1.
Album
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Album, is a collection of audio recordings issued as a single item on CD, record, audio tape, or another medium. Albums of recorded music were developed in the early 20th century, first as books of individual 78rpm records, vinyl LPs are still issued, though in the 21st century album sales have mostly focused on compact disc and MP3 formats. The audio cassette was a format used from the late 1970s through to the 1990s alongside vinyl, an album may be recorded in a recording studio, in a concert venue, at home, in the field, or a mix of places. Recording may take a few hours to years to complete, usually in several takes with different parts recorded separately. Recordings that are done in one take without overdubbing are termed live, the majority of studio recordings contain an abundance of editing, sound effects, voice adjustments, etc. With modern recording technology, musicians can be recorded in separate rooms or at times while listening to the other parts using headphones. Album covers and liner notes are used, and sometimes additional information is provided, such as analysis of the recording, historically, the term album was applied to a collection of various items housed in a book format. In musical usage the word was used for collections of pieces of printed music from the early nineteenth century. Later, collections of related 78rpm records were bundled in book-like albums, the LP record, or 33 1⁄3 rpm microgroove vinyl record, is a gramophone record format introduced by Columbia Records in 1948. It was adopted by the industry as a standard format for the album. Apart from relatively minor refinements and the important later addition of stereophonic sound capability, the term album had been carried forward from the early nineteenth century when it had been used for collections of short pieces of music. Later, collections of related 78rpm records were bundled in book-like albums, as part of a trend of shifting sales in the music industry, some commenters have declared that the early 21st century experienced the death of the album. Sometimes shorter albums are referred to as mini-albums or EPs, Albums such as Tubular Bells, Amarok, Hergest Ridge by Mike Oldfield, and Yess Close to the Edge, include fewer than four tracks. There are no rules against artists such as Pinhead Gunpowder referring to their own releases under thirty minutes as albums. These are known as box sets, material is stored on an album in sections termed tracks, normally 11 or 12 tracks. A music track is a song or instrumental recording. The term is associated with popular music where separate tracks are known as album tracks. When vinyl records were the medium for audio recordings a track could be identified visually from the grooves
2.
Steve Harley
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Steve Harley is an English singer and songwriter, best known for his work with the 1970s rock group Cockney Rebel, with whom he still occasionally tours. Harley was born Deptford, south London, in 1951, as Stephen Nice, during the summer of 1953, Harley contracted polio, causing him to spend four years in hospital between the ages of three and 16. He underwent major surgery in both 1963 and 1966, at the age of 10, he had received a Spanish, nylon-strung guitar from his parents at Christmas. Harleys mother was a jazz singer, Harley was a pupil of Edmund Waller Primary School in New Cross, London. He then attended Haberdashers Askes Hatcham Boys Grammar School until he was 17, having taken classical violin lessons from the age of 9 to 15, he played the instrument with the school orchestra. He left the school without completing his advanced level exams, in 1968, at the age of 17, Harley began work as a trainee accountant with the Daily Express, which was his first full-time job. This was despite having only gained 24% in his mock O-Level maths exam, from here he progressed to become a reporter, and was initially interviewed by various newspaper editors. Harley finally signed to train with Essex County Newspapers, over this duration of three years Harley worked at the Essex County Standard, the Braintree and Witham Times, the Maldon and Burnham Standard and the Colchester Evening Gazette. He then returned to London to work for the East London Advertiser, Harley became disillusioned when the editor insisted on reporting on a shoplifter who had absentmindedly walked out with a tin of soup and a tin of baked beans. Taking advice from his representative, he stopped wearing a tie. Harley started out playing in bars and clubs in the early 1970s, Harley also busked around London on the Underground and in Portobello Road. In 1971 he auditioned for the folk band Odin as rhythm guitarist and co-singer, which was where he met John Crocker, who would become the first Cockney Rebel violinist. The folk scene proved not to be Harleys preference, and in the midst of writing songs, he formed the band Cockney Rebel, as a vehicle for his own work, in late 1972. Through the band Harley first met drummer Stuart Elliott, who has continued to record, the original Cockney Rebel consisted of Harley, Crocker, Elliott, bassist Paul Jeffreys and guitarist Nick Jones. The line up of Harley, Crocker, Elliott, Jeffreys, during June and July 1973 the band recorded their debut album, The Human Menagerie, which was released in late 1973. Produced by Neil Harrison, the album included the single Sebastian which became a European hit, although, like the album, it failed to chart in the UK. After EMI expressed the wish for Harley to write a song with hit potential, Judy Teen was released in early 1974, and peaked at No.5 in the UK. The bands second album, The Psychomodo, produced by Harley and Alan Parsons, was released in June 1974, the single Mr. Soft also peaked at No.8 in the UK
3.
Record producer
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A record producer or music producer oversees and manages the sound recording and production of a band or performers music, which may range from recording one song to recording a lengthy concept album. A producer has many roles during the recording process, the roles of a producer vary. The producer may perform these roles himself, or help select the engineer, the producer may also pay session musicians and engineers and ensure that the entire project is completed within the record companies budget. A record producer or music producer has a broad role in overseeing and managing the recording. Producers also often take on an entrepreneurial role, with responsibility for the budget, schedules, contracts. In the 2010s, the industry has two kinds of producers with different roles, executive producer and music producer. Executive producers oversee project finances while music producers oversee the process of recording songs or albums. In most cases the producer is also a competent arranger, composer. The producer will also liaise with the engineer who concentrates on the technical aspects of recording. Noted producer Phil Ek described his role as the person who creatively guides or directs the process of making a record, indeed, in Bollywood music, the designation actually is music director. The music producers job is to create, shape, and mold a piece of music, at the beginning of record industry, producer role was technically limited to record, in one shot, artists performing live. The role of producers changed progressively over the 1950s and 1960s due to technological developments, the development of multitrack recording caused a major change in the recording process. Before multitracking, all the elements of a song had to be performed simultaneously, all of these singers and musicians had to be assembled in a large studio and the performance had to be recorded. As well, for a song that used 20 instruments, it was no longer necessary to get all the players in the studio at the same time. Examples include the rock sound effects of the 1960s, e. g. playing back the sound of recorded instruments backwards or clanging the tape to produce unique sound effects. These new instruments were electric or electronic, and thus they used instrument amplifiers, new technologies like multitracking changed the goal of recording, A producer could blend together multiple takes and edit together different sections to create the desired sound. For example, in jazz fusion Bandleader-composer Miles Davis album Bitches Brew, producers like Phil Spector and George Martin were soon creating recordings that were, in practical terms, almost impossible to realise in live performance. Producers became creative figures in the studio, other examples of such engineers includes Joe Meek, Teo Macero, Brian Wilson, and Biddu
4.
The Cream of Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel
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The Cream of Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel is a compilation album by Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, released in 1999. It features material from Cockney Rebel, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, the compilation, originally released in 1999, followed from another Steve Harley EMI compilation More Than Somewhat – The Very Best of Steve Harley, which had been released in 1998. The Cream of Steve Harley & Cockney Rebels artwork and design was handled by P. Linard Marketing & Advertising Ltd, the compilation later made an appearance in the official UK Budget Albums Chart during January 2006. It reached #21 on 14 January 2006, and lasted within the Top 50 for four weeks, the album was released by EMI Gold on CD in the UK only. Later on 28 February 2003, the album was available as an online digital MP3 download. On 7 July 2008, the album was re-issued by EMI Gold for release in the UK and this release had the same track-listing, but new artwork, featuring a photograph of Harley in front of a red background. Dave Thompson of AllMusic reviewed the compilation, writing, This 16-song compilation brings together an unchallenging but almost uniformly excellent roundup of Steve Harleys 1970s output
5.
