''Chér'' (eventually reissued under the title ''Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves'') is the self titled seventh studio album by American singer-actress

Cher Cher (; born Cherilyn Sarkisian; May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Often referred to by the media as the Honorific nicknames in popular music, "Goddess of Pop", she has been described as embodying female ...

, released in September 1971 by

Kapp Records Kapp Records was an independent record label started in 1954 by David Kapp, brother of Jack Kapp (who set up American Decca Records in 1934). David Kapp founded his own label after stints with Decca and RCA Victor. Kapp licensed its records to L ...

. For this album, Cher left her husband

Sonny Bono Salvatore Phillip "Sonny" Bono (; February 16, 1935 – January 5, 1998) was an American singer, actor, and politician who came to fame in partnership with his second wife Cher as the popular singing duo Sonny & Cher. A member of the Republica ...

to produce the album, and for the first time she collaborated with

Snuff Garrett Thomas Lesslie Garrett (July 5, 1938 – December 16, 2015) known as Snuff Garrett or Tommy Garrett, was an American record producer whose most famous work was during the 1960s and 1970s. Early years Garrett was born in Dallas, Texas, United ...

and with

Al Capps Allan Alfonzo Capps (April 26, 1939 – June 7, 2018) was an American record producer, arranger, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and vocalist. Beginning in the 1960s and 1970s, he produced and arranged albums for popular artists such as Cher, ...

for the arrangements. The album was retitled after the success of the single of the same name. It received positive reviews from critics, and the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...

certified it Gold on July 2, 1972. Note that certification is under the original title "Cher" The album was her first and most successful album of the '70s. Two singles were released from the album, "The Way of Love" and "Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves", both reaching the top 10 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart.

Background and production

After the failures of the previous albums, Cher signed a contract with Kapp-

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group. Pre-history MCA Inc., a powerful talent agency and a television production company, entered the recorded music business in 1962 w ...

in 1971. Kapp and MCA were the labels with which Cher had more success in the seventies and she remained with them until 1974. Johnny Musso of Kapp Records thought that Garrett and Cher would work well together and decided to team them up. This time Garrett was introduced to redesign the Cher sound for her first comeback. The album was initially released under the name of ''Chér'' in September, and later re-released and retitled as ''Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves'' due to the success of the first single. Its success followed the debut of ''

The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour ''The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour'' was an American variety show that starred American pop singers Sonny Bono and Cher, who were married to each other at the time. The show ran on CBS in the United States, and premiered in August 1971. The show was ...

'', which premiered on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

in August 1971 as a summer series. This was also due to Cher's new image, as she dropped her

hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...

attire and began being dressed by fashion designer

Bob Mackie Robert Gordon "Bob" Mackie (born March 24, 1939) is an American fashion designer and costumier, best known for his dressing of entertainment icons such as Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett, Diahann Carroll, Carol Channing, Cher, Doris Day, Marlene D ...

, who emphasized her exotic looks and made her one of the most fashionable and glamorous women of the '70s.

Composition and recording

The

opening track An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records coll ...

of the album is "

The Way of Love "The Way of Love" is a song written by Jacques ("Jack") Dieval, with English lyrics by Al Stillman. It was originally a 1960 French song titled "J'ai le mal de toi", and it was first recorded in English by Kathy Kirby in 1965. The best-known Englis ...

", a cover song originally by

Kathy Kirby Kathy Kirby (born Catherine Ethel O'Rourke; 20 October 1938 – 19 May 2011) was an English singer, reportedly the highest-paid female singer of her generation. She is best known for her cover version of Doris Day's " Secret Love" and for re ...

. Other covers are " Fire and Rain" and "

He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" is a ballad written by Bobby Scott and Bob Russell. Originally recorded by Kelly Gordon in 1969, the song became a worldwide hit for the Hollies later that year and also a hit for Neil Diamond in 1970. It h ...

". The rest of the album includes narrative ballads. During the recording session, three other songs were recorded, "Classified 1-A", "Don't Put It On Me" and "Gentle Foe". The first two were added in the UK version of the album, and later released as a single in the US. "Don't Put It On Me" was added as a bonus track on the official

8-track tape The 8-track tape (formally Stereo 8; commonly called eight-track cartridge, eight-track tape, and eight-track) is a magnetic tape sound recording technology that was popular from the mid-1960s to the early 1980s, when the compact cassette, wh ...

of this album that closed program four. In 2000, "Classified 1-A" appeared as a bonus track on the album '' not.com.mercial''. "Gentle Foe" was used in 1971 as a soundtrack for the documentary ''

Once Upon a Wheel ''Once Upon a Wheel'' is a 1971 ABC television documentary on the history of auto racing. It was hosted by Paul Newman and was directed and produced by David Winters. The production house behind it was Winters/Rosen and the project was sponsore ...

'', but remains unreleased.

Release

The album was originally released in 1971. In 1992 it was released on CD for the first time. In August 1999, the US version of the album was re-issued on

Universal Records Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch–American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

and in the UK in 1993 the original album and Cher's next studio album ''

Foxy Lady "Foxy Lady" (or alternatively "Foxey Lady") is a song by the Jimi Hendrix Experience. It first appeared on their 1967 debut album ''Are You Experienced'' and was later issued as their third single in the U.S. with the alternate spelling. It is o ...

'' were re-issued together on one CD called ''Cher/Foxy Lady'', which features all of the tracks from both albums. "

Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves" is a song by American singer and actress Cher from her 1971 seventh studio album '' Chér'' (eventually reissued under the title ''Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves''). Kapp Records, a division of MCA Records, released it as th ...

", the album's first single release, reached #1 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and #4 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves" was her first number one in the US as a solo artist on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart; it also reached #1 in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

. It peaked at #6 on the US Adult Contemporary chart as well. The song was performed live on ''

'', featuring Cher dressed as a gypsy wearing a huge wig singing in front of a wagon. The second and last single was the opening track "

". It peaked at #7 in the US, #2 on the Adult Contemporary chart and #5 in Canada. Both tracks were performed on numerous Cher tours.

Critical reception

''Chér'' received mostly positive reviews from music critics. Joe Viglione of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Music ...

later described the album's songs as "middle-of-the road pop", and called ''Chér'' a "good album with some great moments". He also wrote that "Cher never minded androgynous or neutral gender identity in her songs" and musically "her solo material could soar to heights not possible in a partnership — "The Way of Love" being one example". ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

s contemporary review said that "Cher does possess one of the distinctive voices in popular music today" and about the album, "Here she gets some lush orchestral frameworks within which to tell her story".

Commercial performance

''Chér'' debuted on the ''Billboard'' 200 at number 194 in late September 1971, eventually peaking at 16. During 1972 sales reached 500,000 copies in North America, and it was certified

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...

by the RIAA. The album became one of Cher's biggest hits at the time and the lead single was nominated for a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

for "Best Pop Female Vocalist". The album also charted in the Canadian album chart and reached number 14. In Europe it charted only in the Norway album chart, failing to enter the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

. It also peaked on the Australian albums chart at number 43.

Track listing

Personnel

*Cher –

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

*Snuff Garrett –

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

– arrangement assistance *Lenny Roberts –

sound engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproductio ...

Richard Avedon Richard Avedon (May 15, 1923 – October 1, 2004) was an American fashion and portrait photographer. He worked for ''Harper's Bazaar'', ''Vogue'' and ''Elle'' specializing in capturing movement in still pictures of fashion, theater and danc ...

–

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is emplo ...

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cher 1971 albums Cher albums Albums produced by Snuff Garrett MCA Records albums Kapp Records albums