More Than Somewhat – The Very Best of Steve Harley is a compilation album by Steve Harley, released by EMI on 23 March 1998. It features sixteen tracks recorded by Cockney Rebel, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel and Harley as a solo artist, spanning from Cockney Rebel's 1973 debut album The Human Menagerie to Harley's 1996 solo album Poetic Justice. At least one song from each studio album is included, with the exception of Harley's 1979 album The Candidate.[1][2]
Harley was involved in choosing the track listing for the compilation and also wrote the sleeve notes for it. Speaking of his involvement, he told The Birmingham Post in 1998,
"[EMI] certainly asked me but I'm not so overconfident these days that I'm just going to tell them what [the track listing] will be. It's the band's 25th anniversary and those tracks will be taken from 11 albums so I want it to be special and mean something, so the fax machine has been quite hot between me and the marketing man. I'm not taking the blame and I certainly won't take all the credit. But I have done it, and I've written the sleeve notes which was the hardest part, writing about yourself. I've been canvassing the fan club to see what they think should be on it, and a couple of friends, people whose judgement I trusted. It turned out pretty well how I intended it in the first place. It'll be the hit singles and a few album tracks."[4]
Promotion
Coinciding with the compilation's release was Harley's 1998 "Stripped to the Bare Bones" tour. This tour was Harley's first using his newly-developed acoustic format. Accompanied by instrumentalist Nick Pynn, the pair played over a hundred dates that year across the UK and Europe.[5]
Release
More Than Somewhat was released by EMI on CD in the UK and Europe on 23 March 1998.[6] The album received its first digital release on 1 March 2003 and was re-issued on CD by Phantom Import Distribution/EMI Music Distribution in 2004.[7]
In 2000, the compilation was re-issued across Europe by Disky under the new title Best of the 70's.[8] Another re-issue by Disky followed in 2005, but in the Netherlands only, as The Ultra Selection.[9][10]
Upon its release, Bob Eborall of the Ealing Leader wrote, "A compilation from the artist who has been touring the country including 'Come Up and See Me'. Steve has also written the sleeve notes, making it a must for his fans. He is still an artist to reckon with."[12] Neil McKay of Sunday Life stated, "Great glam singles from his brief 70s heyday succumb to later navel gazing material."[13]Music Week concluded that the compilation was "best left to die-hard fans", with the reviewer remarking, "It is still a pleasure to hear some of the tracks on this compilation, but Harley's back catalogue is best visited selectively. 'Make Me Smile', 'Judy Teen' and 'Mr. Soft' sound just as catchy, in an irretrievably Seventies kind of way, but Harley's naive rendition starts to grate fairly soon."[14]
