered through the ever-changing winds of music trends. THE VERY BEST OF CHER covers all the stylistically varied phases of Cher's career. The tracks run in roughly reverse chronological order, kicking off with her massive '90s dance pop hit "Believe." Along the way, there are stops at '80s power balladry ("If I Could Turn Back Time"), late-'70s disco ("Take Me Home"), early-'70s AM pop ("Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves," "Half Breed"), and of course, the '60s folk/rock/pop hits