Musically the whole package is a joy. The orchestra and choir, Steve Norman on sax,the general musicianship from all involved. I can't help but feel that Steve Harley let the side down somewhat. Not on all of the songs, but on quite a few of them. Firstly let me say that I love Steve's style of singing and I love the lyrics and the clever way in which he delivers them. What happened at Birmingham thou? On a large percentage of the songs he makes some sort of mistake.On two or three such as Singular Band,Muriel the Actor it's almost embarrassing. Amidst all of the musical talent and level of professionalism that were on that stage that night I feel that Steve should have done better with the delivery of the words.By all means have a prompt.Have a screen that has all of the lyrics in big bold letters as long as he gets even 75% of them correct.When you look at the DVD Steve's not even close.He continually gets the words wrong even when he appears to be looking at the prompt.When he does get it right the whole thing works beautifully. Loretta's Tale,My Only Vice,Hideaway,Psychomodo are brilliantly done.Unfortunately these songs are in the minority and don't really benefit so much from having the big orchestra and choir. What's most annoying is how he fills in the gaps to the 'forgotten' words.They're replaced with a kind of incoherent slur.The whole flow and beauty of his magnificent lyrics are sometimes just lost. On occasions such as Cavaliers the sheer power of the performance wins through despite the lost lyrics and technical problems but it's sad that given such an occasion, however nervous Steve might have been, he turned out to be the 'weakest link' that night. After seeing the show last November in Birmingham I did raise the same issue on the official forum and promptly got 'thrown off'. I thought an official DVD/CD of the show could 'iron out' some of the problems.In many ways it highlights them more. The whole concert is still very good but if Steve had 'delivered' that night it would have been outstanding. Sorry to be negative.I posted this on Peter's site because his forum seems to accept criticism more than the 'official' forum does. How does everyone else feel? The response has been mostly positive from all sides but felt I needed to put my opinion forward.

Monsieur Raffles - are you the person in the middle seat, back row, top circle that Steve rabbited on about near the end of the Birmingham gig?

A little birdie tells me that you are ...................

One two three, A B C ......

Derek the half a bee

Mr raffles will you be at bilston on saturday?

Hi Raffles,

I love the album/dvd. It's a masterpiece.

It's everyone to their own, and everyone is entitled to an opinion. For me, what I witnessed was Harley doing what he does best, and doing it like he always does, with an abundance of charisma and 'style'. Perfection doesn't interest me. It's the feel, the overall presentation, the occasion, the result. The combination of the orchestra and Harley was a joy to behold. He played it beautifully. It was everything I wanted and more.

To get the chance for a repeat performance at Manchester, and the dvd/cd as a lasting reminder of Birmingham, life doesn't get much better.

The chat with the guy at the back of the hall was one of Steve's more lucid moments!It wasn't me he was talking to by the way. Might try to get to one of his concert's next month but Bilston's not local for me. After seeing Steve so many times I realise that remembering lyrics isn't a strong point for him but on such an occasion it's disappointing that he got it so wrong. He kind of developed a singing style that meant he mumbled his way through those 'condor moments'. Would have been better if he'd just made up some random words. Contrast that to the clear and precise way that he sang Stranger Come's to Town. Singing and vocal delivery made it one of the best performances of the night. All very well but not really what we went to hear. I would be interested to hear everyone elses opinion on the DVD/CD? Maybe it doesn't bother people so much that random lyrics went astray and the music and the occasion,the songs won through in the end. How about you Ray?? After the concert we were both put in the 'dog-house' for our opinions.Have you seen or heard the concert on the latest DVD/CD release and do you still feel the same??

Mr Raffles. If you would like my opinion please get in touch with me through e mail. If you ask Peter he will give you it. I'm being careful here as I do not wish to post my opinion on this board. We are told this is a place where we can say almost anything, yet I know, and we have all experienced that "someone" looks in. Why should I praise or pull down on any board when I've given words before elsewhere and got shot shall we say but nothing was said against me for just praising? Words can be taken differently between different people. This is why I have refrained from posting since last November basically.

I also do not wish to post my e mail address here for private reasons.

Thanks. Ray

Hi Ray...It's a sad day if people are denied an opinion. No one has given Steve more support over the years than your good self. I've also been attending his concerts on a regular basis since the early 1980's and try to offer an honest opinion on what I see and hear. True,i am slightly biased towards the Cockney Rebel of the 1970's but i also think that Steve has developed into a brilliant song writer since that time. We should be grateful that he did such a show. The entire Human Menagerie and The Psychomodo with an orchestra and choir. Brilliant musicianship throughout. It can't be denied thou that Steve did stumble on the words throughout the evening and appeared slightly un-professional. Those crazy,surreal and magnificent lyrics deserved to be heard that night. That's my opinion and thanks to Peter for letting me express them. Not sure the official site want to hear such thoughts. I've left my e-mail if you want to have a chat.

I see your e mail address is that of your moniker here. Will I be getting your real name if I e mailed you?

YES.....it's Paul.

Hi Paul
i think expressing ones opinion is perfectly healthy and SHOULD be seen as perfectly acceptable by Harley. shame you did not feel comfortable posting it on the forum, their loss and our gain.
Me i love the cd and still happy to play, not ordered the dvd so cant express an opinion

Not sure if it's Steve himself or the people around him that object to a point of view that's slightly different from the majority of posters. I guess their job is to promote and protect Steve which is understandable. As a fan and follower i'm simply offering an opinion. Would be interested to see what the reaction would be. Last time I got a temporary ban!!

Go for it