Listened in to Jools Holland , ( tipped of ! Reminded, by phone call ) ah sometimes that irritating caller, one you don't want to answer , can be so welcome after all ! Bless them.....

Anyway! I never intended to miss it , but the isolation I put myself in , keeps me from much these days, but as God is my witness Steve Harley 's has to be , and has always been, my very own private messenger ! My lighthouse '

And so the Stranger comes to town , well he may well of been just that , in 73! but by 74 right through to this pressent hour , he's been like my best'est ever mate, the one dear friend who's always been around filling me with words of wisdom ! And words of wonder ! ( failure is on the inside ! bit of timeless flight kicked in there )

ANYWAY !
He who never fails to make me smile, and even cry at times , the one who never lets me down , was paying me a visit ! Over the airways ! That the volcanic dust has failed to sabotage !

Waiting for him, I caught Jools digging out something from his Demo corner ! Aretha franklin's Raggedy Ann ! From 64 on CBS records and wished I'd got my old LP of her “ The first twelve sides “ on CD ! She was something like ! 15 on them track's voice to die for! Clear as a bell ! Classic, it wont be long ! Was a song She sings on it , she declares “ here I stand, by the railway track, waiting for my baby ! He's a coming back ! Coming back to me ! On the 503 ! And it wont be long! No no , No it wont be long !

I missed most of the first song faith and virtue ! So I was gutted , because some person in the same room as I , kept talking , bloody chat chat, chat chat chat bloody chat chat chat ! Chank chank chank , bloody chank ! I'm like ! shhhh shhhhh SHHH shut up ! STFU yeah the jazz café in Camden quote comes to mind !Bloody noise! Some people have no respect !!!! I so wanted to listen to the lyrics! I could hear the band, ! locked on to the beat of drums and violin, up-tempo reminded me of promises ! but faith and virtue I wanted !
Anyway ! seeing s I was in another's house , and It was their television program I'd turned off to listen to the radio , maybe I was a bit out of order ! ? or was I ?

hmm anyway, I could swim in acid rain for all they cared ! Yet after she'd noticed the whites of my eyes and the steam coming from my ears ! The Bull in me ! I think she realised she'd best shut up ! And she did ! Sort of ! Ah ! So that was a protest song ! that was faith and virtue !

She continued to talk over most of the chat between Mr Holland and Mr H! Until! I threw her a look that said , if you don't shut that hole in your face !!!! she knew full well this was my hero ! She was supposed to be my friend ! by this time we were in to Bob Dylan's positively 4th street , I started smiling ! How apt ! I said oi ! Take note lady !
How I wish, that for just one day , you could step in side my shoes !

Then I was taken back to a hot sunny Sunday afternoon back in 75 listening sat to the radio on the front lawn of my front garden, where I grew up with Steve Harley , I remember the programme being on just after lunch and it was my top 12 ? or was it 10 ? anyway ! it was on radio one ! And Steve chose positively 4th street as one of them ! Way back then, I'm sure it was in one of the top 3 ! along side theTroggs Wild thing ! And I remember he had an Ella Fitzgerald song then too, sure it was something like pick in pack in mama or something ! But anyway ! I remember I had to go out in the garden with me tranny to listen in peace and quite , Sundays was family day so a house full . No chance of hearing him talk about his choice of songs ( not a lot changes then ) I did have a tape of it somewhere , but I guess some one probably taped over it , my sister !

By the time Bob Dylan had finished , I come back reluctant to 2010 back into chatter box's living room, ( see told ya , not a lot changes ) and a stranger comes to town plays , made me sit and stare ! He sings like Bruce Springsteen , yet the violin takes you away to classic FM and you could be listening to pachelbell's cannon ! I know ! You can be in a room amongst thousand and feel quie alone, or a room with just one chatterbox, and still feel alone, listening to this song I did not feel so alone ! The violin helping me along as Harley's voice walks me slowly down this road I'm on !,just to remind me love has let me down !

But Daniel Johnston's song True Love will find you in the end , reduced me to tears, huge tears big enough to drown in, I hear the voice, saying Don't be sad ! I know you will ! Don't give up ! Coz True love will find you in the end ! ( really ? Are you sure ? ) And you'll find out who was your friend ! ( Yeah ! Not this chatterbox ) and then me little ears pricked up as that sax kicked in ! WOW a SAX And a huge smile beamed across my face ! Wow ! How cool was that ! A SAX , And I suddenly switched from the words of the song that was gutting me to the drum's and the tinkling piano behind the voice , a voice I can listen too and know I should never doubt !

