Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel (July 23, 1976) "Here Comes the Sun" Single – EMI (UK)

A bold cover of the George Harrison classic, “Here Comes the Sun” became Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel’s last major UK Top 40 hit (excluding reissues of “Make Me Smile”).

THE RELEASE	WHAT THE LABEL SHOWS
Label: EMI Format: 7" Vinyl Single Country: UK Catalogue: EMI 11186 Release Date: July 23, 1976 TRACK LIST A-Side Here Comes the Sun (Harrison) – 2:57 B-Side Lay Me Down (Harley) – 3:58	Red and beige EMI labels. A-side “HERE COMES THE SUN” (Harrison). Demo copies marked “DEMO RECORD NOT FOR RESALE”. Produced by Steve Harley.

INTERNATIONAL VARIANTS (SAME B-SIDE)

CONTEXT AND NOTES

• Belgium – EMI – 1976 • France – EMI – 1976 • Germany – EMI – 1976 • Ireland – EMI – 1976 • Japan – EMI – 1976 • Mexico – EMI – 1976 • Netherlands – EMI – 1976 • New Zealand – EMI – 1976 • South Africa – EMI – 1976 • Spain – EMI – 1976 PERSONNEL Songwriters  • George Harrison (original) Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel  • Steve Harley – vocals, guitar • Jim Cregan – guitar, backing vocals • Duncan Mackay – keyboards • George Ford – bass, backing vocals • Stuart Elliott – drums • Lindsay Elliott – percussion Additional • Jo Partridge – guitar, backing vocals • Tony Rivers, John G. Perry, Stuart Calver – backing vocals CHART DATA Peak Positions  • UK Singles Chart: #10 • Ireland: #7 • Netherlands: #21 • Belgium (Wallonia): #49 Released as the lead single from the album Love’s a Prima Donna. The band’s interpretation added a dramatic, synth-heavy arrangement. It reached No. 10 on the UK Singles Chart and was their last major hit. Music video The song’s music video was shot at Dunsoghly Castle in St. Margaret’s, County Dublin, Ireland. The shoot took six hours to complete in a single day during July 1976 and both the band and production team returned to London by plane later that evening. It was the band’s first and only visit to Ireland as they never played a concert there in the 1970s.

Promotion The band made an appearance on the UK music show Top of the Pops to perform the song. Harley also performed the song on his own on the West German music television programme Musikladen, alongside “Too Much Tenderness”. Critical reception Upon its release as a single, Geoff Barton of Sounds considered “Here Comes the Sun” to be “one of the highlights of the recent SH&CR tour, but surprising to see as a single”. He continued, “An obvious contender for the summer sound market, jaunty and pleasant, but, overall, rather half-heartedly performed. Nicely surreptitious keyboard work, however.” Geoff Ward of the Worcester Evening News praised it as a “rewarding treatment of the George Harrison song by one of the most sincere and intelligent performers of the moment – a showstopper from the band’s stage act too”. Sue Byrom of Record Mirror & Disc gave a somewhat negative review but noted the chart potential. She wrote, “Trouble is that Steve doesn’t really add more to the song or interpret it in any vastly different way. Production is a bit weak, and if the record does anything it’ll be because of the song rather than the singer.” Caroline Coon of Melody Maker also believed the single was “chartbound”, but was not impressed by the single. She wrote, “Booking himself into Abbey Road studios for the summer, Harley says he’s lost track of time. But if ‘Here Comes the Sun’ and especially the B-side ‘Lay Me Down’ [are] anything to go by, he’s lost track of a lot more than time.” Dianne Gibbons of the Staffordshire Evening Sentinel stated, “Though I like Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel, I feel they have better original material available without turning to an old Beatles hit. Not one of their better performances.” Steve Clarke of the NME picked it as the “turkey of the week” and wrote, “Overkill is a barely adequate description for this treatment of Harri’s classic. Clumsily and overarranged and sun, Harley has completely destroyed the beguiling naivete of the original.” In the US, Cash Box called it a “winner”, suited for “progressive FMs and wise AM programmers”. They wrote, “Harley takes the Beatles’ standard and really rocks it up, getting progressively tougher with each verse. By emphasizing the rhythm of the well-known riff, he accentuates a part of the song that has, until now, been well-hidden.” Record World noted that “Harrison’s ‘Abbey Road’ classic has been given a face lift and put into a new light with a synthesized undercurrent and a vocal that is pure Steve Harley”. In a review of Love’s a Prima Donna, Geoff Barton of Sounds called it “entertaining but largely dispensable”. Paul Phillips of the National RockStar criticised it as the song’s “ugliest version to date”. He added that it has “all the hallmarks of the accomplished lyricist desperately attempting to become the acclaimed musician/arranger – mistaking clumsiness for cleverness and arrogance for art”. Rex Anderson, writing in the EMI Records Weekly News Magazine, noted that it was “very rare that an artist manages to add something to an original Beatle song”. In a 1977 review of Face to Face: A Live Recording, Sheila Prophet of Record Mirror called it “Harley’s worst ever misjudgment”. Donald A. Guarisco of AllMusic retrospectively called it an “arty, synthesizer-laced cover of the Beatles’ classic”. In the book The Encyclopedia of Popular Music, author Colin Larkin noted the song saw Harley’s “limited but interesting vocal range put to the test”. SOURCES  Discogs, 45 World, Wikipedia, BBC Official Charts, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel Discography Website RELATED MATERIAL:  For other related posts, see the tags at the foot of the page. All images and original artwork remain the property of their respective copyright holders. This Chronicle entry is a transformative, non-commercial archival summary created for historical documentation and educational reference. No ownership of the original material is claimed or implied.

