Now You See Me, Now You Don't is an album by the English singer Cliff Richard released in August 1982 on the EMI label. It reached No. 4 in the UK albums chart, No. 1 in Denmark, No. 21 in Australia and No. 19 in New Zealand. It was certified Gold in the UK. The lead single from the album, "The Only Way Out" was released in July 1982, reaching No. 10 in the UK Singles Chart. With this foundation, the album peaked at No. 4 on its debut in early September - matching the chart placing of Richard's previous two studio albums. Follow-up single "Where Do We Go from Here" was released in September, but stalled at No. 60. In Germany, "It Has to Be You, It Has to Be Me" was released as a single instead, and reached number 36 in a five-week chart run. Late in November, "Little Town" was lifted from the album to become Richard's first Christmas song to be released as a Christmas single. It reached No. 11 in December.
Background
Richard first went public about his Christian faith in June 1966. The following year he released Good News, his first album of traditional gospel songs. It mixed rock-tinged American gospel with traditional hymn performances. Richard followed it up with further gospel and Christian albums intermingled between releases of his mainstream pop albums, About that Man, His Land, Help it Along and Small Corners. Richard had also begun intermingling gospel tracks into some of his mainstream pop albums, starting with "Such is the Mystery" on his 1976 album I'm Nearly Famous, and continuing on 1977's Every Face Tells a Story. From then on, more gospel songs that he considered to be musically high-calibre became available to him; he included three gospel songs on his 1981 album Wired for Sound. For his 1982 follow-up album, Richard planned a fully-fledged gospel album. He chose to produce it together with Craig Pruess. A quote from Pruess identifies two particular goals Richard had in mind for the album: "He wanted this album to be more heavyweight and wanted to break away from the pop sound. He approached it to prove a point. He didn't want his gospel albums to be regarded as inferior to his other albums. He felt they could be as good as anything else he did. He wanted to fuse his beliefs and his enthusiasm with his professional life." The resultant album is not made up entirely of overtly gospel songs though, and has been described as a "gospel album in disguise" in the liner notes of the 2002 digitally remastered CD re-release. In reflection on the album, Richard himself said "I knew people would say the album is neither one thing nor the other. But it was very satisfying for me not to have to divide my musical tastes in two and produce an album simply offering music that I enjoyed." The track "Thief in the Night" was originally recorded by Christian trio Nutshell on their 1979 album Believe It or Not. Richard also went on to record an orchestral version of the song with the London Philharmonic Orchestra for his 1983 live album Dressed for the Occasion and later included it on his 1985 CCM compilation album Walking in the Light.
Critical reception
Billboard magazine in 1982 gave a positive albeit brief review of the album, saying "Richard has made some of the best pop singles of recent years, and several cuts here are worthy to join that list." The album was described as "Richard's latest continues the pattern of his recent LPs, concentrating on sleek, buoyant pop tracks that bristle with excitement. There are also a few ballads for balance, including two traditional pieces - 'The Water is Wide' and 'Little Town,' where a new melody was put to the Christmas favourite 'Oh Little Town of Bethlehem'."
Recorded at EMI Abbey Road during September 1981. Strawberry Studios during January 1982. Strawberry Studios during March and April 1982. EMI Abbey Road March 25 and 26 1982 for the orchestra.
Mixed at The Townhouse, April and May 1982
Mastered by Gordon Vicary and Keith Bessey at The Townhouse.
