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Post by metro1962 on Mar 17, 2024 12:14:35 GMT
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615
One Of Your Own
Posts: 126
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Post by 615 on Mar 17, 2024 12:46:50 GMT
They used Make Me Smile for a Viagra ad and Steve quipped that they should have used Mister Soft. RIP, Steve, one of the best. |
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Post by billymedhurst on Mar 17, 2024 12:58:18 GMT
Sad to read this, I remember 'Come Up and See Me' at no1. I also liked 'Judy Teen' RIP Steve Harley.
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Post by Portland Road on Mar 22, 2024 8:45:17 GMT
I always think Steve Harley should have had a longer chart career, through the later-70s and into the 80s.
Cockney Rebel sat conveniently between pop and rock, with the potential for a wide fanbase, and their songs have stood the test of time well.
It is strange that after the outstanding success of 'Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)' and its parent album 'The Best Years Of Our Lives', their subsequent album was less successful and the two singles from it failed to chart at all.
I understand that Steve was not too easy to work with, but you have to wonder what brought such a dip in fortunes.
R.I.P. Steve Harley.
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Post by chopper on Mar 22, 2024 20:16:34 GMT
He always came over as a nice guy and good radio presenter. Obviously best for two songs, but much more than that…
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Post by daz on Mar 23, 2024 8:54:53 GMT
The Cockney Rebel albums from the 70s are an excellent addition to any collection and are sadly overlooked 50 years later.
Like I have written countless times on this forum, if you are going to be best remembered for one song, then make sure it's a good one and Make Me Smile is certainly one of the greats.
You need to get a doctor to check you aren't dead if that song doesn't float your boat.
His career never really recovered from Make Me Smile, in terms of chart success. Possibly not helped by his long running fued with the music press.
Steve Wright mentioned Harley was ill on his last POTP the Saturday before he died and now a few weeks later they are both gone. 😔
RIP Steve
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Post by Portland Road on Mar 29, 2024 5:54:56 GMT
In 1974, Cockney Rebel emerged amidst Queen, Abba, David Essex and Sparks, and easily stood comparison to all of them.
daz - I agree, if he had a long-running feud with the music press that won't have helped, and most of the original Cockney Rebel members departed.
This would pull the rug of success from beneath Steve Harley's feet.
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Post by brinylonshirt on Mar 29, 2024 21:50:05 GMT
Just to add to what has already been said. Cockney Rebel’s TOTP debut in May 1974 doing Judy Teen (which I think was his best single) was one of the memorable TOTP debuts of that year along with Queen and Sparks. Harley wore a black vest, black bowler hat and mascara and camped it up good. The episode was of course wiped by the BBC and if anyone remembers it was one of a number of TOTP episodes in 1974 that due to industrial action was filmed before a seated studio audience in a different studio to where TOTP was usually filmed. The programme eventually went off air for a few weeks in the summer of 74. The album that Cockney Rebel released that year ‘The Psychomodo’ (with band cover photo by Mick Rock) is a great album with two tracks in particular - Ritz and Tumbling Down - absolute classics, the latter which should have been a single. Harley had been a journalist prior to his music career so his attitude to the music press was coloured by that. In later years he admitted that his inflated ego had been a factor in the decline of his career and only a few years ago was lamenting that even though he had one of the biggest hits in the 70s it did not necessarily translate into ticket sales when he went on tour. Harley and Steve Wright knew each other as both were south east London and Wright hung out Harley’s younger brother. When Wright died Harley posted on his site saying Wright’s death had ‘shattered’ him. One of the original members of Cockney Rebel was killed in the Lockerbie bomb in 1988.
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Post by daz on Mar 30, 2024 7:34:44 GMT
Bri. Excellent post.
After he passed, I saw a TOTP video of Make me Smile where Harley was looking resplendent in Purple Coat and Bowler hat for the performance. Still looked amazing after nearly 50 years.
Judy Teen is an underrated tune. I had it as an earworm a few weeks before he passed and played it around 10 times on the bounce.
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