| Wonderful Life | |
| Type: | soundtrack |
| Artist: | Cliff Richard with The Shadows |
| Cover: | Wonderful-life-cliff-richard.jpg |
| Released: | 3 July 1964[1] |
| Recorded: | EMI Studios, London |
| Label: | Columbia (EMI) |
| Producer: | Norrie Paramor |
| Prev Title: | When in Spain |
| Prev Year: | 1963 |
| Next Title: | Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp |
| Next Year: | 1964 |
Wonderful Life is a soundtrack album by Cliff Richard with The Shadows to the 1964 film Wonderful Life. It is their third film soundtrack album and Richard's eleventh album overall. The album reached number 2 in the UK Albums Chart, spending 8 weeks in the top 3 and 23 weeks on in the top 20, but was a marked decline from their previous soundtrack album Summer Holiday that had spent 14 weeks at number 1.[2]
The album had two lead singles, the first being the instrumental "Theme for Young Lovers" from the Shadows, followed by "On the Beach" with Richard being backed by the Shadows.
Some of the recordings on the album are not those used on the actual film soundtrack, including the title song. The vocal takes are different and in some cases the orchestrations are also altered slightly. The recordings on the album are generally more polished than the soundtrack ones. The Shadows' recording line-up included Brian Locking on bass guitar although by the time filming commenced John Rostill had replaced him.
The vinyl LP released on the Columbia label in the UK featured an inner sleeve with a storyline outlining the plot and the position of each of the musical numbers, illustrated with stills from the film.
Released in the US with the title Swingers Paradise the album did not chart.
| Chart (1964) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (Kent)[3] | 5 |
| Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[4] | 4 |