| Anytime! (A Live Set) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Live album by | ||||
| Released | 2004 | |||
| Genre | Pop rock | |||
| Length | 72:53 | |||
| Label | Gott Discs | |||
| The Steve Harley Band/Steve Harley chronology | ||||
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Anytime! (A Live Set) is a live acoustic album by Steve Harley, released under the name The Steve Harley Band and featuring members of the Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel line-up of the time. It was released in 2004. [1]
Following the early 2003 release of the live album Acoustic and Pure: Live , Harley soon organised a new UK and Irish acoustic tour for May–June 2003, which would feature four members of Cockney Rebel - Barry Wickens, Robbie Gladwell, James Lascelles and Lincoln Anderson. In a June online diary entry, Harley revealed that several shows on the tour had been recorded for a future live CD. He commented:
"Have recorded several shows, the Jazz Café being the really interesting one so far. Worcester is sold-out for this Saturday and we are recording that one, too. Some venue, the Huntingdon Hall. Should sound quite fabulous on the digital recording. Will decide on tracks a short while after the tour, and mix them with my dear mate, the brilliant Matt Butler." [2]
Later in October, he announced the idea of using tracks from both the Huntingdon Hall and the Jazz Café concerts for the album. He also spoke of the possibility of including one or two newly-recorded studio tracks, as well as an unreleased studio track from Harley's sessions with Mickie Most in the mid-1980s. By November, Harley announced that he was considering mixing the live tracks and getting the album ready for a release in March 2004, to coincide with an upcoming UK tour. [3]
During November, work commenced on the live recordings, with Harley working with engineer Matt Butler. Harley revealed in a diary entry that month:
"New album almost ready! My friend and favourite recording engineer, Matt Butler, is working on the Worcester and Jazz Café recordings now and I have to say, the two tracks I've already received, finished, are quite stunning. The chaps played some beautiful music, didn't they! Haven't settled on a list, yet, but if some titles are same as on the last one, that's because this was a different show and the record will be released on a bona fide record label. "Mirror Freak" is in there. "The Last Feast" and "A Friend for Life", too, but mostly tracks which did not appear on "Acoustic and Pure: Live"." [3]
In January 2004, Harley announced the new album was on schedule for being released at the beginning of the upcoming tour. By the end of that month, the album's title had been decided upon, while the artwork had also been completed. Harley commented: "I like it a lot. Matt Butler has done a fine job of re-mixing the sound and the Worcester and Jazz Café audiences do more than their bit. There is some really brilliant playing from the band. It will be on sale from the first night of the tour, in lobbies around Britain, from Southampton to, well, Glasgow, eh!" [4] Anytime! (A Live Set) was released in 2004. It features eleven live tracks and a bonus track; "Sophistication", which was a previously unreleased studio recording from 1986. To date, it remains exclusive to the album. [5]
In a June 2005 interview with Record Collector magazine's Nick Dalton, Harley spoke of his current musical style: "Anytime! is seriously unplugged electro-acoustic. It's similar to original Cockney Rebel – violin, no electric guitar. But I still like playing with my electric band. I'm doing Glastonbury again, headlining the acoustic stage for the first time." [6] In November 2005, Harley would use a similar format to Anytime! on a multiple date acoustic tour of Benelux, although these shows were played without Anderson, and Lascelles was on percussion only (he had played keys at select acoustic shows in February-March 2004, which otherwise kept strictly to the format presented on the album). Harley would return to Benelux around the same time in 2006 with the same lineup.[ citation needed ]
Years later, Harley would revive the general acoustic format that Anytime! and the subsequent acoustic tours in 2004-2006 took, albeit without keyboards or percussion, amid the release of Harley's 2020 album Uncovered. Furthermore, the 2020 iteration of the acoustic band would feature Oli Hayurst instead of Anderson (who had died in 2014) on double bass, and David Delarre on lead guitar instead of Gladwell. Harley and Wickens remained on lead vocals and violin/viola/acoustic guitar respectively.[ citation needed ]
The previously unreleased track "Sophistication", from 1986, was produced by Harley and Mickie Most. [7] Like much of Harley's output from the same period, the song was due to be released on Harley's solo album El Gran Senor. However, the album was shelved and left unreleased after RAK Records went bankrupt later in the year. Although many of the songs would later be re-recorded for Harley's 1992 album Yes You Can , [8] "Sophistication" remained unreleased. Despite this, Harley frequently performed the song live during 1989, after Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel made a return to touring with the "Come Back, All is Forgiven" tour.