Acoustic and Pure: Live
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Acoustic and Pure, Live is a live acoustic album by English songwriter and musician Steve Harley, released in 2003. The album features ex-Cockney Rebel guitarist Jim Cregan, while certain tracks also include members of Cockney Rebel. During 2002, Harley made plans for an acoustic tour that autumn. This was the first time Cregan toured with Harley since 1976, in early September 2002, Cregan began rehearsing forty songs for the upcoming tour, and later in the month traveled to the UK from Los Angeles. Harley and Cregan settled on a set-list of approximately twenty-five songs each night for the tour and it was also announced that at a small handful of venues, Harley and Cregan would be joined by members of the current Cockney Rebel line-up, including Barry Wickens and James Lascelles. For the recording of the shows, Harley used equipment from FX Rentals in London as well as Sony MD and he later announced in October that he hoped to have the album released a few days after the tours final show. He commented that the album would be a reproduction of this tour. In late 2002, with the ongoing, the album was made available as a pre-order. Soon afterwards, the album was produced, compiled and edited by Harley and it was mastered by Clive at Audio Edit Productions. Originally, the albums pre-orders were due to be dispatched before the end of the year, however, the albums release was delayed by a few weeks due to unforeseen printing issues over the CDs sleeve. Harley and his team had rejected the first two test prints from the company, and settled on the third. Commenting on its release in a January 2003 diary entry, Harley said. We played 22 to 25 tracks each night, on a single CD13 was ample, someone had to decide and it was me. Acoustic and Pure, Live was released in early 2003, featuring thirteen tracks, the album used performances from various recorded concerts on the tour. After its release, Harley commented in a March diary entry and its gratifying to hear the comments made to the Guestbook on this site. We loved that tour and really wanted to put out a record that reflected its atmosphere. Some tracks have their little glitches, but I was determined not to doctor the tapes/mini-discs to the degree, depriving myself, as well as all of you who were there. Jim and I are real musicians, not machines or pre-programmed red-coats miming to a backing-track and my dear friend, the masterful Matt Butler, did a fine job of mixing and cross-fading and correcting little technical nuisances
6.
Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel
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Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel are an English glam rock band from the early 1970s. Their music covers a range of styles from pop to progressive rock, over the years they have had five albums in the UK Albums Chart and twelve singles in the UK Singles Chart. Steve Harley grew up in Londons New Cross area and attended Haberdashers Askes Hatcham College and his musical career began in the late 1960s when he was busking and performing his own songs, some of which were later recorded by him and the band. After an initial stint as a music journalist, the original Cockney Rebel was formed when Harley hooked up with his folk music partner, Crocker in 1972. Crocker had just finished a stint with Trees and they advertised and auditioned drummer Stuart Elliott, bassist Paul Jeffreys. This line-up played one of the bands first gigs at The Roundhouse in Chalk Farm, the band was signed to EMI after playing five gigs. Their first single, Sebastian, was a success in Europe. Their debut album, The Human Menagerie, was released in 1973, although not a commercial success they did attract a growing following in London. Harley managed to irritate a significant segment of the press with his self-aggrandisement, even as their music was getting rave reviews. There then followed the album The Psychomodo, a Live at the BBC album from 1995 included material recorded during a 1974 BBC Radio 1 broadcast. Following the European single Psychomodo, a single from the album. Tumbling Down was also issued in America as a promotional single, by this time the problems within the band had already reached a head, and all the musicians, with the exception of Elliott, quit at the end of a successful UK tour. Crocker continued to write songs and perform, forming a duet with his brother, after a brief period with Be-Bop Deluxe in 1974, Reame-James and Jeffreys formed the band Chartreuse in 1976. Harleys next appearance on BBC Televisions Top of the Pops was supported by musicians and Francis Monkman. The bands single Big Big Deal was issued in 1974 and was almost immediately withdrawn, from then on, the band was a band in name only, being more or less a Harley solo project. In 1974, an album, The Best Years of Our Lives was released, produced by The Beatles recording engineer. This included the track Make Me Smile which would go on to be a UK number one single in February 1975, and it sold over one million copies globally. Amongst the backing vocalists on the acts only No.1 was the future chart-topper, changing the band name from Cockney Rebel to Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel for the No.1 hit, the degeneration was rapid
7.
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
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The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the worlds largest arts festival, which in 2016, spanned 25 days and featured 50,266 performances of 3,269 shows in 294 venues. Established in 1947 as an alternative to the Edinburgh International Festival, it takes place annually in Edinburgh, Scotlands capital and it is an open access performing arts festival, meaning there is no selection committee, and anyone may participate, with any type of performance. The Fringe has often showcased experimental, challenging or controversial works that might not be invited to a more conservative arts festival, the Fringe board of directors is drawn from members of the Festival Fringe Society, who are often Fringe participants themselves – performers or administrators. Elections are held once a year, in August, and Board members serve a term of four years, the Board appoints the Fringe Chief Executive, who is currently Shona McCarthy and assumed the role in March 2016. The Chief Executive operates under the chair, currently Professor Sir Timothy OShea, the Fringe started life when eight theatre companies turned up uninvited to the inaugural Edinburgh International Festival in 1947. With the official festival using the major venues, these companies took over smaller. Seven performed in Edinburgh, and one undertook a version of the morality play Everyman in Dunfermline Abbey, about 20 miles north. These groups aimed to take advantage of the large assembled theatre crowds to showcase their own alternative theatre, although at the time it was not recognised as such, this was the first Edinburgh Festival Fringe. This meant that two defining features of the future Fringe were established at the very beginning – the lack of invitations to perform. I am afraid some of us are not going to be at home during the evenings. The word fringe had in fact used in a review of Everyman in 1947. Late night revues, which would become a feature of Fringes, the first one was the New Drama Groups After The Show, a series of sketches taking place after Donald Pleasences Ebb Tide, in 1952. Among the talent to appear in early Fringe revues were Ned Sherrin in 1955, due to many reviewers only being able to attend Fringe events late night after the official festival was finished, the Fringe came to be seen as being about revues. It was a few years before an official programme for the Fringe was created. John Menzies compiled a list of shows under the title Other Events in their omnibus festival brochure and this was funded by participating companies and was entitled Additional Entertainments, since the name Fringe was still not yet in regular usage. It also used a strange cover motif, a first attempt was made to provide a central booking service in 1955 by students from the university, although it lost money, which was blamed on those who had not taken part. Formal organisation progressed in 1959, with the formation of the Festival Fringe Society, the push for such an organisation was led by Michael Imison, director of Oxford Theatre Group. A constitution was drawn up, in which the policy of not vetting or censoring shows was set out, nineteen companies participated in the Fringe in that year
8.
Anytime! (A Live Set)
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Anytime. is a live acoustic album by Steve Harley, released under the name The Steve Harley Band and featuring members of the Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel line-up of the time. In a June diary entry for his website, Harley revealed that several shows on the tour had been recorded for a future live CD. He commented, Have recorded several shows, the Jazz Café being the really interesting one so far, Worcester is sold-out for this Saturday and we are recording that one, too. Should sound quite fabulous on the digital recording, will decide on tracks a short while after the tour, and mix them with my dear mate, the brilliant Matt Butler. Later in October, Harley announced he was considering releasing a new live album and he also spoke of the possibility of including one or two newly-recorded studio tracks, as well as an unreleased studio track from Harleys sessions with Mickie Most in the mid-1980s. By November, Harley announced in an entry that he was considering mixing the live tracks and getting the album ready for a release in March 2004. During November, work commenced on the recordings, with Harley working with engineer Matt Butler. Harley revealed in a late November diary entry, New album almost ready. My friend and favourite recording engineer, Matt Butler, is working on the Worcester and Jazz Café recordings now and I have to say, the chaps played some beautiful music, didnt they. Havent settled on a list, yet, but if some titles are same as on the last one, thats because this was a different show and the record will be released on a bona fide record label. The Last Feast and A Friend for Life, too, but mostly tracks which did not appear on Acoustic and Pure, in late January, Harley announced the new album was on schedule for being released at the beginning of the upcoming tour. By the end of month, the albums title had been decided upon. Harley commented, I like it a lot, Matt Butler has done a fine job of re-mixing the sound and the Worcester and Jazz Café audiences do more than their bit. There is some brilliant playing from the band. It will be on sale from the first night of the tour, in lobbies around Britain, from Southampton to, well, Glasgow and it features eleven live tracks and a bonus track, Sophistication, which was a previously unreleased studio recording from 1986. To date, it remains exclusive to the album, in June 2005 interview with Record Collector magazines Nick Dalton, Harley spoke of his current musical style, Anytime. is seriously unplugged electro-acoustic. Its similar to original Cockney Rebel – violin, no electric guitar, but I still like playing with my electric band. Im doing Glastonbury again, headlining the acoustic stage for the first time, the previously unreleased track Sophistication, from 1986, was produced by Harley and Mickie Most
9.
