Love's a Prima Donna
Encyclopedia
Love's a Prima Donna is an album
by Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel
, released in October 1976. It was recorded at Abbey Road Studios
between June and September 1976. The album reached #28 in the UK Albums Chart
in November 1976.
Allmusic journalist
, Donald A. Guarisco notes, "Although he created a decadent glam rock
er image through early albums like The Human Menagerie
and The Psychomodo
, Harley soon revealed a romantic heart beating beneath all the artsy sleaze on singles
like "Judy Teen" and "Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)
". This 1976 album, the last studio
outing Harley would record under the Cockney Rebel banner, allowed him to give full vent to his romantic thoughts via "(I Believe) Love's a Prima Donna" and "(Love) Compared With You", a delicately orchestrated love ballad
that manages to be touching and heartfelt without lapsing into sappy sentimentality. This album also produced one of Harley's biggest hits
with an arty, synthesizer
-laced cover
of The Beatles
' "Here Comes the Sun
". The remainder of the album juggles genres as diverse as prog rock
, folk
, doo-wop
, and reggae
.
Harley played electric guitar
for the first time on record
on "Give Me More".
unless noted.
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
by Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel
Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel
Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel are an English rock band from the early 1970s. 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.-Career:...
, released in October 1976. It was recorded at Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios is a recording studio located at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music company EMI, its present owner...
between June and September 1976. The album reached #28 in the UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
in November 1976.
Allmusic journalist
Music journalism
Music journalism is criticism and reportage about music. It began in the eighteenth century as comment on what is now thought of as 'classical music'. This aspect of music journalism, today often referred to as music criticism , comprises the study, discussion, evaluation, and interpretation of...
, Donald A. Guarisco notes, "Although he created a decadent glam rock
Glam rock
Glam rock is a style of rock and pop music that developed in the UK in the early 1970s, which was performed by singers and musicians who wore outrageous clothes, makeup and hairstyles, particularly platform-soled boots and glitter...
er image through early albums like The Human Menagerie
The Human Menagerie
-External links:* at Rate Your Music...
and The Psychomodo
The Psychomodo
-External links:* at Rate Your Music...
, Harley soon revealed a romantic heart beating beneath all the artsy sleaze on singles
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
like "Judy Teen" and "Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)
Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)
"Make Me Smile " is a song written and recorded by Steve Harley. It was originally recorded by his band Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel on the album The Best Years of Our Lives and released as a single in 1975...
". This 1976 album, the last studio
Recording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...
outing Harley would record under the Cockney Rebel banner, allowed him to give full vent to his romantic thoughts via "(I Believe) Love's a Prima Donna" and "(Love) Compared With You", a delicately orchestrated love ballad
Ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...
that manages to be touching and heartfelt without lapsing into sappy sentimentality. This album also produced one of Harley's biggest hits
Hit record
A hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay, club play, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings...
with an arty, synthesizer
Synthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
-laced cover
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
' "Here Comes the Sun
Here Comes the Sun
"Here Comes the Sun" is a song by George Harrison from The Beatles' 1969 album Abbey Road. It is regarded as one of the most popular Beatles songs. The song was written while Harrison was away from all of these troubles...
". The remainder of the album juggles genres as diverse as prog rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
, folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
, doo-wop
Doo-wop
The name Doo-wop is given to a style of vocal-based rhythm and blues music that developed in African American communities in the 1940s and achieved mainstream popularity in the 1950s and early 1960s. It emerged from New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore, Newark, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and...
, and reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
.
Harley played electric guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
for the first time on record
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
on "Give Me More".
Track listing
All songs written and composed by Steve HarleySteve Harley
Steve Harley is an English singer and songwriter, best known for his work with the 1970s rock group Cockney Rebel, with whom he still occasionally tours .-Biography:As a child, Harley suffered from polio, spending four years in hospital up to the...
unless noted.
- "Seeking a Love" - 0:43
- "G.I. Valentine" - 1:29
- "Finally a Card Came" - 2:28
- "Too Much Tenderness" - 4:16
- "(Love) Compared With You" - 4:20
- "(I Believe) Love's a Prima Donna" - 4:11
- "Sidetrack II" - 3:13
- "Seeking a Love (Part II)" - 1:09
- "(If This Is Love) Give Me More" - 4:25
- "Carry Me Again" - 4:30
- "Here Comes the SunHere Comes the Sun"Here Comes the Sun" is a song by George Harrison from The Beatles' 1969 album Abbey Road. It is regarded as one of the most popular Beatles songs. The song was written while Harrison was away from all of these troubles...
" - 2:55 (George HarrisonGeorge HarrisonGeorge Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
) - "Innocence and Guilt" - 7:13
- "Is It True What They Say?" - 4:41
Chart performance
| Chart (1976) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Albums Chart | 28 |
Personnel
- Steve HarleySteve HarleySteve Harley is an English singer and songwriter, best known for his work with the 1970s rock group Cockney Rebel, with whom he still occasionally tours .-Biography:As a child, Harley suffered from polio, spending four years in hospital up to the...
- vocalsHuman voiceThe human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal folds for talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, etc. Its frequency ranges from about 60 to 7000 Hz. The human voice is specifically that part of human sound production in which the vocal folds are the primary...
, guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, producerRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music... - Jim CreganJim CreganJim Cregan, born James Cregan, 9 March 1946, Yeovil, Somerset, England is an English rock guitarist and bassist who best known for his associations with Family, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel and Rod Stewart. Cregan is a former husband of the singer Linda Lewis and worked with her as a record producer...
- guitar, backing vocalsBacking vocalistA backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists... - Jo Partridge - guitar
- George Ford - bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, backing vocals - Duncan MackayDuncan Mackay (musician)Duncan Mackay is a British composer, singer, arranger, and keyboard player.-External links:...
- keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments... - Jean Paul Crocker - violinViolinThe violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
- Stuart ElliottStuart Elliott (drummer)Stuart Elliott is an English rock drummer, who has played along with David Byron, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, Al Stewart, The Alan Parsons Project, Kate Bush, Paul McCartney and Keats....
- drumDrumThe drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...
s - Lindsey Elliott - percussionPercussion instrumentA percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
- Yvonne KeeleyYvonne KeeleyYvonne Keeley is a Dutch pop music singer. She is the sister of Patricia Paay. Her surname is often misspelt as Keely....
- backing vocals - John G. Perry - backing vocals
- Tony RiversTony RiversTony Rivers is an English singer, best known for singing with the groups Tony Rivers and the Castaways and Harmony Grass. He also sang on albums by Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, Roger Daltrey, Shakin' Stevens and Cliff Richard.Rivers went to Raine's Foundation School in Bethnal Green...
- backing vocals - Wilf GibsonWilfred GibsonWilfred Gibson is an English violinist who played in the band Electric Light Orchestra, and has performed as a session musician. He replaced original ELO violinist Steve Woolam in 1972 and performed in their first live concert...
- choirChoirA choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
and orchestraOrchestraAn orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
l arrangementArrangementThe American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
s - Tony Clark - sound engineerAudio engineeringAn audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
- Pat Stapley - assistant sound engineer