Cher - 3614 Jackson Highway

Simple formula: strong voice, strong songs

Moving away from her initial period of pop hits, this album finds Cher working with the best that Atlantic could offer in terms of songwriting and production, and the result is pretty satisfying.

Take the two songs originally released as singles from this album, For What’s It’s Worth and I Walk On Guilded Splinters. Each were already well known in apparently definitive versions, yet Cher came close to making them her own. Three Dylan songs work well with the lady on familiar territory, Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You and I Threw It All Away working the best. Possibly the best moments, however, come with the two Penn/Oldham songs towards the end, with the power and drive of Cry Like A Baby balancing the more laidback feel of Do Right Woman, Do Right Man.

With this sort of song lineup it would have been difficult to mess up. Thankfully they didn’t, as Cher and the team delivered a satisfying album that’s well worth its reissue.

Rhino | 8122-79907-4

Reviewed by Kingsley Abbott
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