Star for a Week (Dino)
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Star for a Week is a song by British singer-songwriter Steve Harley, released as a promotional single in 1993 from his third solo album Yes You Can. The single followed the UK release of the album during that year and it was the second single to be released from the album, following the release of Irresistible as a European single in 1992. Star for a Week was written by Harley, and produced by Harley, Star for a Week was first been performed live in 1979 at Harleys sold out Hammersmith Odeon concert. For many years after, Harley would almost always perform the track at live concert. After signing to RAK Records in 1984, the song was due to be released on Harleys 1986 solo album El Gran Senor, however when the label went bankrupt, a few years later, Star for a Week was re-recorded for the Yes You Can album. Like much of the album, the song was recorded and remixed at the White House Studios in Bures, Suffolk, England. When the album was given a UK release by Food for Thought Records in 1993, Star for a Week was issued as a promotional single, designed to gain radio-play. Intrigued by the story, the song features many lines that Harley heard through TV news coverage of the two outlaws, particularly quotes from Dinos own mother. The line speaking of the man with no name was in reference to the Clint Eastwood character of the same name, Harley felt the story had a little bit of Billy the Kid about it. About nine or ten years ago, theres this boy in Norfolk called Dino and he did this for several weeks - he got caught eventually, red handed. I remember the cops said to him, whatd you do it for, youve never done anything wrong before in your life. And he said I just wanted to be somebody, I just wanted to be a star for a week or two, well he was that, it was on the national news. Little did he know his mum said It wasnt my Dino, couldnt be Dino and he lives for his motorcycle, he wouldnt do such a thing, couldnt be Dino. Caught red handed, he confessed, My mum still thinks I got a day job, before performing the song at a concert in Athens, Greece, during 2011, Harley commented further, This song is about two young men. They were in the late teenage in the mid/late 70s and they went on the run in the UK, near close to where I live now, in East Anglia. And they had a shotgun - they were holding up and raiding small post offices and newspaper shops - little shops that just sold newspapers and sweets and they were raiding these shops and terrifying mostly elderly, innocent people who ran these shops. And I listened - I wrote down all the stuff that this story was about and I took a lot of the words that people used in their press reports. The boy was from a Greek family - the leader of the gang of two, the TV news interviewed his mother in Cambridge, and they asked her what he was doing, why he was doing this
10.
Judy Teen
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Judy Teen is a song by British rock band Cockney Rebel, fronted by Steve Harley. The song was released as a single in 1974, and became the bands first hit in the UK. Judy Teen was written by Harley and produced by Harley and Alan Parsons, in 1973, Cockney Rebels debut single Sebastian became a big hit across Europe, but failed to enter the UK Top 50. The bands debut album The Human Menagerie was released in November 1973 and suffered a similar fate, following the release of The Human Menagerie, Harley went away to re-work Judy Teen, with the objective of making it a potential hit single. Harley later recalled, When the first album out, the record company said. And I said very arrogantly, Ill write one, I know how to do it, Thats exactly what I said and exactly what I did. Now I think - what an arrogant young man, fearless, Judy Teen was a boy/girl story, a teenage romance, a bit of sex in there, interesting drum rhythm, hooks all over the place - lo and behold big hit. Its a good sexy little teenage love story, when I wrote Judy Teen, I was 18 or 19 when I had the experience that that song came from. Judy Teen had already recorded as a demo in 1972. During that year, the early incarnation had featured Pete Newnham on guitar. This line-up recorded three demos at Riverside Recordings, Judy Teen, Ritz and Thats Alright Thats Me, in an exclusive interview with Newnham for the unofficial fan site Harley Fanzone, he recalled, We made our first demos at a friend of Steves studio, Riverside Recordings. Judy Teen, Ritz and Thats Alright Thats Me were the three songs, I had expected to do two guitar tracks, one a rhythm guitar and then a lead overdub for each song - but there was only time for a very rushed guitar take. So, although at the time we all were over the moon with the general result, going back to those demo tracks, they were very clean and untreated, except for a phased drum reverb fadeout on Ritz and a bit of echo on Johns violin on Judy Teen. A lot of time was spent getting Steves vocals to sound right, anyway, the demo was to play to prospective management rather than record companies. Once Harley finished re-working the song, the band recorded it as their single with Alan Parsons at the producers helm. However, the release was delayed after EMI decided to hold the song back at the beginning of 1974. This allowed them to re-issue Sebastian on 25 January, as the time being released as a single. When Sebastian still did not become a UK hit, EMI released Judy Teen as a single in March, successfully breaking the band in the UK, the song peaked at #5 on the UK Singles Chart, and remained within the Top 50 for eleven weeks
11.
Mr. Soft
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Mr. Soft is a song by British rock band Cockney Rebel, fronted by Steve Harley. The song was released in 1974 as the single from the bands second studio album The Psychomodo. In the UK, the became the bands second hit. Mr. Soft was written by Harley and produced by Harley, by the time Judy Teen successfully broke Cockney Rebel in the UK charts in May 1974, the band had already finished recording their second album The Psychomodo. During the same month, EMI released the track, Psychomodo. However, it was withdrawn from sale in the UK. The Psychomodo was released in June, and once Judy Teen dropped out of the UK Top 50, the song proved to be another success, peaking at #8 and remaining in the UK Top 50 for nine weeks. It also reached #16 in Ireland, from May to July 1974, Cockney Rebel embarked on a major British tour. As the tour progressed, the band began facing growing tensions, on 18 July, the band received a Gold Award for outstanding new act of 1974, and a week later they had split up over their disagreements. By the time Mr. Soft was released, Cockney Rebel had already disbanded, Harley would find a new line-up of the band by the end of the year. On Mr. Soft, the vocals were performed by the Mike Sammes Singers. In 2012, Harley recalled, The Mike Sammes Singers, practically resident on the BBC Light Programme, came in to sing backing vocals, all those boom-boom-boom, booms, the English alternative rock band Elbow called themselves Mr Soft during the early 1990s. Elbows first group name was Mr Soft, and Ive spoken quite a lot to Guy Garvey about it, but mostly you dont want to think about it. In circa 1986/87, the song was used in two successful TV adverts for Trebor Softmints, for the adverts, which used two lines of the song, the lyrics were rewritten and then re-recorded by a Steve Harley sound-alike. One advert promoted Trebor Softmints, while the other promoted Trebor Softfruits, initially, Harley was approached with the offer of re-writing and re-recording the song for the adverts himself. However, Harley felt uncomfortable at the idea of doing this, instead, he chose to give his permission for the advert creators to re-write the lyrics and use a sound-alike vocalist to record them. The lyrics were re-written by Malcolm Green and an unknown vocalist was used to replicate Harleys vocal style, ironically, much of the public believed Harley to be the vocalist in the adverts anyway. Both videos were directed by Len Fulford and produced by BFCS, for the Softmints advert, the lyrics were rewritten accordingly, Mr. Soft, wont tell you why the world in which youre living is so strange
12.
