The Cream of Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel

Compilation album by Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel

Released

15 March 1999^[1]
7 July 2008 (re-issue)

Genre

Pop, Rock

Length

69:23

Label

EMI Gold

Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel chronology

More Than Somewhat – The Very Best of Steve Harley
(1998)

The Cream of Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel
(1999)

Stripped to the Bare Bones
(1999)

Alternative Cover

2008 re-issue as "The Best of Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel"

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 and Harley's solo career. It contains sixteen tracks, covering Harley and the band's career from Cockney Rebel's 1973 album The Human Menagerie to Harley's 1979 album The Candidate, as well as the 1982 non-album single "I Can't Even Touch You".^[2]^[3]

Background

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.^[4] The Cream of Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel's 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.^[5]

The album was released by EMI Gold on CD in the UK only. Later on 28 February 2003, the album was made available as an online digital MP3 download.^[6] On 7 July 2008, the album was re-issued by EMI Gold for release in the UK and Europe as The Best of Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel.^[7]^[8] This release had the same track-listing, but new artwork, featuring a photograph of Harley in front of a red background.^[9]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)"	Steve Harley	4:00
2.	"Judy Teen"	Harley	3:40
3.	"Here Comes the Sun"	George Harrison	2:56
4.	"(I Believe) Love's a Prima Donna"	Harley	4:09
5.	"The Best Years of Our Lives"	Harley	5:43
6.	"Another Journey"	Harley	2:49
7.	"Freedom's Prisoner"	Harley, Jimmy Horowitz	3:50
8.	"Tumbling Down"	Harley	5:49
9.	"Mr. Raffles (Man, It Was Mean)"	Harley	4:33
10.	"Roll the Dice"	Harley, Jo Partridge	3:26
11.	"Psychomodo"	Harley	4:03
12.	"Mr. Soft"	Harley	3:20
13.	"White, White Dove"	Harley	5:38
14.	"Sebastian"	Harley	6:57
15.	"(Love) Compared with You"	Harley	4:22
16.	"I Can't Even Touch You"	Harley	3:59

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[10]

Dave Thompson of AllMusic reviewed the compilation, writing: "This compilation brings together an unchallenging but almost uniformly excellent roundup of Steve Harley's 1970s output. It brushes all of the expected high points. The real meat, however, lies among the excerpted album cuts, as the compilers treat all seven original Harley/Cockney Rebel LPs with more or less equal respect - many fans would have drawn a line after the first three. But "White White Dove," "Roll the Dice," and the like all deserve a fresh hearing, and The Cream of emerges with almost unruffled consistency, and an overall impact that is all the more satisfying for being so unexpected."^[11]

Chart performance

Chart (2006)	Peak position
UK Budget Albums Chart^[12]	21

References

Steve Harley/Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel
Steve Harley Barry Wickens Robbie Gladwell James Lascelles Kuma Harada Adam Houghton Jean-Paul Crocker Paul Jeffreys Milton Reame-James Jim Cregan George Ford Duncan Mackay Stuart Elliott Lincoln Anderson
Studio albums (Cockney Rebel)	The Human Menagerie (1973) The Psychomodo (1974)
Studio albums (Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel)	The Best Years of Our Lives (1975) Timeless Flight (1976) Love's a Prima Donna (1976) The Quality of Mercy (2005)
Studio albums (Steve Harley)	Hobo with a Grin (1978) The Candidate (1979) Yes You Can (1992) Poetic Justice (1996) Stranger Comes to Town (2010)
Live albums	Face to Face: A Live Recording (1977) Stripped to the Bare Bones (1999) Acoustic and Pure: Live (2003) Anytime! (A Live Set) (as The Steve Harley Band, 2004) Birmingham (Live with Orchestra & Choir) (2013)
Compilations	A Closer Look (1975) The Best of Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel (1980) The Collection (1983) Greatest Hits (1987) Mr Soft (1988) Live at the BBC (1995) More Than Somewhat – The Very Best of Steve Harley (1998) The Cream of Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel (1999) Best of the '70s (2000) The Cockney Rebel - A Steve Harley Anthology (2006) The Best of Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel (2008) Cavaliers: An Anthology 1973-1974 (2012) Original Album Series (2014)
Singles (Cockney Rebel)	"Sebastian" "Judy Teen" "Hideaway" "Psychomodo" "Mr. Soft" "Tumbling Down"
Singles (Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel)	"Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)" "Mr. Raffles (Man, It Was Mean)" "Black or White" "White, White Dove" "Here Comes the Sun" "(I Believe) Love's a Prima Donna" "(Love) Compared with You" "The Best Years of Our Lives (live)" "I Can't Even Touch You" "Irresistible" "The Last Goodbye"
Singles (Steve Harley)	"Big Big Deal" "Roll the Dice" "Someone's Coming" "Freedom's Prisoner" "Ballerina (Prima Donna)" "Heartbeat Like Thunder" "Irresistible" "The Phantom of the Opera" (with Sarah Brightman) "Whatever You Believe" (as Anderson, Harley & Batt) "When I'm with You" "Star for a Week (Dino)" "A Friend for Life" "Faith & Virtue" "For Sale. Baby Shoes. Never Worn" "Ordinary People"
Video	Live from London (1985) The Come Back, All is Forgiven Tour: Live (1989) Live at the Isle of Wight Festival (2005) Birmingham (Live with Orchestra & Choir) (2013)
Related articles	Discography The Alan Parsons Project

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