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.

“Tonight's the Night”

The lead cut and title track from this girl group's debut album, "Tonight's the Night" was written by 19-year-old bandmember Shirley Owens, who sings lead, and producer Luther Dixon. The band from Passaic, New Jersey met in high school, first calling themselves the Pequellos. The song's frank thoughts about sexual and emotional surrender was racy for the time, but that didn't stop the Chiffons from cutting a similar version immediately after the original came out. "We were the first female group to write some of our own material," band member Beverly Lee recalls. "We did have some say-so in our writing."