Greatest Hits (Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel album)

Greatest Hits
Greatest hits album by Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel
Released May 1987
Genre Rock, art rock
Label EMI - EM 1291 (vinyl LP).[1]
Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel chronology
The Best of Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel
(1980)		 Greatest Hits
(1987)		 Yes You Can
(1992)

Greatest Hits is a compilation album by the British band Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, released by EMI in May 1987.[1]

Background

Following two solo albums, Hobo with a Grin (1978) and The Candidate (1979), the 1980s proved to be a more quiet decade for Steve Harley, with only a few non-album singles being released over the course of the decade. EMI had released the The Best of Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel in 1980, and this following 1987 EMI compilation would be the first Cockney Rebel release on CD.[2] It did make an appearance on the UK chart.

The compilation was digitally re-mastered, and has two different track-listing variations. The LP and cassette editions feature twelve tracks spanning from 1973 to 1976, focusing on the commercial heyday of the two band line-ups - Cockney Rebel (1973-74) and Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel (1974-77).[3] The CD version featured three further tracks; "(Love) Compared with You", "Riding the Waves (For Virginia Woolf)" and "Freedom's Prisoner".[4] The latter two tracks are taken from Hobo with a Grin and The Candidate respectively, and were therefore produced after the band's split in 1977.

Track listing

All songs written by Steve Harley except "Here Comes the Sun" by George Harrison and "Freedom's Prisoner" by Harley and Jimmy Horowitz.

LP/Cassette version

No. Title Length
1. "Mad, Mad, Moonlight"   5:36
2. "Mr. Soft"   3:17
3. "Sebastian"   5:42
4. "Judy Teen"   3:41
5. "Mr. Raffles (Man It Was Mean)"   4:29
6. "Here Comes the Sun"   2:58
7. "Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)"   3:58
8. "Best Years Of Our Lives"   5:30
9. "Psychomodo"   4:01
10. "Sling It"   2:39
11. "(I Believe) Love's a Prima Donna"   4:08
12. "Tumbling Down"   5:55

CD version

No. Title Length
1. "Mad, Mad, Moonlight"   5:36
2. "Mr. Soft"   3:17
3. "Sebastian"   5:42
4. "Judy Teen"   3:41
5. "(Love) Compared with You"   4:20
6. "Mr. Raffles (Man It Was Mean)"   4:29
7. "Riding the Waves (For Virginia Woolf)"   4:32
8. "Here Comes the Sun"   2:58
9. "Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)"   3:58
10. "Best Years Of Our Lives"   5:30
11. "Psychomodo"   4:01
12. "Sling It"   2:39
13. "Freedom's Prisoner"   3:49
14. "(I Believe) Love's a Prima Donna"   4:08
15. "Tumbling Down"   5:55

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[5]
New Musical Express[6]

New Musical Express (NME) writer Mark Sinker reviewed the album upon its release, stating: "Mention his name and nine people out of ten will (A) laugh, and/or (B) provide unasked-for Harley impressions. Time's passed, so these don't usually stretch beyond the names of songs they're quoting - "Judy Teen" and "Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)". Harley probably deserves this. He was five years late on the eccentric cameo Englandisms that Bowie and the Kinks had defined and exhausted. He had a sillier speech defect than Ian Hunter, and a more absurdly elevated sense of rock's theatrical possibilities. He was camper than Queen could be, and far less forgiveable than Ferry. And still, for all that, he wrote a wicked little melodrama of a tune. ("Psychomodo", "Mr Soft", "Mr Raffles"). The art-pomp of most of these songs has exactly the wistful tinge that Ray Davies had lost, by the early '70s. I don't suppose we noticed that. We were too busy thinking ourselves smart for knowing what he was on about, or hating him for not being real ROCK. (like Mott the Hoople? Like Brinsley Schwarz?? We were very young, M'lud). I'm obviously going senile, but this is a brilliant record."[7]

Allmusic writer Donald A. Guarisco wrote: "Of all the glam-rock acts to hit it big in England during the 1970s, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel were second only to David Bowie himself in terms of artsy ambition. Tunes like "Judy Teen" and "Love's a Prima Donna" may have been poppy enough to sail into the English singles charts, but they also boasted unconventional instrumentation and poetic lyrics with lots of surreal, Bob Dylan-esque wordplay. The result was a string of intelligent yet catchy singles, all of which are compiled on this collection. Songs like "Make Me Smile (Come up and See Me)" and "Mr. Raffles (Man It Was Mean)" still sound fresh today thanks to their ability to mix insistent pop hooks into their mix of unconventional sounds and oblique lyrics. "Greatest Hits" also includes a generous array of album favorites like "Sling It", and "Tumbling Down", and highlights Harley's oft-underrated skill with ballads: a particular highlight is "(Love) Compared With You". The only real downside is that its surprisingly short track list omits some early gems like "Hideaway" and "Ritz": the compilers could have easily thrown in another two or three songs to fully flesh out the track selection. Despite this quibble, "Greatest Hits" is a fine collection that includes the majority of Cockney Rebel's finest moments and makes a great introduction to this group's ambitious, artsy style of pop."[8]

References

  1. 1 2 Strong, Martin C. (2000). The Great Rock Discography (5th ed.). Edinburgh: Mojo Books. pp. 424–425. ISBN 1-84195-017-3.
  2. ↑ http://www.discogs.com/artist/178573-Steve-Harley-Cockney-Rebel?filter_anv=0&subtype=Compilations&type=Releases
  3. ↑ http://www.discogs.com/Steve-Harley-Cockney-Rebel-Greatest-Hits/release/3025943
  4. ↑ http://www.discogs.com/Steve-Harley-Cockney-Rebel-Greatest-Hits/release/1487685
  5. ↑ http://www.allmusic.com/album/greatest-hits-emi-mw0000844672
  6. ↑ http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/wmaster/mrsoftsroom7.htm
  7. ↑ http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/wmaster/mrsoftsroom7.htm
  8. ↑ http://www.allmusic.com/album/greatest-hits-emi-mw0000844672
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