And then he had to play Ella Fitzgerald , ( back to the garden , sat alone on my own ) the strings on the that song and her beautiful voice, singing them words ! “ Every time we say goodbye “reduced me to tears again, , yes indeed I die a little ! Every time ! The orchestra , string section, wind section, her voice, can not fail to pull at your heart strings ! Guaranteed to make a sad girl cry , but then Mr H's voice picks me of the floor and carries me again as he sings this old man! I hear the violin loud and clear ! And the piano , and the slowed down back beat of the military timeing of the drum in the background behind the violin and piano as he slowly says goodbye ! To this old man and the end to this show! I'm so glad I didn't miss it !

As God is my witness ! Steve Harley is surely my lighthouse ! The messenger in my darkness ! And he's coming a town on tour ! Again Soon , near you , near me , just like he always did all them years ago, and guess who's going to be there for him? As long as that volcanic ash don t settle too close we'll be fine . En-sharla ! ( god willing )


cant wait till I get my hands on that new CD, I feel like I did when I was waiting for Timeless flight to come in to Diamond stylist the record shop up station road in Harpenden, where I pr- ordered all my Steve Harley and Cockney Rebels records , had to have them on the day of release.

Reading your story has made my day. It was a great radio show, Steve so laid back with Jools, like old mates chatting, but then the music....such great depth in there. Stranger Comes To Town: the track sounded like a lyrical monster, and the album itself is beginning to sound like one of the greats already. You really did miss a treat withe the opening track, though, Faith And Virtue, cos it is a blinder! Could that one see SH return to the charts??? Th Live track with Jools and his band was brilliant stuff.

Raffles, I've since been to the BBC 2 web site and re- listened to the show, how brilliant was that ! Wicked !
Don't ya just love listening to the radio, taking in all that cant bee seen through red eye's !
I could just see in my little minds eye the relaxed atmosphere, arms draped over backs of chairs, ankles crossed and legs stretched out and huge grins , and laughter amongst fellow musicians, I listened with excitement and wonder to the insights to the new Album .

A stranger comes to town holds as much excitement to me now, as probably when Timeless Flight was released , took back , to the hot sunny week I spent taking my tape player in to school, skipping first lesson after lunch so I could sit on the school field waiting for Johnny Walker to connect via phone to Mr Harley out in LA at the time , and play tracks from the new Timeless Flight album just released,

All the men are hungry, all the men are in search of time ! The intro to that track on piano haunts me to this day, and the the best est track, I loved to listen to over and over was nothing is sacred ! as it gave me a glimpse into the studio, Steve's inquiring soft voice, and the vision of that guitar he held and the wonder of Ray ? Who's ray ? , as Steve picks guitar and strikes a cord and asks ? “ are you there ray ? “ and the the stranger ( to all sleeve reading fans ) answers , “ yeah we're there ! and we're rolling “ priceless, !

I so wanted to revisit them 1 o'clock lunch time Johnny Walker interviews, but after about the third day I remember my tape player chewing up the tape ! I was well gutted, so peee'd off ! And I got into so much trouble for being on the school field at one o'clock when I should have been making me way to class, but I had to hear what this new album was all about from the creator, the man himself, and now this new album holds just as much, interest and wonder and excitement as Timeless flight did, so New, so different ! And now I'm thinking I'd like to save Jools Holland's show for keeps sake, Hmm I wonder if I could do that ? And who could I ask how to do that ?

Stella maybe ? Seems like a good bet , if your about Stella ? I missed you at the space in Brighton ! Karen said she'd spoken to you but I never saw you! I was Probably to busy talking to the space crew ear marking Posters ! Lol
any way A stranger comes to town ! Jools Holland show had me smiling , stranger comes to to town, holds as much excitement to day as Timeless flight did when Johnny walker reviewed it on his radio 1 Lunch time show.... way back....

What a great half hour's listening! The 4 songs from the new album (1 live) sounded fantastic, especially Stranger come to Town. What a song!

That Stranger Comes To Town title track was like Graeme says, really special. It was old Harley with a new, soulful voice. I heard Waites and Springsteen, even Lennon in the delivery, and yet it was totally, uniquely Harley all the time! Priceless.