(Love) Compared with You
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Compared with You is a song by British rock band Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, released in 1976 as the third and final single from the bands fifth studio album Loves a Prima Donna. It was released as a single in America only, Compared with You was written and produced by Harley. Following the UK Top 50 success of Loves a Prima Donnas second single, Loves a Prima Donna, however, EMI Records later decided to cancel the release at the last minute. The late cancellation of the release meant that a number of copies were put into circulation. Despite the UK release being scrapped, EMI would still release the song as a single in America, like the Loves a Prima Donna album, the song was recorded at Abbey Road Studios, sometime between June and September 1976. English violinist Wilfred Gibson scored the string section for the track, speaking to Melody Makers Harvey Kubernik in February 1977, Harley spoke of the song, revealing, Compared with You is the first out-and-out love song Ive written. Id been trying for three years, in 2010, Harley supported the Children in Need charity by auctioning a personal mini-concert at the winning bidders home, as well as a signed guitar and a lavish dinner. The winning bidder at the auction in Manchester was a German fan with the bid of $15,000. In December 2010, it was revealed that Harley was set to travel to the home to play their requested song. The single was released by EMI Records on 7 vinyl in America only, the B-Side Too Much Tenderness was written and produced by Harley, and also taken from the Loves a Prima Donna album. For its release as a single, Compared with You was cut down by almost a minute, a promotional edition of the single was also released in America by EMI, which placed the A-Side on both sides of the vinyl, one in stereo and one in mono. Neither release featured a sleeve, using a generic one instead. The song was the only Loves a Prima Donna track to be released as a single in America, the song has been performed live on various occasions and was included on the bands 1977 live album Face to Face, A Live Recording. A live acoustic version appeared on Harleys 1999 album Stripped to the Bare Bones. A small number of video footage has also appeared on YouTube of Harley performing the song live in recent years. The review highlighted the song, along with the title track, unfortunately, these faults permeate the entire album. Compared with You and Carry Me Again are two tracks which work, not because they are songs, but because they are simply presented. The balladic Compared with You is next, containing the lovely line Like a waterfall you tingle me with your love
13.
Tumbling Down (Cockney Rebel song)
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Tumbling Down is a song by British rock band Cockney Rebel, fronted by Steve Harley. The song was released in America as a single in 1974. It was written by Harley, and produced by Harley and Alan Parsons, in June 1974, Cockney Rebel released their second studio album The Psychomodo. At the end of a major UK tour in late July, later in the year, Harley would assemble a new line-up under the name Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel. During late 1974, EMI chose to release Tumbling Down as a single in America. It was released under the new bands name, as a promotional single, Tumbling Down was not eligible to make a chart appearance. Despite not being issued as a single in Europe or the UK, since its release, it has become a staple at Harleys concerts and has appeared on numerous compilations. The song was recorded during February/March 1974, and was mastered at Abbey Road Studios, the song featured an orchestra and choir, with arrangements by Andrew Powell. The single was released by EMI Records on 7 vinyl in America only, for its release as a single, the album version of Tumbling Down was cut down from six minutes to almost half the duration. Both sides of the feature the same song, the A-side in stereo. The single was issued in a generic sleeve, the song has also appeared on the 2013 various artists four-disc compilation Love Ballads. The song has been a regular inclusion in Harley and the bands set-list when performing live, on YouTube, audience recorded footage exists of the song being performed at various concerts. A number of live versions have also been released. On 14 April 1975, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel performed the song as part of their set at the Hammersmith Odeon in London and this concert was filmed and released as a film titled Between the Lines. In 1977, the song was included on the live album Face to Face. This version was added as the B-side to the live version of The Best Years of Our Lives. Later in 1984, the song was part of the recorded concert at the Camden Palace in London. In 1985, the concert, including the song, was released on VHS
14.
Sebastian (song)
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Sebastian is a song by British rock band Cockney Rebel, fronted by Steve Harley. The song was released as the debut single in 1973 from the album The Human Menagerie. It was written by Harley and produced by Neil Harrison, described by Harley as a Gothic love song, the song features a 50-plus piece orchestra and choir alongside the band, with orchestral arrangements by Andrew Powell. In June-July 1973, Cockney Rebel recorded their debut album The Human Menagerie, including the song, at Air Studios, London, Harley had first performed the song during his days of busking, before Cockney Rebel were formed in lat 1972. Having trained as a journalist for three years, Harley embarked on his career through floor-spotting within London folk clubs in 1971-72. In 1972, Harley began busking in London, in subways and runways under such places as Hyde Park Corner, Marble Arch, Leicester Square and Covent Garden. In a 2007 interview with the Daily Express, he revealed, I started busking in the early 70s, I had one called Sebastian, which was six minutes of gothic poetry. In August 1973, Sebastian was released as the debut single, preceding the album. Sebastian failed to find success in the UK, and did not enter the UK Top 50, however, in continental Europe, the song performed much better and became a big hit in various countries. It peaked at #2 in both Belgium and the Netherlands, as well as #30 in Germany, in a 2014 interview with the Sunday Express, Harley spoke of the songs European success, Sebastian was a number one in most of Europe in 1974. I didnt pay many dues to be honest, thats what the NME held against me at the time. The singles failure in the UK led EMI Records to feel that Harley had yet to record a hit single. In response, Harley went away and re-worked an unrecorded song of his called Judy Teen and this was in hope of it becoming a chart hit, however Sebastian still did not make a chart appearance. While much debate has been made over its meaning, in 2008, Harley spoke about the song and its lyrics in a documentary for the Netherlands programme Top 2000. It means what you want it to mean, Sebastian is the conduit, the tubes through which I took myself on that journey to write the story. I cant say for sure, but I wouldnt have been far away from tripping when I wrote Sebastian, LSD, certainly, created so many incidents in your life, so many images, so much madness and mayhem, as well as great tranquility if you were lucky. Its like most poetry, its a lovely word, in the liner notes of the BGO2004 CD release of The Human Menagerie, Harley recalled, Sebastian is possibly a sort of Gothic love song, possibly not, Im not really sure to be honest. Andrew Powells enormous and wild arrangement for the classical bods and the choir turned the song into something different, in 1983, Harley would re-record the song with Mike Batt as producer
15.
Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)
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Make Me Smile is a song by British rock band Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, released as the lead single from the bands 1975 album The Best Years of Our Lives. It was written by Harley, and produced by Harley and Alan Parsons, in February 1975, the song reached the number-one spot on the UK chart and received a UK Silver certification. It spent nine weeks in the Top 50, and as of 2015, has sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide, the song was the first single to be released under the name Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel, as opposed to simply Cockney Rebel. In July 1974, the original Cockney Rebel disbanded, and Harley then assembled a new line-up later in the year, Make Me Smile described Harleys feelings on the bands split. For many years, it was believed that Harley purposely chose to disband the original line-up, however, years later, Harley began to reveal the truth behind the bands split. Between May and July 1974, Cockney Rebel embarked on a major British tour to promote their second studio album The Psychomodo, as the tour progressed, the band began facing growing tensions, which ultimately led to their split at the end of the tour in late July. On 18 July, the received a Gold Award for outstanding new act of 1974. Jean-Paul Crocker, Milton Reame-James and Paul Jeffreys had approached Harley, Harley, the bands sole songwriter, felt this was unfair as he had been the one to originally hire the musicians for his group, and explained the deal to them at the time. After the band split, only the original drummer, Stuart Elliott. In a television interview recorded in 2002, Harley described how the lyrics were directed at the former band members who. On The One Show in October 2010, Harley called the lyric a finger-pointing piece of vengeful poetry and its getting off my chest how I felt about the guys splitting up a perfectly workable machine. I wrote it saying Look, youll learn how well were doing here, were doing well and he elaborated, Three of them came to me in a little posse with several ultimatums. They wanted to write songs for the album, and I said Well you know I started the band, and I auditioned you. Were not moving the goal posts here and they knew this, and they came to me demanding that they could write songs too, and I just said Well go and do it then. Harley began writing the only days after the bands split. The original vision for the song was different to the one that was recorded. Harley had written the piece as a blues track with a dark mood. In January 2012, he told Uncut magazine that the first verse was written at four in the morning after a bottle of brandy
16.
AllMusic
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AllMusic is an online music guide service website. It was launched in 1991 by All Media Guide which later became All Media Network, AllMusic was launched in 1991 by Michael Erlewine of All Media Guide. The aim was to discographic information on every artist whos made a record since Enrico Caruso gave the industry its first big boost and its first reference book was published the following year. When first released onto the Internet, AMG predated the World Wide Web and was first available as a Gopher site, the AMG consumer web properties AllMusic. com, AllMovie. com and AllGame. com were sold by Rovi in July 2013 to All Media Network, LLC. All Media Network, LLC. was formed by the founders of SideReel. com. The following are contributors to AllMusic, as of this date, All Media Network also produced the AllMusic guide series that includes the AllMusic Guide to Rock, the All Music Guide to Jazz and the All Music Guide to the Blues. Vladimir Bogdanov is the president of the series, in August 2007, PC Magazine included AllMusic in its Top 100 Classic Websites list. All Media Network AllGame AllMovie SideReel All Music Guide to the Blues All Music Guide to Jazz Stephen Thomas Erlewine Official website
17.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
18.
