As I still haven't received it, I eventually decided to listen to it on Deezer.

It was not such a good idea

Indeed, I have a PowerBook : it sounds really "metallic", no depth, a pity . And the drummer seeems to play with mittens
(as I suppose it is Stuart Elliott, it is just impossible !)

So I will stop here this listening and wait quietly for the CD to arrive to offer it the good hi-fi system it deserves ...

However, I already can say that this album has a typical Harley sound, that I like very much For Sale. Baby shoes ... and that No Bleeding Hearts is a great song. For the moment, I am not totally fond of Stranger Comes to Town, but I have to listen more times to pronounce any definitive judgment !

I am probably the only one here without the CD

Here am I with my comment on the new Stranger Comes to Town.

I have been listening at it many many times, now.
I certainly maintain that For Sale. Baby Shoes. Never Worn and Take The Men And The Horses Away are good songs, I definitly enjoy them.
But I don’t adhere to this album. It’s as simple as that. It’s not that I find it’s not good, who am I to judge Steve Harley’s work ?
No, this album is just not my cup of tea.

So I tried to undersand why ; because, after all, I took it for granted that no matter Steve Harley would produce would please my ears and my brain. So I should have loved it.

And I found … This album is too serious for me.

It lacks of this absolute fantasy that captured me in his previous productions.
The craziness of a Mirror Freaks, the over bombastic Sebastian, the obsessional rythm of a Hideaway, the tragic of a Back To The Farm, the happiness of a Best Years, the humour of a Finally A Card Game, the theatrical of a Bed In The Corner, the frenzy of a Sling It, the overplayed Bed In The Corner, the desperate of a Riding the Waves, the hypersensitive to tears of a Tumbling Down, the extravaganza of a Ritz, and more, more …

As I am writing that, I realize I not only miss the fantasy but also the excess he can be able of : his songs were always « over », « hyper ».

I can hear your roars … I know : he has matured, he gives priority to the words (I asked myself this question during the chat and that is what he answered).
Because of the reasons you now know, the lyrics are not what hits me at first in a song. His lyrics were probably as important years ago as they are today for him but my english at this time was even worst than now so it has to be something else than the lyrics that have captured me so much and for so many years.
It has to be something else that fascinated me at this point.
It has to be something else that made me walk miles to get all these albums wherever they could be found (as SH was in very short supply in France).
And I think this « something else » was his excesses and his musical fantasy. That’s two things I don’t recognize in Stranger Comes to Town today.

I will still listen to it with pleasure, for sure, but without trance.

Now, I am bravely ready to be banish from here

Maelitta,
You are a bit like me - I keep waiting and hoping that SH will come up with another Human menagerie, Psychomodo, Best Years of our lives or even a Timeless Flight, but with each new release come the same disappointmentt. It's not that each new Cd is bad, far from it, it's just that they do not live up to the early material. I've said it previously, that it is SH's fault for making the first few albums so incredibly brilliant, that it makes it an impossible act to follow.
I still worship Cockney Rebel, since his music in the 70's shaped my youth, and give me so many memories. But if the early stuff did not exist and the last 4 releases were his only material, would we all be fans? I'm not convinced we would. I'm not saying they are bad, but for every song you have listed from the early days, I could name a dozen more which emote the same feelings.
As for the new CD, well to be honest I wasn't a fan, and thought that it would end up covered in dust like 'Quality of Mercy', Poetic Justice, Yes you can', etc etc, but since seeing them at Brighton I'm suddenly hooked. The new material live was as impressive as the old. Infact I now can't get 'No Bleedin hearts' out of my head and also find myself singing 'Stranger comes to Town' and 'This Old Man' at regular intervals. In fact I'm coming to the conclusion that it is a bloody good album. Maybe not up there with the first four, but I would say his best since the early days. Keep listening and you may yet be converted.

I see exactly what you mean.

It is true that the live show gives a kinda shine and an energy I don't find in the recording. That is probably what I am missing with SCTT : the energy.
Steve Harley on stage is a very happy guy, smiles a lot, is very cheerfull, has a big presence and therefore the new songs become less "serious".

I think I'll give my listening a rest for the moment but swear I will go back to it soon. He deserves it.


PS : I forgot to mention No Bleeding Hearts in my favourite, but it is indeed !

Ah, cherie...it is all about opinions.

I love Stranger and I think it is one of his best ever albums.

In an interview Steve said that this album was a comment on life as he sees it in 2010.

He is a thoughtful man and his world view at this moment is encapsulated in Stranger.

And as we all know, the world is in a serious state right now, what with pointless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the financial meltdown which threatens us all and the eco disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

IMO, Steve captrures the post 11/9 zeitgiest in Stranger.

For me Stranger is an album without flaw.....every track is good and some are great.

And much as we all lament our lost youth, rebel, we all grow older and we move on with our lives.

It is pointless saying that if the first four albums didn't exist we wouldn't be fans.

They do exist, we love them and we have stuck with the man for decades.

But you are wrong in dismissing the last four studio albums.

My wife wasn't married to me back in the seventies and when I played the early stuff over the years she couldn't listen to the songs (with the obvious exception).

But when Tes You Can came out she loved that and loves the three subsequent albums. She is a fan because of the last four albums.

He is different, we are different.

But for me anyway, Steve Harley remains the troubadour who provides the musical soundtrack to my life.....from 1973 through 2010.

You see, Kalekhan, you are positionning yourself on a literary or philosophical point of view : words, thoughts.

But me, it is not what I first expect of an album ; when I play a record, I want to listen to music first, I want to have feelings, emotion, shivers. If great words/ thoughts could come on top of great music, I am happy.

In anyway, concerning this point of lyrics, I am affraid we can never, because of my mother language, be on a perfect join, you see ? !