| Live from London | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Video by | ||||
| Released | 1985 | |||
| Recorded | 1984 | |||
| Genre | Concert Performance Video | |||
| Length | 60 minutes | |||
| Label | Trilion Pictures Ltd./Castle Communications Plc. | |||
| Director | Marc Over | |||
| Producer | Philip Goodhand-Tait | |||
| Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel chronology | ||||
| ||||
Live from London is a live concert video by the British rock band Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, filmed during a concert in 1984. It was the band's first release on VHS, being released in 1985.
After a Christmas tour in 1981, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel would not embark on another tour again until 1989. [1] However, the band did perform three odd shows during 1983 and 1984, including the Reading Festival in 1983 [2] and the Camden Palace in London on 14 December 1984. [3] The London show was the last the band would perform until 1989, and was the debut performance for band's new violinist/guitarist Barry Wickens.
The Camden Palace concert was recorded for a one-hour TV special broadcast, and then released on VHS the following year. [4] [5] Filmed by Trilion Pictures Ltd., the VHS was released via Castle Communications Plc. It was directed by Marc Over and produced by Philip Goodhand-Tait. The footage features fifteen tracks, discounting the 'Live from London' title music, which was counted as a separate track on the VHS track-listing. [6]
Trilion Pictures Ltd would film two other Camden Palace concerts during 1984 for the British heavy metal band Girlschool and Canadian heavy metal band Thor. Castle Communications Plc. would also release these two concerts on VHS, as Play Dirty Live (Girlschool) and Live in London (Thor), similar to that of the Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel release. [7] [8]
Live from London was released on VHS through Castle Communications Plc in 1985. Despite the back cover listing 16 tracks in total, the last two "Sweet Dreams" and "(I Believe) Love's a Prima Donna" did not actually appear on the release, but were performed during the concert and were included in the TV broadcast. In 2001, the concert was given its first DVD release through CP Entertainment as part of their 'Legends of Rock' series. The footage was digitally remastered for the DVD. CP Entertainment released two different editions of the DVD, one of which was a 'Collectors Edition' and featured different artwork, though both editions shared the same catalogue number. The Collectors Edition DVD had the bonus feature of being a DVD Plus flip-disc, meaning that an audio CD version of the concert was placed on the other side of the DVD disc. [9] [10] [11]
On 26 February 2007, Live from London was given a new DVD release through Rhino. [12] Another DVD release followed on 11 June 2012, when it was released by the Store for Music. This version of the concert came with a bonus feature of a previously unseen photo gallery, featuring photographs taken from the same concert. [13] On 24 March 2017, the Store for Music released the concert on CD and as an audio download. [14]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| The Digital Fix |   [15] |
Of the 2001 DVD release of Live from London, Mike Sutton of the website The Digital Fix commented: "Considering that Steve Harley wrote one of the defining songs of the seventies - the sublime "(Come Up And See Me) Make Me Smile" - it's fair to say that I had fairly positive expectations of this concert DVD. While these weren't totally dashed, I have to admit that I wasn't particularly impressed. The music isn't bad at all but the presentation of the DVD is disappointing. The songs are generally of a pretty high standard, although these live versions aren't a patch on the original records. The quality of the picture is mediocre at best. Although this release is superior to some of the others released by CP, it's certainly not an essential purchase. Even fans of Steve Harley are likely to be a little disappointed by the poor visual quality of the concert." [15]
Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel are a British glam rock band from the early 1970s from London. Their music covers a range of styles from pop to progressive rock. Over the years they have had five albums in the UK Albums Chart and twelve singles in the UK Singles Chart.
Steve Harley 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.
The Psychomodo is the second studio album by Cockney Rebel, which was released by EMI in 1974. It was produced by Steve Harley and Alan Parsons.
Love's a Prima Donna is the fifth studio album by Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, which was released by EMI in 1976. It was produced by Harley, and would be the band's last album before splitting in 1977.
"Freedom's Prisoner" is a song by British singer-songwriter Steve Harley, which was released in 1979 as the only single from his second solo album The Candidate. The song, which was written and produced by Harley and Jimmy Horowitz, reached number 58 in the UK Singles Chart.
"(I Believe) Love's a Prima Donna" is a song by the British rock band Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, which was released in 1976 as the second single from their fifth studio album Love's a Prima Donna. It was written and produced by Harley. The song reached No. 41 in the UK and would be the band's last charting single before their split in 1977.
"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.
"Big Big Deal" is a song by the British singer-songwriter Steve Harley, which was released as his debut, non-album solo single in 1974. The song, which was written and produced by Harley, would be his last release before scoring the UK number one hit "Make Me Smile " in 1975. "Big Big Deal" also preceded the formation of the second line-up of Harley's band Cockney Rebel.
"Mr. Raffles " is a song by the British rock band Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, which was released in 1975 as the second and final single from their third studio album The Best Years of Our Lives. The song was written by Harley, and produced by Harley and Alan Parsons. "Mr. Raffles " reached number 13 in the UK Singles Chart.
"Psychomodo" is a song by the British rock band Cockney Rebel, fronted by Steve Harley. It was released in 1974 as the lead single from their second studio album The Psychomodo. "Psychomodo" 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, which was released in 1976 as the third and final single from the band's fifth studio album Love's a Prima Donna. Released as a single in America only, the song was written and produced by Harley.
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.
"Mr. Soft" is a song by the British rock band Cockney Rebel, fronted by Steve Harley, which was released in 1974 as the second single from their second studio album The Psychomodo. The song was written by Harley, and produced by Harley and Alan Parsons. "Mr. Soft" peaked at number 8 in the UK Singles Chart.
"Sebastian" is a song by the British rock band Cockney Rebel, fronted by Steve Harley. It was released as the band's debut single in 1973 from their album The Human Menagerie. The song was written by Harley and produced by Neil Harrison.
"When I'm with You" is a song by the British singer-songwriter Steve Harley, which was released as a non-album single in 1989. It was written and produced by Harley, ex-Cockney Rebel guitarist Jim Cregan and drummer Stuart Elliott.
"Hideaway" is a song by the British rock band Cockney Rebel, fronted by Steve Harley. Released as the opening track on the band's 1973 debut album The Human Menagerie, "Hideaway" was released in 1974 as a single in Denmark only. It was written by Harley and produced by Neil Harrison.
"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.
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.
The Come Back, All is Forgiven Tour: Live is a live concert video by the British rock band Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, which was filmed during their 1989 tour. The concert video has also been released in a variety of guises as a live album.
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.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link){{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link) Accessed on 26 February 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)