John Miles - Rebel (1976) LP - €10,00

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John Miles (John Errington; born 23 April 1949, Jarrow, County Durham, England is a British rock music vocalist, songwriter, guitarist and keyboard player, best known for his 1976 Top 3 UK hit single, “Music“.

Rebel was the first solo album of John Miles. It was his most successful album to date with singles “Highfly” and “Music“.

When Miles signed to Decca, they introduced him to producer Alan Parsons in the summer of 1975 (Miles would later sing on several tracks on several albums of the Alan Parsons Project). 

The first track is "Music" and is only one of two tracks, on the album, penned by John without Bob. Melody Maker said that "Music is a dynamite track, one of those tunes you find yourself humming and loving - then hating for its familiarity." 

In a way I believe Music is John Miles albatross, the one song he is pigeon holed with against which all his other work is measured.

"Everybody wants some More" is more often than not referred to as reminiscent of the early Kinks or the Beatles. 

My view is of the latter with its "multi-flavoured vocals and good tempo changes" per Jester with touches of "Yellow Submarine" (megaphone effects) per Melody maker.

"You have it all" was described by Rolling Stone as bathing "Yes-styled modal fragments in lush orchestration. I have no idea what that means but I like it.

"Rebel" & "Highfly" have already been touched on. However, Rolling Stone states "Rebel dramatically interposes a Tango for electric guitar and synthesiser with a string quartet." While Melody Maker called it " a chunky, beefy scorcher."

"When You Lose Someone So Young" is a very strong track lyrically. As such some reviewers have criticised it for too much backing as it could be a stand out song with just an acoustic guitar. While I do not wholeheartedly agree I can see the point especially as it would have made it a contrast to the rest of the album. 

There are shades of fellow Geordie Alan Price and also Elton John in this song.

"Lady of My Life" makes me think of Stevie Wonder, who I know is one of John's musical influences. This was also picked up upon by almost every review I have read. It is "softy and delicate" to quote Melody Maker and there is a terrific sax solo by Phil Kenzie. 

It is the 2nd song written solely by John and it is beautiful. I think he probably wrote it for his wife, Eileen.

"Pull the Damn Thing Down" is apparently reminiscent of the Kinks per Record World. I agree with Melody Makers view that it "His guitar solo is a killer, refreshingly lacking in clichés". 

Earlier in their review they describe the track as "a blazing commentary on the pollution of the environment by the architectural planners". 

I am sure that I have read that one of the influences for this song was his own background as his parents live in the High Street in Jarrow, an industrial town in the North East of England, where there was a lot of redevelopment.

Hopefully the impression I have given you was that there were few criticisms of Rebel or of John and plenty praise and expectation of great things to come. His biography at the time placed him with the "new" songwriters of the time, Leo Sayer and David Essex as well as noting similarities with established British songwriters, Bowie and Elton. 

Even Noel Edmonds, in his time as a BBC Radio 1 DJ had Rebel as his album of the week. Billboard magazine said, "Miles could potentially fill the gap that has long existed between some of the more electronic rockers and AM play". 

Almost as an after thought they ended with "Good guitarist as well". What an understatement!!

So it got good write-ups. 

But did it sell? For a debut album it did really well peaking at number 9. In the states for a time it was retitled "Highfly" after his first hit but did not match its UK success.

Side A
A1.  Music - 5:58
A2.  Everybody Wants Some More - 3:38
A3.  High Fly - 3:53
A4.  You Have it All - 7:01

Side B
B1.  Rebel - 3:19
B2.  When You Lose Someone So Young - 4:35
B3.  Lady of My Life - 4:08
B4.  Pull the Damn Thing Down - 7:18
B5.  Music (reprise) - 2:11

Companies, etc.

• Recorded At – Abbey Road Studios
• Phonographic Copyright ℗ – The Decca Record Company Limited

Credits

• Bass – Bob Marshall 
• Composed By – Bob Marshall (tracks: A2 to B2, B4), John Miles
• Coordinator – Chris Poole
• Design [Sleeve] – Nick Nicol
• Drums, Percussion – Barry Black
• Engineer [Assistant] – Mike Jarratt
• Engineer [Assistant], Other [Disc Cutting] – Chris Blair
• Management – Cliff Cooper
• Orchestrated By [Arrangements] – Andrew Powell
• Photography By, Design [Concept] – Terry O'Neill 
• Producer, Engineer – Alan Parsons
• Saxophone [Solo] – Phil Kenzie (tracks: B3)
• Strings – The Maggini Quartet
• Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards, Synthesizer – John Miles

Recorded at Abbey Road Studios during November and December 1975

Notes
Release: 1976

Format:  LP, Vinyl
Genre:  Pop
Label:  Decca Records
Catalog#  6376119

Vinyl:  Goed
Hoes:  Goed

Prijs: €10,00

John Miles - Stranger In The City (1976) (Lp) - €10,00

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Stranger in the City was the second solo album by John Miles and was released in 1977. It was awarded BPI Silver Certification on 19 July 1977.

