Cher: Half Breed : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Cher and producer Snuff Garrett have resurrected the LP pegged to a hit single and embellished it with a few cover versions and throwaway tracks. Like most of those decade-old affairs, it's a-loser. "Half Breed" itself has only Cher's frantic vocal and Garrett's supremely commercial production to recommend it. The lyrics assume both white and red persons are prejudiced against the other race, an assumption of the same staggering magnitude as the axiomatic portrayal of gypsies as sluts and whores in "Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves." As for the rest, the lavish production is wasted. Cher's amazingly powerful voice is not being used effectively, and it is frustrating to hear it squandered on rubbish.

Meanwhile, Sonny and Cher Live in Las Vegas Volume II has been rightly ignored both critically and commercially. One wonders if the indifferent response to it will spur the Bonos to devoting more attention to the production and selection of their material.