Steve Harley: 1970s Cockney Rebel who took risks and wrote hits

Singer-songwriter, while not quite managing to elbow David Bowie aside, produced well-crafted hits topped by Make Me Smile In his first big music press interview – before the appearance of Cockney Rebel’s debut album, when all they had released was a solitary single that featured a 40-piece orchestra, which had failed to make the UK charts – he proclaimed his band “a musical force that others will follow” and pitted himself squarely against the biggest names in British pop.

This was big talk that perhaps told you something about Harley’s background as a journalist: he may have only worked for local papers, but he knew what made for lively copy. The thing was, that for a moment at least, Harley appeared to have the goods to back up his more extravagant pronouncements. His voice was a mannered sneer that occasionally sounded a little like The Kinks’ Ray Davies and occasionally seemed to presage the arrival of punk – it was certainly the perfect fit for his lyrics, which were both thick with lurid imagery – “hooked on absinthe and daffodils/telling tales of white gardenia” – and big on withering disdain.

An exceptionally well-crafted set of songs, recorded with a team of crack session musicians, the subsequent album Best Years of Our Lives was the biggest hit of Harley’s career. The two albums he released in 1976, Timeless Flight and Love’s A Prima Donna, also had their moments – the dreamy Understand on the former, the title track and Compared With You on the latter – but trouble was brewing.

Source: Entertainment Trends (entertainmenttrends.net)

Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Steve Price calls Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest a hypocrite over nuclear energy commentsSky News host Steve Price criticizes Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest for his comments on nuclear energy during his National Press Club address. Price accuses Forrest of hypocrisy for lecturing about green energy while being involved in China's carbon emissions.
Source: SkyNewsAust - 🏆 7. / 78 Read more »

Steve Smith and the unbridled joy of taking catches in Test cricketThe Australian now has claim to being one of the greatest in the game and shows the euphoria a catch safely taken can ignite
Source: GuardianAus - 🏆 1. / 98 Read more »

Steve Smith must go, and here is the opener to take his placeFace it, the Steve Smith as opener experiment has failed and it’s time to look elsewhere.
Source: smh - 🏆 6. / 80 Read more »

Steve Smith must go, and here is the opener to take his placeFace it, the Steve Smith as opener experiment has failed and it’s time to look elsewhere.
Source: theage - 🏆 8. / 77 Read more »

Steve Smith must go, and here is the opener to take his placeFace it, the Steve Smith as opener experiment has failed and it’s time to look elsewhere.
Source: brisbanetimes - 🏆 13. / 67 Read more »

Meet the ‘Steve Carrell lookalike’ Aussie in line for bombshell UFC title shotUFC: Australian Steve Erceg has landed a brutal left hook on opponent Mathew Schnell, with the Aussie collecting a walk-off KO for the highlight reel.
Source: FOXSportsAUS - 🏆 24. / 51 Read more »