Recording sessions with its producer and orchestral arranger Rupert Holmes started in the summer of 1976 in the United States when Miles was promoting his first album Rebel. 

The bulk of the album was recorded in England.

For this album, Miles recruited Australian keyboardist Gary Moberley because Miles felt that his previous album was missing something funky.

After his initial breakthrough with his previous singles “Highfly” and in particular the monumental “Music” plus a fine debut album “Rebel”, John Miles sought to fully push open the door of opportunity with this hastily recorded and released follow-up album.  

Containing three good singles, sadly for Miles, only one of them made the top 20 and that the bandwagon-jumping discofied “Slow Down”, while this, the related album stalled in the charts. Thereafter, he got lost in the crowd, as disco and punk / new wave combined to squeeze out either only the most established acts, many of whom were quick to ape aspects of both the fashionable new genres or those who raised their game to meet the challenge. On this perfectly likeable album, it’s apparent that Miles couldn’t quite hit the same heights as that promising debut. To take one contemporary example, clearly Queen could have backed themselves into a corner with the huge success of the unique “Bohemian Rhapsody” but came out punching straight afterwards with the more conventional but still high-quality “Somebody To Love”.

Miles first two singles from “Stranger In Town” were “Remember Yesterday”, a melodic, plaintive ballad and the Elton John-influenced flashy pop of “Manhattan Skyline” but neither broke into the top 30, thus highlighting Miles’s limitations not only in songwriting and vocalising, but also his lack of image. He’d been rather silly in following a James Dean-type persona to promote the first album, now he was trying to let the music stand on its own, but ultimately, it wasn’t quite up to the task.

Like I said, the three singles, in their own ways are perfectly serviceable and there are one or two other strong tracks supporting them, especially the album title track with its loping, vaguely noirish riff and the extended prog-rocky centrepiece “Stand Up And Give Me A Reason”, complete with ill-judged Jon Anderson-type scat-singing at the end. The rest however lean towards the dreaded album-filler category.

He even lets fellow-band member Barry Marshall contribute a song in the form of the hoedowny rather vacuous “Do It Anyway”, “Time” is a similarly empty attempt at a serious ballad, “Glamour Boy” is Steely Dan without either the biting wit or melodic flair and “Music Man” is a clunky album closer, its misjudged title, a bit too close to his biggest hit, an over-repetitive “What’s a star?” refrain and worst of all a melody which sounded too similar to the theme tune to the popular talent show of the day, “New Faces”.

There’s a lack of depth in the often clichéd lyrics and a similar want of verve in his melodies with Miles you suspect writing by rote rather than from inspiration and no amount of studio. proficiency, of which there is plenty, can make up for them. He has a pleasant light-tenor voice and considerable range at the top end of his register, but you wonder if his singing, like much of his other attributes, really has a defining identity.

In the end, with the relative failure of this set, Miles faded away to relative obscurity and instead became a hired gun for Alan Parsons and his various oProjects in the studio and for Tina Turner on the road as guitarist for hire.

One of his later songs was called “Nice Man Jack”. Sad to say Nice Man John turned out not to quite have enough in his locker to become a lasting star with the wider public. There’s some decent music here but listening to it, the lack of personality is palpable and he he was clearly just off the pace. Consequently, Miles, who sadly died recently, never really looked like reigniting his own career as an artist anytime after this, his career ironically following the trajectory he himself outlined in his superb debut single for Decca “Highfly”. 

Side A

A1.  Stranger In The City - 4:28

A2.  Slow Down - 4:46

A3.  Stand Up And Give Me A Reason - 6:59

A4.  Time - 3:55

Side B

B1.  Manhattan Skyline - 3:04

B2.  Glamour Boy - 4:46

B3.  Do It Anyway - 2:43

B4.  Remember Yesterday - 5:16

B5.  Music Man - 4:44

Personnel

• John Miles – vocals, piano, guitar
• Bob Marshall – bass guitar
• Barry Black – drums
• Gary Moberley – keyboards
• Jimmy Maelen – conga, Latin percussion
• Rupert Holmes – producer, orchestral arrangements, conductor

Technical

• Bob Clearmountain, James Guthrie, Mike Bobak - engineer
• Godfrey Diamond - mixing
• Hipgnosis - design, photography

Notes

Release:  1976

Format:  LP

Genre:  Pop

Label:  London Records

Catalog#  PS 682

Vinyl:  Goed

Cover:  Goed (Gatefold)

Prijs: €10,00