THE RELEASE	WHAT THE LABEL SHOWS
Label: RCA Victor Format: 7" Vinyl Single Country: UK Catalogue: RCA 2578 Release Date: July 4, 1975 TRACK LIST A-Side Action (Scott, Tucker, Connolly, Priest) – 3:16 B-Side Sweet F.A. (Scott, Tucker, Connolly, Priest) – 6:11 (From the album Sweet Fanny Adams)	Orange RCA Victor labels. A-side “ACTION” (Scott, Tucker, Connolly, Priest) Produced by Sweet. B-side “SWEET F.A.” (Scott, Tucker, Connolly, Priest) Produced by Phil Wainman. VARIANTS & PACKAGING • Commercial solid centre • Commercial four prong (push-out) centre • Demo four prong copies

CONTEXT AND NOTES

INTERNATIONAL VARIANTS

Released on July 4 1975, “Action” reached No. 15 on the UK Singles Chart. It was taken from the album Strung Up / Give Us a Wink era and remains a glam rock classic frequently covered by other artists. Songwriters  • Andy Scott • Brian Connolly • Steve Priest  • Mick Tucker CHART DATA Peak Positions • Australia: #4 • Austria: #3 • Germany: #2 • Netherlands: #5 • Norway: #2 • Sweden: #2 • Switzerland: #4 • US Billboard Hot 100: #20 COVER VERSIONSSOURCES & RELATED MATERIAL• Def Leppard (1993/1994) – reached #14 on UK Singles Chart • Scorpions (as The Hunters) – German version “Wenn es richtig losgeht” • Burning Airlines • Steve Stevens • Nelson SOURCES  Discogs, 45 World, Wikipedia, BBC Official Charts. RELATED MATERIAL For other related posts, see the tags at the foot of the page All images and original artwork remain the property of their respective copyright holders. This Chronicle entry is a transformative, non-commercial archival summary created for historical documentation and educational reference. No ownership of the original material is claimed or implied

• Australia – RCA Victor – 1975 • Belgium – RCA Victor – 1975 • France – RCA Victor – 1975 • Germany – RCA Victor – 1975 • Netherlands – RCA Victor – 1975 • New Zealand – RCA Victor – 1975 • South Africa – RCA Victor – 1975 • Spain – RCA Victor – 1975 • Turkey – RCA Victor – 1975 • Yugoslavia – RCA Victor – 1975