The Human Menagerie
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The Human Menagerie is the debut studio album by Cockney Rebel, released in 1973. It was produced by Neil Harrison, after training as a journalist for three years, Steve Harley embarked on his musical career through floor-spotting within London folk clubs in 1971-72. He also had a spell as rhythm guitarist and co-singer in the folk band Odin. It was during this time that Harley began writing his own songs, Most were penned at a time when Harley was on the dole, having left his career in journalism. In 1972, he began busking with his songs in London, in subways and runways under such places as Hyde Park Corner, Marble Arch, Leicester Square, Harley would use busking to test his own songs on an audience, and to supplement his income from benefits. While in Odin, Harley felt he was not suited to the folk scene and he decided to form his own band Cockney Rebel in 1972, as a vehicle for his own songs. With Crocker on board, the advertised and auditioned drummer Stuart Elliott, bassist Paul Jeffreys. One of the bands first gigs was at The Roundhouse in Chalk Farm, Jones was soon replaced by Pete Newnham, however Harley felt the band did not need an electric guitar, particularly with the arrival of keyboardist Milton Reame-James. Therefore, the settled on the combination of Crockers electric violin. During 1972, representatives of the band began to demo tapes to various labels. Mickie Most discovered the band at a London nightclub known as The Speakeasy Club, in turn, this influenced the A&R personnel at EMI Records, who then offered the band a contract in late 1972. The band signed to EMI after having played five gigs together. The three-album deal commenced with the recording of the debut album The Human Menagerie in 1973. The album was recorded in June-July 1973 at Air Studios, London and it was mastered at Capitol Studios. EMI hired their staff producer and A&R man Neil Harrison as the albums producer, Harrison suggested that some of the tracks, notably Sebastian and Death Trip, should feature a large symphony orchestra and choir. Harley agreed, and Harrison was then successful in obtaining a bigger budget from EMI to accommodate the use of a 50-piece orchestra, Andrew Powell was put in charge of the orchestral arrangements. The album was being recorded at Air Studios and we were about three-parts through, I should say, so Neil, my producer, must have known his announcement that afternoon would bowl the young Steve over. But seeing them in there, fifty-plus classical musicians, mostly old enough to be my dad, was a real shocker and we were young and full of dangerous ideas and adventure, ready to experiment without consideration for the consequences or cost
19.
The Psychomodo
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The Psychomodo is the second studio album by Cockney Rebel, released in 1974. It was produced by Steve Harley and Alan Parsons, having signed a three-album deal with EMI Records in late 1972, the band released their debut album The Human Menagerie in November 1973. The album, and the single Sebastian, both failed to enter the UK charts, although the single did become a hit in Continental Europe, the lack of success in the UK led EMI to feel that Harley had yet to record a potential hit single. In response, Harley went away and re-worked an unrecorded song of his called Judy Teen, when Judy Teen was released and began climbing the UK charts, the band had already started recording their second album The Psychomodo. The album was recorded during February and March 1974, at Morgan Studios, Nova Sound Studios and it was mastered at Abbey Road Studios. On the album, Harley received his first production credit, working as producer alongside Alan Parsons, in similarity to the bands debut album, a large symphony orchestra and choir was used on certain tracks, with the orchestral arrangements again conducted by Andrew Powell. In the liner notes for the 2012 compilation Cavaliers, An Anthology 1973-1974, Harley recalled. The Psychomodo, Alan Parsons came in as co-producer/engineer, and his own willingness to accept many offbeat ideas made life easy enough. More strings and horns, and again we had Andrew Powell, with his brilliant classical-rock thinking, I do remember where the songs came from. They came from a young mans dream, where the blending of musical literature and mad, formless imaginings, could hang out together at the folk club. In a 2013 interview with the Birmingham Post, Harley recalled of the first two Cockney Rebel albums, Those first two albums were heavily orchestrated, I was 22 years old, at Abbey Road with a full orchestra and a choir for songs like Sebastian. Id busked with those songs for a year before Cockney Rebel signed to EMI, oh, it was magnificent for a young man. Preceding the album was the title track single Psychomodo, released in mid-May 1974, EMI quickly withdrew the single from sale soon afterwards. Despite this, the single was released across Europe and reached #28 in Belgium, in early June 1974, The Psychomodo was released and proved to be the bands breakthrough album in the UK. It peaked at #8 on the UK Albums Chart, and remained in the Top 50 for twenty weeks, between May and July 1974, Cockney Rebel embarked on a major British tour to promote The Psychomodo. As the tour progressed, the band began facing growing tensions, on 18 July, the band received a Gold Award for outstanding new act of 1974, and a week later they had split-up over their disagreements. Jean-Paul Crocker, Milton Reame-James and Paul Jeffreys quit the band after having demanded to write material for the group, in late July 1974, EMI released the albums second single Mr. Soft. By this time, Cockney Rebel had already disbanded, in August, the song peaked at #8 in the UK, and in Ireland at #16. To perform the song on Top of the Pops, Harley had to form an impromptu line-up of the band, later in the year, Harley formed a new line-up of the band, and renamed them Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel
20.
Timeless Flight
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Timeless Flight is the fourth studio album by Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, released in 1976. It was produced by Steve Harley, during their tour for The Best Years of Our Lives, Harley had begun writing new material for the album, some of which was inspired by events and places the band went to on the tour. The band recorded the album at Trident Studios, Abbey Road Studios, the entire album was remixed, mastered and cut at Abbey Road Studios. On the album, guitarist Jim Cregan used a number of guitars, including a Martin D18,1956 Fender Telecaster, Gibson SG Standard and an Ovation acoustic with a built-in pick-up. The albums was created in more of a relaxed environment in comparison with The Best Years of Our Lives. For the liner notes of the 2003 BGO CD release of Timeless Flight, Harley recalled, the songs, many of them being semi acoustic or laid back, I think stemmed as much from that as anything else. It made me a little lethargic, in November 1975, the lead single, Black or White, preceded the album. Despite the previous albums success earlier in the year, Black or White failed to reach the UK Top 50 and it did, however, reach #2 on the BMRBs UK Breakers Chart, which would have been equal to #52 on the main Singles Chart. In a February 1976 interview with Record Mirror & Disc, Harley commented and it turned out to be a stiff. Timeless Flight was released in early February 1976 and would peak at #18 on the UK Albums Chart and it lasted six weeks on the chart, having debuted at #23 on 14 February. In America, it was reported in Record Mirror & Disc that the album had received 40,000 advance orders, despite the bands lack of a hit single or album there. During the middle of February, the second single, White, White Dove, was released. Following the albums release, the band embarked on a British, on the tour, the band hired guitarist Jo Partridge to play rhythm guitar. After a concert at Wembley in April 1976, the band then toured America, Years after its release, Harley revealed that Timeless Flight was his personal favourite album from his own career. In an exclusive 2004 interview for the fan site Harley Fanzone, he said, Well. Its my precious boy, my favourite child and it was such a change for me and the critics werent ready. Its like I heard Mick Jagger say about one of the Stones albums, I never realised it was the favorite album of so many people. Nothing is Sacred is on there and when I started to play that live I sensed it was something they wanted to hear
21.