The song features Andrew Gold on keyboards. Harley later recalled in 2015,
"Andrew Gold plays that wonderful, jazzy piano all through the song. He was brilliant. And didn't take a penny for the session. He was working in a different RAK studio while I recorded "Sophistication"; he had a partnership with Graham Gouldman, called "Wax". I was talking to Andrew in the kitchen, and he told me Graham was mixing a track and that he, Andrew, found the whole mixing process boring so usually sits it out. I played him "Sophistication" and said I'd love to hear a New York, Gershwin-like piano part and solo in there. He jumped up, walked to the piano in our room and said, "roll the tape". I left him to play his way, and it was very New York, very Gershwin. He was simply brilliant; a musician's musician; faultless and brilliant. I treasure that moment, that afternoon working with him. Always have. It's a fantastic solo." [9]
While Harley was considering the release of a new live album, he had first mentioned the possibility of releasing "Sophistication" in an October 2003 diary entry. Speaking of an "old recording", he said: "Don't imagine even the most fervent and enterprising among you has the track I'm thinking of on bootleg! Only Mickie Most and I ever took copies and the master tapes are here in this house. Gotcha!" [3] Later in November, Harley sent the song's quarter-inch tape to engineer Matt Butler. In a diary entry at that time, Harley revealed: "Waiting to hear from Matt regarding the state of the quarter-inch tape he's been sent. It's 17 years old and will need treating with kid gloves." [3]
The album was released by Gott Discs on CD in the UK only. Pinnacle Records handled the album's distribution. The album had been licensed to Gott by Harley's own Comeuppance Ltd. [5] The album's photographs of Harley, including the front cover shot, had been taken by Manfred Esser during October 2003 in Germany. [3] Today, the album is out of print.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Mr Soft" | Steve Harley | 3:33 |
| 2. | "Mirror Freak" | Harley | 6:19 |
| 3. | "The Best Years of Our Lives" | Harley | 5:22 |
| 4. | "The Last Feast" | Harley | 7:45 |
| 5. | "Riding the Waves (For Virginia Woolf)" | Harley | 9:34 |
| 6. | "Judy Teen" | Harley | 3:04 |
| 7. | "Sling It!" | Harley | 4:00 |
| 8. | "A Friend for Life" | Harley, Jim Cregan | 5:52 |
| 9. | "Two Damn'd Lies" | Harley | 6:07 |
| 10. | "Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)" | Harley | 6:33 |
| 11. | "Sebastian" | Harley | 10:56 |
| 12. | "Sophistication" | Harley | 3:48 |
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Classic Rock |   [10] |
| Get Ready to Rock! |   [11] |
| 24.000 Dischi (Italian Dalai editore book) | [12] |
In 2005, Peter Makowski of Classic Rock reviewed Anytime! (A Live Set) and commented: "Mr Soft gets unplugged. A few months ago I saw Pete Doherty play a solo acoustic show at my local. Never a big fan of The Libertines, I must admit that he was spectacular. Solo and hype-free, you could see that he was actually a gifted songwriter. The same goes for Steve Harley who is a craftsman with a canny ear for a hook and catchy chorus. Both artistes have attitude and conviction; both are former buskers. Here 'live and unplugged' the former Cockney Rebel takes us through a tour of all the hits and more. But it's the lesser-known material like the emotive "A Friend for Life" that makes Harley sound fresh and edgy, like a latter day Libertine." [10]
Joe Geesin of the webzine Get Ready to Rock! said: "Opener "Mr Soft" has an uptempo quirky offbeat, while the violin on "Mirror Freak" adds an interesting if moody touch. Ballads, rockers and acoustic strumming, all the styles explored do nod back to the pub rock roots, and many emphasise Harley's songwriting. Of course there's the obligatory "Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)" which does work rather well. Thoroughly enjoyable, but probably more for the fans." [11] In the 2007 Italian book 24.000 Dischi (24,000 discs), Riccardo Bertoncelli and Cris Thellung stated: "An acoustic concert, new songs and interpretations of old classics, which are still beautiful and mostly performed by Harley with a passion and feeling really touching." [12]
Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel were an English rock band who formed in the early 1970s in London. Their music covered a range of styles from pop to progressive rock. Over the years, they have had five albums on the UK Albums Chart and twelve singles on the UK Singles Chart.
Stephen Malcolm Ronald Nice, known by his stage name Steve Harley, was an English singer-songwriter and frontman of the rock group Cockney Rebel. He had six UK hit singles with the band in the mid-1970s, including "Judy Teen", "Mr. Soft", and the number one "Make Me Smile ".
Yes You Can is the third solo studio album by British singer-songwriter Steve Harley. It was released by CTE in Europe in 1992 and by Food For Thought Records in the UK on 4 May 1993.
