Sonny & Cher - This Good Earth (1970)

As 1967 became 1968, with two hit records and one flop movie, 'Good Times', representing Sonny & Cher's accomplishments for the year, Sonny Bono decided that movie stardom was the obvious future for Cher, with himself as auteur. As he threw himself into the film 'Chastity', recording output dwindled, with the duo cutting just two tracks in 1968. The first, 'Circus' was Bono's dump on psychedelic culture, with an atomic explosion for the record's finale, while the brassy 'You Gotta Have A Thing Of Your Own' was an improvement, but did no better in the charts than 'Circus'. As a business plan, there's some wisdom in diversifying into movies and general entertainment, and Bono was correct about Cher's potential as a superstar, but he bowdlerized the script of 'Chastity' to suit his opinions about modern girls, and despite some praise for Cher's acting, the resulting film was a flop. 1969 began tenuously, with Cher migrating to Atco as a solo artist with hopes of a musical revival, and she was taken to Muscle Shoals studios in Alabama, with an album green-lighted for an April release. Sonny & Cher's next single, the passably commercial duet 'You're A Friend Of Mine', failed to chart, and featured a solo Bono song on the flip, and to finalize their contract with Atco, Sonny & Cher once again reunited at Gold Star studios in early 1970 for 'Get It Together', which followed their last few singles in failing to bother the charts. Rumour has it that around this time Bono wanted to create an album which would repeat the success of 1965's 'Look At Us', and they decided to call it 'This Good Earth'. It was planned to be released after 1967's 'In Case You're In Love' album, maybe in 1970 or 1971, but their new record label Kapp Records issued 'Sonny & Cher Live' in 1971 instead, followed by 'All I Ever Need Is You' later the same year, and 'This Good Earth' was quietly forgotten. We know the names of six of the possible tracks, most of which were released as singles, and by adding a couple of stand-alone single releases from 1967, and some contemporary b-sides we have enough material to put together an approximation of what this album could have sounded like.   

Track listing

01 Circus  
02 You're A Friend Of Mine  
03 You Gotta Have A Thing Of Your Own  
04 Get It Together 
05 Hold You Tighter  
06 You And Me
07 Good Combination
08 I Would Marry You Today
09 She's No Better Than Me 
10 Just A Little
11 Gentle Foe
12 Plastic Man