Love's a Prima Donna
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Loves a Prima Donna is the fifth studio album by Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, released in 1976. It was produced by Harley, and would be the bands last album before splitting in 1977, in February 1976, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel released the album Timeless Flight, which reached the UK Top 20. Having embarked on a tour to promote the album, Harley began writing new material and it was recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London between June and September 1976. While work on the continued, EMI would release the preceding single Here Comes the Sun - a cover of the George Harrison song. Released in July 1976, the version became the most successful UK cover, peaking at #10 in the UK Top 50. In the 11 September 1976 issue of Record Mirror, it was announced that the album had been completed, having finished recording the album, guitarist Jim Cregan left the band to join Rod Stewarts touring band. Released in October, Loves a Prima Donna peaked at #28 on the UK Albums Chart and it became Harleys last studio album to reach the UK Top 100. During the same month, the single, Loves a Prima Donna, was released. Although it failed to reach expectations, it did peak at #41 in the UK Top 50, additionally, EMI had made plans to release Compared with You as the third single, however the release was cancelled. Instead, the song was released as the albums only American single, following the albums release, the band embarked on an eight-date UK tour in December 1976. On the tour, Cregan was replaced by Jo Partridge, having toured with the band for the Timeless Flight tour, Partridge also contributed to two tracks on Loves a Prima Donna. He provided guitar and backing vocals on Here Comes the Sun, during the tour, Harley recorded a number of concerts, which he used to create the double live album, Face to Face, A Live Recording, which was released in 1977. It reached #40 in the UK and includes six tracks from Loves a Prima Donna, the albums concept revolves around the theme of love, including soldier loneliness, true love, lost love, mother-and-child love, valentine sentimentalism and a fans infatuation with a musician. The album also showcases a range of musical styles new to the material, including progressive rock, folk, doo-wop. Speaking to Melody Makers Harvey Kubernik in early 1977, Harley commented, if it only sold three copies, I wouldnt worry. The achievement is more important than the success and this is entirely autobiographical, its the only way I can write. I did a lot of it with the order in mind. I wrote for two months before we went into the studio and the pattern was obvious when I started writing, Seeking a Love had to open the album, theres a lot of different music styles that are confusing some people
22.
The Quality of Mercy (album)
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The Quality of Mercy is the sixth studio album by English rock band Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, released in 2005. Fronted by Steve Harley, the album was the first studio album in 29 years to be released by Harley under the bands name, the existing Cockney Rebel line-up of the time featured all new musicians compared to the best-known Cockney Rebel line-ups of their 1970s heyday. The album was produced entirely by Harley, with Jim Cregan also co-producing the track A Friend for Life, the albums title is based on the Shakespearean phrase. Since 2000, Harley had been working on the recording of a new studio album, in a September 2000 diary entry for his official website, Harley commented, Plans to further the recording career at in hand. Negotiations are taking place daily and constantly, I am determined that A Friend for Life will be available in the shops and on the radio in time for the next Spring band tour, with an album, God willing, in the can. I am the eternal optimist, as you probably know, I have A Friend for Life and When the Halo Slips and several others 90% finished on record. Later in November, Harley revealed, If the deal I want is forthcoming, there are something like 50 songs half-to-75% finished on cassettes and mini-discs around my study, bags, and all around the grand piano. Although the single A Friend for Life was released in April 2001 by Intrinsic Records, between 2001 and 2005, Harley continued to write new material, record in the studio and hold discussions with various record labels. Later in August 2004, Harley commented in a diary entry that he was still writing new material. In February 2005, Harley and his touring band Cockney Rebel went into the Gemini Recording Studio in Ipswich to start recording for what would become The Quality of Mercy. In an entry from that month, Harley commented of the recording session, We are all pretty high. The band have played with spirit and shown an understanding of my new songs that comes best from musicians youve got close to over hundreds of touring concerts, I left six new recordings, all about 70% finished, to go back to soon. By June 2005, recording sessions for the album were coming to an end, in a June diary entry, he commented, I am recording the best album I have ever recorded. I do not know where it is coming from, later in the month, he added, This is a proper record, all right. We have recorded part-analogue, part-digital and have mixed on the highest grade of Pro-tools and it has all cost a lot of money, but sounds like it cost much more. During the summer, British photographer Mick Rock visited London and recorded an episode for Harleys BBC Radio 2 show Sounds of the Seventies, having completed the episode, the pair then went outside Broadcasting House for an impromptu photo session for The Quality of Mercy album cover. The shoot was completed in 20 minutes and it was originally planned for Manfred Esser to shoot the albums cover photo in Germany earlier in April. Harley aimed to complete the album in time for the bands planned touring schedule later in the year, as Harleys biggest UK and European tour since the 1970s, the tour was made up of over 50 dates between late September and early December
23.
Hobo with a Grin
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Hobo with a Grin is the debut solo album by Steve Harley of Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, released in 1978. The album was produced by Harley, except for Roll the Dice which was produced by Michael J. Jackson, Jackson also acted as additional producer on the album. In July 1977, Harley disbanded his band Cockney Rebel and began working on his solo album. The album was completed by early 1978. In February of that year, Harley flew to Los Angeles to finish working on the album, of the albums nine tracks, six were recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London, and the other three were recorded in Los Angeles at Sunset Sound or Record Plant. The album featured a mixture of songs, written when Cockney Rebel were still active. The album was mixed at Sunset Sound and mastered at Capitol Mastering. Soon after the album was completed, Harley decided to leave Britain and he had been first attracted to the city when recording and mixing the Loves a Prima Donna album there in 1976. Purchasing a house in Beverly Hills, he stayed there for nearly a year to gain new experience and inspirations. When Hobo with a Grin emerged in July 1978, it was revealed the album cost £70,000 and took 18 months to make, the album failed to make any chart appearance, as did its two singles. The first, Roll the Dice, was released in July too, while the second, at the time of its release, writer G. Brown reported in The Denver Post that the album was becoming his fastest seller in America yet. Long deemed too British-sounding during the years of Cockney Rebel, Harley felt the situation was changing with the release of Hobo with a Grin, however, after the album failed to make any commercial impact, Harley began to be dismissive of it. Describing the material as laid back Californian stuff, Harley told Superpop magazine in 1978, for the first time in my life I relinquished responsibility, listened to advice and acted on it, rather than do what I thought was right. In November 1978, he told the Daily Star that the album was an experience, in early 1979, he told Maggi Russell in an interview that the album was a difficult album, and hard to market. At the end of 1978, Harley returned to England, during his time living in America, he admitted that he was never inspired to write one single song. Not long after his return, Harley began working on his solo album The Candidate. Speaking to the Evening News in October 1979, Harley admitted, I spent almost a year out there and did nothing except swim and sunbathe. I had a house in Beverley Hills – it was costing me about £300 a week
24.
The Candidate (album)
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The Candidate is the second solo studio album by British singer-songwriter Steve Harley released in 1979. It was produced by Harley and Jimmy Horowitz, having spent almost a year living in Los Angeles, during which time his debut solo album Hobo with a Grin was released, Harley returned to London at the end of 1978. Speaking to the Daily Star in December 1978, Harley described Hobo with a Grin as an experience, adding, Ill get the band together, then record the album in a fortnight - the way I always used to. The Candidate took three weeks to write, while recording took place during February at Abbey Road Studios, the entire album was also mixed and mastered at Abbey Road Studios, except mixing for Freedoms Prisoner, which took place at Morgan Studios. Afterwards, Harley began planning a British and European tour for later in the year, when talking of forming a new Cockney Rebel line-up, Harley commented to Daily Mirrors Pauline McLeod, There will undoubtedly be some of the old group members of the group in the line-up. Maybe Jim Cregan could join up for it if hes not busy recording with Rod Stewart, speaking to Maggi Russell in early 1979, Harley revealed of the new album, I needed the energy that London has. West Coast musicians have done it all before, and theyre very blase, Here people put their heart and soul into their music. Stuart Elliott and Jo Partridge from Cockney Rebel worked on the album with me and its very important when youre spending 12 hours a day in the studio with a bunch of people that you get on well, that you share a sense of humour. Otherwise you all end up having a bad time, Hobo with a Grin was a difficult album, and hard to market. My new album leans more to the early Cockney Rebel sound. I have made a record that I believe in, if the music press review it maturely Ill be glad, but that is doubtful. Im really hoping for a good 1979, and Im putting everything Ive got into it, Im back, and they are all going to know I am. You could spend a lot of time in this business getting affluent with success, I hope my fans like it too. I had a house in Beverley Hills – it was costing me about £300 a week. I then realised that I was getting nowhere fast and booked Londons Abbey Road studios for two months, I called my old Cockney Rebel drummer Stuart Elliott and asked him to put me a band together. I came back to London, and within three weeks I had more than enough songs for an LP. Im pleased with The Candidate – its the best album Ive done in ages, in May 1979, Harley appeared with Peter Gabriel at one of Kate Bushs Hammersmith Odeon concerts in May 1979. It was Harleys first performance on stage in two years, in September, EMI released The Candidate, along with the single Freedoms Prisoner
25.
