More Than Somewhat – The Very Best of Steve Harley

More Than Somewhat – The Very Best of Steve Harley
Compilation album by Steve Harley/Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel
Released 23 March 1998
Genre Pop, Rock
Length 71:43
Label EMI Music
Steve Harley/Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel chronology

Poetic Justice
(1996)		 More Than Somewhat – The Very Best of Steve Harley
(1998)		 Stripped to the Bare Bones
(1999)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic Unrated[1]
The Virgin Encyclopedia of 70s Music [2]
24.000 Dischi (Italian Dalai editore book) [3]

More Than Somewhat – The Very Best of Steve Harley is a compilation album by Steve Harley, featuring material from Cockney Rebel, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel and Harley's solo career. The collection of sixteen tracks highlights his career spanning from 1973's The Human Menagerie to 1996's Poetic Justice album. At least one song from each studio album is included, except for Harley's 1979 album The Candidate.[1] The album was released in the UK and Europe only by EMI Music on CD.[4]

Background

The album gave Harley his first appearance in the UK Albums Chart since 1977's Face to Face: A Live Recording album. More Than Somewhat – The Very Best of Steve Harley peaked at #82 in the UK, and lasted in the Top 100 for a total of two weeks.[5]

In 1997, Harley performed some casual shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival consisting of music and chat about his career, accompanied only by instrumentalist Nick Pynn. The success of these led to Harley and Pynn playing over a hundred dates in 1998, performing under the expanatory tour-title "Stripped to the Bare Bones". Tying in with the tour was the released of More Than Somewhat – The Very Best of Steve Harley, the mid-price re-issue of most of the early catalogue, and a live album entitled Stripped to the Bare Bones (1999), re-issued as Unplugged in 2000.[6]

Release

Released in the UK and across Europe via EMI Music on CD only, the album would also be issued digitally on 1 March 2003. In 2004, it was re-issued on CD via Phantom Import Distribution/EMI Music Distribution.[7] For the original 1998 release, a promotional version was also issued which came in a black 'advance listening CD' sleeve.[8]

The same track-listing would be used for the 2000 Disky Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel compilation Best of the 70's[9] and the 2005 Disky/Disky Communications Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel compilation The Ultra Selection.[10]

Track listing

No. TitleWriter(s) Length
1. "Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)"  Steve Harley 4:00
2. "(Love) Compared with You"  Harley 4:19
3. "Judy Teen"  Harley 3:40
4. "Mr Raffles (Man, It Was Mean)"  Harley 4:33
5. "Mr Soft"  Harley 3:18
6. "Sebastian"  Harley 6:55
7. "That's My Life In Your Hands"  Harley, Hugh Nicholson 3:49
8. "Here Comes the Sun"  George Harrison 2:56
9. "All Men are Hungry"  Harley 4:46
10. "Roll the Dice"  Harley 3:25
11. "The Best Years of Our Lives"  Harley 5:44
12. "Star for a Week (Dino)"  Harley 4:36
13. "Rain in Venice"  Harley, Robin LeMesurier 4:50
14. "The Last Time I Saw You"  Harley 5:36
15. "Psychomodo"  Harley 4:02
16. "Irresistible (Remix)"  Harley 5:12

Chart performance

Chart (1998) Peak
position
UK Albums Chart[5] 82

Personnel

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "More Than Somewhat: The Very Best of Steve Harley - Steve Harley : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 2013-07-03.
  2. ↑ The Virgin encyclopedia of 70s music - Colin Larkin - Google Books. Books.google.co.uk. Retrieved 2013-07-03.
  3. ↑ Ventiquattromila dischi. Guida a tutti i dischi degli artisti e gruppi piů ... - Google Books. Books.google.co.uk. Retrieved 2013-05-22.
  4. ↑ "Steve Harley - More Than Somewhat: The Very Best Of... (CD) at Discogs". Discogs.com. Retrieved 2013-07-03.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Chart Log UK: H & Claire- Hysterix". Zobbel.de. Retrieved 2013-07-03.
  6. ↑ The Rough Guide to Rock - Google Books. Books.google.co.uk. Retrieved 2013-07-03.
  7. ↑ "More Than Somewhat: The Very Best of Steve Harley - Steve Harley : Releases". AllMusic. Retrieved 2013-07-03.
  8. ↑ "More Than Somewhat". Harleyfanzone.com. Retrieved 2013-07-03.
  9. ↑ "Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel - Best Of The 70's (CD) at Discogs". Discogs.com. Retrieved 2013-07-03.
  10. ↑ "The Ultra Selection - : Release Information, Reviews and Credits". AllMusic. 2005-05-02. Retrieved 2013-07-03.