"The Last Goodbye" is a song by the British rock band Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, which was released in 2006 as a single from their 2005 studio album The Quality of Mercy. The song was written by Harley and ex-Cockney Rebel guitarist Jim Cregan, and produced by Harley.
The Quality of Mercy is the sixth and final studio album by English rock band Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, which was released by Gott Discs on 3 October 2005. The album was Steve Harley's first studio album in 9 years and the first in 29 years to be released under the Cockney Rebel name. The album was produced entirely by Harley, with Jim Cregan co-producing the track "A Friend for Life". The album's title is based on the Shakespearean phrase.
Stranger Comes to Town is the fifth solo studio album from English songwriter and musician Steve Harley, released by Absolute on 3 May 2010. The album was produced by Harley.
"Star for a Week (Dino)" is a pop-rock song by British singer-songwriter Steve Harley, which was released as a promotional single in 1993 from his third solo album Yes You Can. The single coincided with the UK release of the album that year (Yes You Can had been released in Europe in 1992). It was the second single to be released from the album, following "Irresistible" as a European single in 1992. "Star for a Week (Dino)" was written by Harley, and produced by Harley and Matt Butler.
"Irresistible" is a song written and recorded by British singer-songwriter Steve Harley. It was released three times as a single; the first being in 1985 as a non-album single under his band's name Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel. In 1986, a remixed version of the song was released by Harley as a solo single in the UK, and in 1992, he re-released this version as a single in Europe from his solo album Yes You Can. "Irresistible" was written by Harley and produced by English producer Mickie Most.
"Tumbling Down" is a song by the British rock band Cockney Rebel, fronted by Steve Harley. It was released in 1975 as the third and final single from the band's second studio album The Psychomodo (1974). The song was written by Harley, and produced by Harley and Alan Parsons.
"(Love) Compared with You" is a song by the British rock band Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, released in 1977 as the third and final single from the band's fifth studio album, Love's a Prima Donna (1976). Released as a single in America only, the song was written and produced by Harley.
"A Friend for Life" is a song by British singer-songwriter Steve Harley, released by Intrinsic Records on 30 April 2001 as a non-album single. The song was written by Harley and former Cockney Rebel guitarist Jim Cregan, and was produced by Cregan. Harley's first release of new material since his 1996 album Poetic Justice, "A Friend for Life" was later included on Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel's sixth studio album The Quality of Mercy (2005).
Acoustic and Pure: Live is a live acoustic album by English songwriter and musician Steve Harley, released in 2003. The album features ex-Cockney Rebel guitarist Jim Cregan, while certain tracks also include other members of Cockney Rebel.
Birmingham is a live album by Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, featuring the Orchestra of the Swan and Chamber Choir. It was recorded live at the Birmingham Symphony Hall on 24 November 2012, and was released on both CD and DVD in 2013. A DVD version of the performance was also released at the same time.
"Judy Teen" is a song by the British rock band Cockney Rebel, fronted by Steve Harley. It was released as a non-album single in 1974, and became the band's first UK hit, after their debut single, "Sebastian", was only a hit in continental Europe. "Judy Teen" was written by Harley, and produced by Harley and Alan Parsons.
Stripped to the Bare Bones is a 1999 live acoustic album by English musician and songwriter Steve Harley. The album was produced by Harley and features Nick Pynn.
"The Best Years of Our Lives" is a song by the British rock band Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, released in 1975 as the title track from the band's third studio album The Best Years of Our Lives. In 1977, a live version of the song was released as a single from the album Face to Face: A Live Recording.
"Ordinary People" is a song by British singer-songwriter Steve Harley, which was released as a non-album single in 2015. It was written by Harley, Jim Cregan and Robert Hart, and produced by Harley. The song was Harley's first new song of five years, following the release of his fifth solo studio album Stranger Comes to Town in 2010.
Barry Wickens is a British musician, multi-instrumentalist and composer. Primarily a violinist and guitarist, he also plays mandolin, viola, Appalachian dulcimer (psaltery), dobro and keyboards. He is best known for being one of the longest-serving members of Steve Harley's rock group Cockney Rebel, and for being a former member of the pop group Immaculate Fools. He is also a violin teacher for Brighton & Hove Music & Arts.
Live at the Isle of Wight Festival is a live concert video by the British rock band Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, filmed at the 2004 Isle of Wight Festival, and released on DVD in 2005. It is the band's third filmed concert release, and first such release on DVD.
Uncovered is the sixth and final solo studio album from English singer-songwriter Steve Harley, released on 21 February 2020.