Yes You Can (album)
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Yes You Can is the third studio album by British singer-songwriter Steve Harley, released in Europe in 1992, and in the UK in 1993. The album was Harleys first new album of new material since 1979s The Candidate and it featured a mixture of older songs first written and recorded in the 1980s and newer material. The album was produced by Harley and Matt Butler, except Rain in Venice, which was produced Mickie Most, Harley and Butler, and Irresistible, the album was mastered by Steve Rooke and Ian Jones at Abbey Road Studios in London. Throughout the 1980s, Harley released a handful of singles which became minor hits or failed to chart. In early 1984, Harley signed a deal with Mickie Mosts RAK Records. During that time, Harley worked at RAK studios in London to record a new solo album. It included the tracks Sophistication, Irresistible, the 1970 Edwin Starr song Oh How Happy, Rain in Venice, New-Fashioned Way, The Lighthouse, Star for a Week and Promises Promises. The song Irresistible had been released as a single in 1985, before being remixed the following year, the 1986 versions sleeve announced the release of the upcoming album El Gran Senor, however before it was released, RAK went bankrupt and the album was shelved. In 1989, Harley re-emerged when he toured the UK and Europe with a new line-up of the Cockney Rebel band, before the tour, Harley and ex-Cockney Rebel members Duncan Mackay and Jim Cregan began working in the Point Studios in London. During these sessions, four new songs were written, Dancing on the Telephone, When Im with You, The Alibi, the first three songs were used on the 1989 tour, while Dancing on the Telephone and The Alibi would later appear on Yes You Can. During the same year, Harley announced that an album of new material was to be recorded in the summer, in 1990, with the album yet to be released, Harley revealed that work on the new album was almost done. However, he was unsure when the album would be released, eventually, the album Yes You Can surfaced in 1992, when it was a given a European-only release, which was followed by a Yes You Can tour. In March, Harley played various dates across Europe, followed by a set of UK dates in May, the album featured a mix of older songs dating from the El Gran Senor period, as well as some newer tracks. Of the albums ten tracks, two were lifted from the unreleased El Gran Senor album, the 1986 extended remix of Irresistible and Rain in Venice. The remaining songs were newer recordings, most of which were recorded at the White House Studios in Bures, Suffolk, New-Fashioned Way had originally been recorded for El Gran Senor as an up-tempo track, while The Lighthouse used different instrumentation including a saxophone solo. Although at one point Harley had decided to drop the rest of the El Gran Senor album, in 1991 and this led him to re-record the song for Yes You Can. Other 1980s recordings such as Oh, How Happy and Sophistication were left unreleased. Star for a Week, one the oldest songs, had first been played live in 1979, while Victim of Love and Fire in the Night were two of the newer songs, written while on tour
26.
Poetic Justice (Steve Harley album)
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Poetic Justice is the fourth studio album by British singer-songwriter Steve Harley, released in 1996. Since 1989, Harley made a return to touring with Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel. During the middle of the decade, Harley began recording a new album at Berry House Studios in Ardingly. In August 1996, Poetic Justice was released on Transatlantic Records, featuring new songs, three covers and a re-recording of Riding the Waves, most of the new songs had been written by Harley during the bands touring schedule. The albums three covers consisted of the Jimmy Ruffins 1966 song What Becomes of the Broken-Hearted, the Bob Dylans 1965 song Love Minus Zero-No Limit and the Van Morrisons 1970 song Crazy Love. My audience think Ive run out of ideas if I only write eight out of eleven, for the album, Riding the Waves was re-recorded live in the studio. It had originally appeared on Harleys 1978 debut solo album Hobo with a Grin, no singles were released to promote the album, despite Harleys interest in releasing Thats My Life in Your Hands and The Last Time I Saw You. Additionally, Harley had recorded What Becomes of the Broken-Hearted. as a potential single and its hard to get anyone to talk sense. Speaking of Robson & Jerome reaching the UK number one spot with their own 1996 version of What Becomes of the Broken-Hearted, Harley added, Id recorded it long before they turned up. We were saying to the company, Id done this as a single. Three months later it was being played by them, later in 2002, Harley spoke of Poetic Justice in an interview with the online music magazine Perfect Sound Forever. He said, Songwriting is one of the few jobs even in the world of art that we do where you dont get better with age. Its also true perhaps with novelists, that their best work is left behind in their twenties and up to their mid thirties. Thats My Life in Your Hands was written by Harley and Hugh Nicholson, Harley recalled in 2015, Hugh had written another song, same chords, different words and title. I asked permission to change the lyrics and produce my own version, the original song was titled Starlight Jingles, which was recorded by Nicholsons band Blue, during their sessions at Los Angeles between 1979-82. A live version of the song would appear as one of two bonus tracks on the 2000 CD release of Harleys Hobo with a Grin album. On 29 April 1994, The Last Time I Saw You received its live performance at the Mick Ronson Memorial Concert. This live version, along with Harleys performance of Make Me Smile at the same concert, on Harleys 2001 single A Friend for Life, a live version of Safe was added as one of two bonus tracks
27.
Stranger Comes to Town
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Stranger Comes to Town is the fifth studio album from English songwriter and musician Steve Harley. Released in 2010, the album was Harleys first studio album in five years, the album was produced by Harley. After the release of The Quality of Mercy, Harley continued to write, in January 2007, Harley and the band went into the recording studio to record new material. Around this time, Harley announced plans for a new studio album, the albums working title was Wide Screen, with an alternative being The Road Home. Although the proposed album did not come to fruition, Harley continued writing, later in a February 2009 diary entry for his official website, Harley commented, Writing songs again, slowly, piecemeal, six or seven at a time. Maybe now Ill start writing songs again, cost me a great deal in all sorts of energies and resources to end this loathsome arrangement, but I knew in my heart I had to sort it. Later in March, Harley announced his plans to book a studio for a new album. He also commented of his song ideas and demo recordings, The notes are there, in notebooks. Tunes and couplets, simple rhymes and deeper thoughts all jumbled, there is only one way I will collate it all into coherent songs, and that is by booking a recording studio. Later in August 2009, he revealed new material was being written, Wrote copious notes beside the pool, have barely taken an hour off since getting home last weekend. During September/October 2009, Harley and his band Cockney Rebel spent a month at Leeders Farm Residential Studios, Spooner Row, Harley would typically spend 12 or more hours a day working on the album. In October 2009, Harley commented in an entry, Slightly shattered. Ten tracks recorded, some sung, others waiting for lyrics, coming down from the mad rushes of adrenalin that go with the producing/recording process. Been living-in at a recording studio. Odd to get up and share breakfast with the band, odd, too, to share the dinner table each night, but they are all decent blokes and easy to get along with. Im the one with the head, tunes and words, production plans all juggled at the same time, so Im the distant one over the boiled eggs. During the bands residency at Leeders Farm, the band spent most mornings rehearsing around the kitchen table. Due to other commitments, guitarist Robbie Gladwell was actually absent for much of the recording, leaving Barry Wickens to cover the electric guitar parts on half of the album
28.
