''More Than Somewhat – The Very Best of Steve Harley'' is a compilation album by

Steve Harley Steve Harley (born Stephen Malcolm Ronald Nice; 27 February 1951) is an English singer and songwriter, best known as frontman of the rock group Cockney Rebel, with whom he still tours, albeit with frequent and significant personnel changes. Ea ...

, which was released by

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

in 1998. It features sixteen tracks recorded by Cockney Rebel, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel and Harley as a solo artist, spanning from Cockney Rebel's 1973 debut album ''

The Human Menagerie ''The Human Menagerie'' is the debut studio album by Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, Cockney Rebel, which was released by EMI Records, EMI in 1973. It was produced by Neil Harrison. Background After training as a journalist for three years, Steve ...

'' to Harley's 1996 solo album ''

Poetic Justice Poetic justice, also called poetic irony, is a literary device with which ultimately virtue is rewarded and misdeeds are punished. In modern literature, it is often accompanied by an ironic twist of fate related to the character's own action, henc ...

''. At least one song from each studio album is included, with the exception of Harley's 1979 album '' The Candidate''. ''More Than Somewhat – The Very Best of Steve Harley'' was the first Steve Harley/Cockney Rebel compilation to be released in the UK since 1992's '' Make Me Smile – The Best of Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel''. ''More Than Somewhat'' was released in March 1998 and gave Harley his first appearance in the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

since Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel's 1977 album '' Face to Face: A Live Recording''. The compilation reached number 82 and remained in the top 100 for two weeks.

Background

Harley was involved in choosing the track listing for the compilation and also wrote the sleeve notes for it. Speaking of his involvement, he told '' The Birmingham Post'' in 1998,

Promotion

Coinciding with the compilation's release was Harley's 1998 "Stripped to the Bare Bones" tour. This tour was Harley's first using his newly-developed acoustic format. Accompanied by instrumentalist

Nick Pynn Nick Pynn is a British musician and composer noted for his use of bass pedals and live looping with electroacoustic stringed instruments. He has been described as an ‘avant folk’ artist, whose early interests were in world folk and experiment ...

, the pair played over a hundred dates that year across the UK and Europe.

Release

''More Than Somewhat'' was released by EMI Music on CD in the UK and Europe. The album received its first digital release on 1 March 2003 and was re-issued on CD by Phantom Import Distribution/EMI Music Distribution in 2004. In 2000, the compilation was re-issued across Europe by Disky under the new title ''Best of the 70's''. Another re-issue by Disky followed in 2005, but in the Netherlands only, as ''The Ultra Selection''.

Critical reception

On its release, Bob Eborall of the '' Ealing Leader'' wrote, "A compilation from the artist who has been touring the country including 'Come Up and See Me'. Steve has also written the sleeve notes, making it a must for his fans. He is still an artist to reckon with." Neil McKay of '' Sunday Life'' stated, "Great glam singles from his brief 70s heyday succumb to later navel gazing material."

Track listing

Personnel

Production * Steve Harley – producer (tracks 1–5, 7-9, 11–16) *

Alan Parsons Alan Parsons (born 20 December 1948) is an English audio engineer, songwriter, musician and record producer. Parsons was involved with the production of several notable albums, including the Beatles' ''Abbey Road'' (1969) and ''Let It Be'' ( ...

– producer (tracks 1, 3–5, 11, 15) * Neil Harrison – producer (track 6) * Michael J. Jackson – producer (track 10) *

Mickie Most Michael Peter Hayes (20 June 1938 – 30 May 2003), known as Mickie Most, was an English record producer behind scores of hit singles for acts such as the Animals, Herman's Hermits, the Nashville Teens, Donovan, Lulu, Suzi Quatro, Hot Chocolate ...

– producer (tracks 12–13, 16) * Stuart Breed – remixer (track 16) Other * Steve Harley – liner notes

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:More Than Somewhat - The Very Best of Steve Harley Steve Harley albums Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel albums 1998 compilation albums EMI Records compilation albums