Timeless Flight
| Timeless Flight | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel | ||||
| Released | February 1976 | |||
| Genre | Glam rock,progressive rock | |||
| Length | 41:40 | |||
| Label | EMI | |||
| Producer | Steve Harley | |||
| Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
| Q | |
| Sounds | favourable |
| Words | favourable |
| Street Life | mixed |
| The Miami News (USA) | favourable |
Timeless Flight is the fourth studio album by Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, released in 1976. It was produced by Steve Harley.
After the success of the band's 1975 album The Best Years of Our Lives, which spawned the UK number-one single "Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)", the band soon returned to the studio to record their next album Timeless Flight. Harley had started writing material for the album during The Best Years of Our Lives tour, with some of the tracks being inspired by events and places the band went to on the tour. The band recorded the album at Trident Studios, Abbey Road Studios and Scorpio Sound Studio during the summer of 1975. The entire album was remixed, mastered and cut at Abbey Road Studios. On the album, guitarist Jim Cregan used various guitars, including a Martin D18, 1956 Fender Telecaster, Gibson SG Standard and an Ovation acoustic with a built-in pick-up.
The album was created in a more relaxed environment in comparison with The Best Years of Our Lives, which had been recorded quickly under considerable pressure. For the liner notes of the 2003 BGO CD release of Timeless Flight, Harley recalled: "It was a sweltering summer. It was incredibly hot. The songs, many of them being semi acoustic or laid back, I think stemmed as much from that as anything else. It made me a little lethargic." In November 1975, the lead single, "Black or White", preceded the album. Despite the previous album's success earlier in the year, "Black or White" failed to reach the UK Top 50, which in turn gave the UK's music press the chance to predict Harley's commercial eclipse. It did, however, reach #2 on the BMRB's UK Breakers Chart, which would have been equal to #52 on the main Singles Chart. Speaking to Record Mirror in February 1976, Harley commented: "I knew it was either going to be massive - top three - or a complete stiff. It turned out to be a stiff."
Timeless Flight was released in early February 1976 and would peak at #18 on the UK Albums Chart and remained in the charts for six weeks. According to Record Mirror, the album received 40,000 advance orders in America, despite the band's lack of a hit single or album there. During mid-February, the album's second single, "White, White Dove", was released, but also failed to reach the UK Top 50, peaking at #6 on the BMRB's UK Breakers Chart. Following the album's release, the band embarked on a British and European tour. The band hired Jo Partridge to play rhythm guitar on the tour. After their concert at Wembley in April 1976, the band then toured America.
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