Face to Face: A Live Recording
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Face to Face, A Live Recording is a live album by Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, released in 1977. It was produced by Steve Harley and Tony Clark, following the release of the bands fifth studio album Loves a Prima Donna in October 1976, the band embarked on an eight-date UK tour in December to promote it. After finishing recording the album in September, guitarist Jim Cregan left Cockney Rebel and he was replaced on the December tour by Jo Partridge. Later in February 1977, the played a one-off charity concert at the London Rainbow in aid of the homeless in Northern Ireland. This show was recorded for possible use on the live album. In a February 1977 issue of Melody Maker, a few days ahead of the London Rainbow show, speaking to Harvey Kubernik about the tour, Harley said, We did eight concerts and every night was great. Jimmy had left to join Rod Stewarts band and Jo Partridge brought new energy and it was our fourth major tour and the fans were on my side from the word go. It was the best concert tour Ive done in my life, Ive never enjoyed playing so much in my career. Over the next few weeks, Harley worked on mixing the live recordings, for the live album project, Tony Clark was hired as the albums engineer and co-producer. The tracks were mixed at both Abbey Road Studios and Air Studios in London and they were later mastered by Ken Perry at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles. Speaking of the live album in his interview with Record Mirrors Ray Fox-Cumming, Harley said, Quite frankly. It will probably be my next album release, basically it will be the whole of the one-and-a-half hour show I did on the last tour. We recorded the concerts at Glasgow, Birmingham, Newcastle, Hammersmith and The Rainbow, so there are plenty of versions of song to choose from. The results of what has been mixed so far have turned out excellently, I have cheated a little bit, though I think quite justifiably so. I altered the order a bit, although I dont think that most people who went to the concerts will even notice. The reason for the change is that an order which seems right for a show can be nonsense on plastic. Each side of each of the two records has to have a beginning and an end, which in all means eight ends-and-beginnings, in concert you dont have that problem. Ive also cheated a tiny amount by erasing the odd bum note, comparing the live recordings with the original studio versions of the songs performed, Harley said, They knock spots off them
29.
Birmingham (Live with Orchestra & Choir)
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Birmingham is a live album by Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, featuring the Orchestra of the Swan and Chamber Choir. It was recorded live at the Birmingham Symphony Hall on 24 November 2012, a DVD version of the performance was also released at the same time. For many years, Steve Harley had considered performing the first two Cockney Rebel albums - 1973s The Human Menagerie and 1974s The Psychomodo - in their entirety, with an orchestra, in 2011, Harley began planning the one-off concert. Harley had originally considered the Cadogan Hall or Royal Festival Hall in London for the performance and it may mean no other UK rock band shows all next year, so the tickets can sell. The costs will be astronomical, so the tickets must shift, pride, too, will factor in all this. I want to play to a sold-out hall, by the end of the year, serious planning for the concert began. In January 2012, contracts were signed and tickets went on sale, initially, the tickets were offered exclusively on Harleys website for a few weeks before their official release to the general public. The concert, now finalised to be played at Birmingham Symphony Hall, in a February 2012 diary entry, Harley added, The anticipation is quite thrilling in itself. He also announced that Judy Teen would be played at the concert, around this same time, Harley held a meeting with Andrew Powell, the conductor behind the albums original orchestral arrangements. Powell later agreed to conduct the orchestra at the concert, english musician Steve Norman of Spandau Ballet fame was also confirmed to play with the band on the night. By mid-April 2012, only an approximate 150 seats were left to sell, in June 2012, the first rehearsals for the concert were held, while Harley announced that the concert would be recorded using a mobile recording studio, for a future CD release. While a DVD release was also being considered, it was not a certainty, largely dependent on cost, Harley commented in his diary, To do it properly needs five cameras. The editing process is costly beyond most peoples imagination, the costs of filming the concert to the highest quality, weighed against the potential income, make it an unlikely contender, at least as a Comeuppance production. One alternative is to film companies who specialise in such jobs. In the end, Harley chose Goodmedia Limited to film the show, on 24 November 2012, the band performed the sold-out concert, which featured approximately 50 performers on stage. Aside from the two albums, the band also played Judy Teen Stranger Comes to Town and Black or White, the concert received a favourable reception from fans and critics. The Times rewarded the show four out of five stars, with writer David Sinclair describing it as an extraordinary concert, record Collector writer Tim Jones, commented the band served up a sumptuous 140 minutes of vintage fare and that the show was bookended by standing ovations. A day after the show, Harley commented in his diary, Symphony Hall came, hard to believe its behind us, to be honest
30.
A Closer Look (Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel album)
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A Closer Look is a compilation album by Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, released in America in 1975. It features material from the original Cockney Rebel line-up, as well as Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel line-up, despite gaining a number of hits across Europe and the UK since 1973, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel had yet to break the American market by 1975. The band had gained a following in the country. In 1975, the bands label EMI attempted to break the band into the American mainstream by releasing the compilation A Closer Look and this release coincided with the bands first tour of America later in 1975, when they toured as a support act for The Kinks. Although the album failed to generate commercial success for the band, the ten tracks on the compilation were taken from the bands first three studio albums, The Human Menagerie, The Psychomodo, and The Best Years of Our Lives. One notable omission was the UK Top 5 hit Judy Teen, the album was mastered at Capitol Mastering. The album failed to enter the US Charts, however, Make Me Smile, a UK number one hit, would make an entry on the US Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #96 in March 1976. It lasted within the Top 100 for three weeks and this was Harley and the bands only charting entry in America. The albums was released on vinyl in America through EMI Records and it featured an inner sleeve with lyrics and was mastered at Capitol Mastering. In attempt to gain interest in the compilation in the UK, the advert stated the compilation was available from EMI International as a special import. The album was given its first CD release in 2001. This release was issued as a set by BGO Records along with the 1976 album Loves a Prima Donna. All songs written and composed by Steve Harley and its a best of collection from his previous three albums, which were among the best kept secrets the record stores ever had. Harley, a former journalist, does an unusual cabaret style rock marred in the past by great inconsistency, one wow number, then two duds, one wow number, then three duds. This best of selection finally provides Harley with what he needed most - some severe editing, in the process, A Closer Look becomes a unique album by a unique artist. Since almost no one on these shores has heard what hes done in the past, included are Mr. Raffles, Sebastian, Psychomodo and Tumbling Down, which are particularly enthralling. In The Miami News of 28 May 1976, music critic Jon Marlowe spoke of the compilation, writing, All his previous albums have been filled with material such as Tumbling Down. In the pop arena, the most memorable highlights are Come Up and See Me, as for the epics, the most impressive ones are Sebastian, and Tumbling Down
31.
The Best of Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel
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The Best of Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel is a compilation album by Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, released in 1980. It features material from the original line-up of Cockney Rebel, the Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel line-up, following the disappointing sales of his second solo album The Candidate in 1979, EMI Records dropped Harley from their label. A year later, EMI decided to release an album of Steve Harley & Cockney Rebels work. The compilation producer Colin Miles was selected to compile the album and it was the bands first compilation to be released in the UK. The compilation features tracks spanning from 1973 to 1978. Six are Cockney Rebel tracks from 1973-74, four are Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel tracks from 1975-76, of the chosen inclusions, Cavaliers and Riding the Waves were never released as singles. In effort to promote the compilation, EMI re-issued the bands 1975 UK number one hit Make Me Smile and it was released as a 7 vinyl single on 3 October 1980. The chosen B-Side was the bands 1973 European hit Sebastian, the single came with a full picture sleeve, which featured the same photographs of Cockney Rebel, on both the front and back of the sleeve, as would appear on the sleeve of the compilation album. The single did not make a appearance in the UK. After the release of the compilation, Harley and a new line-up of Cockney Rebel embarked on a UK Christmas tour. During this tour, Harley introduced three new songs, Warm My Cold Heart, I Can Be Anyone and Such is Life, the album was released by EMI on vinyl and cassette in the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Portugal, and Australia. The front cover features a photograph of the original Cockney Rebel line-up, both photographs were taken by Mick Rock. The back sleeve biography and overview was written in 1980 by Chris Welch, in May 1982, the compilation was re-issued in the UK on the Fame label, as a budget price re-issue. This edition featured the same track-listing and sleeve design, all songs written and composed by Steve Harley, except Here Comes the Sun composed by George Harrison. On the back sleeve of the compilation, Chris Welch wrote, and his exploration of a bizarre vocal style and lyrics that called for examination and a positive reaction ensured that his audience would be ultimately sympathetic and loyal. His fans devoured the songs represented on this timely album, throughout all his songs you can hear a tortured balladeer, a frustrated folk singer perhaps, battling with the vexations of life and love. But there was and is a sense of joy too in his music and we hear the exultation of youth entering the artistic think tank of a modern studio with all its instruments and electronic facilities and shouting his feelings into a non-censuring microphone. A privilege now freely accorded even the most rebellious Cockney in these more enlightened times
