Steve Harley – Poetic Justice (1996)

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Poetic Justice is the fourth solo studio album by English singer-songwriter Steve Harley, which was released by Transatlantic on 26 August 1996.

Poetic Justice features seven new songs, three covers, and a ‘live in the studio’ re-recording of “Riding the Waves (For Virginia Woolf)”, a song which originally appeared on Harley’s 1978 debut solo album Hobo with a Grin. “That’s My Life in Your Hands” was written by Harley and Hugh Nicholson. The song originated as “Starlight Jingles”, which was first recorded by Nicholson’s band Blue during their sessions at Los Angeles between 1979–82, and later by Radio Heart for their self-titled 1987 album. Harley approached Nicholson to rewrite the lyrics and record his own version of the song.

“The Last Time I Saw You” received its debut live performance on 29 April 1994 at the Mick Ronson Memorial Concert at the Hammersmith Odeon in London. This live version, along with a performance of “Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)“, later appeared on the 2001 compilation The Mick Ronson Memorial Concert.

The album’s three covers include Jimmy Ruffin‘s “What Becomes of the Broken-Hearted?“, Bob Dylan‘s “Love Minus Zero-No Limit” and Van Morrison‘s “Crazy Love“.^[10] In a 1996 interview with Birmingham Evening Mail, Harley said, “I didn’t need the help of other songwriters. The reason there are three cover versions is because I’ve reached the stage where I’m genuinely at ease with myself, whatever talent I’ve got. I’ve done some covers on stage but I only ever pick ones I wish I’d written myself. ‘What Becomes of the Broken Hearted’, for example, is a classic piece of writing.” In a 1997 interview with Smiler, Harley added, “There’s a lot of people who are quite unhappy with the covers that I’ve done on my new album, so I’m thinking I won’t bother doing any again. My audience think I’ve run out of ideas if I only write eight [songs] out of eleven.”

Track listing

That’s My Life in Your Hands (Harley, Hugh Nicholson) – 3:50
What Becomes of the Broken-Hearted? (James Dean, Paul Riser, William Weatherspoon) – 4:13
Two Damn’d Lies – 5:07
Loveless – 4:47
Strange Communications – 4:06
All in a Life’s Work – 4:57
Love Minus Zero-No Limit (Bob Dylan) – 6:08
Safe – 3:43
The Last Time I Saw You – 5:12
Crazy Love (Van Morrison) – 3:24
Riding the Waves (For Virginia Woolf) – 6:08

All tracks are written by Steve Harley except where noted

Personnel

Steve Harley – vocals
Nick Pynn – acoustic guitar, 12-string guitar, dulcimer, mando-cello
Phil Beer – electric guitar, acoustic guitar, bottle-neck guitar, violin, vocals
Richard Durrant – classical guitar (track 10)
Thomas Arnold – Hammond organ, piano, honky-tonk, percussion
Ian Nice – piano, keyboards
Andrew Brown – bass, double-bass
Herbie Flowers – double-bass (track 5)
Paul Francis – drums
Mark Price – drums (tracks 5, 9)
Susan Harvey – vocals