Black or White (Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel song)

Background

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. The album was recorded during the summer of 1975. "Black or White" was recorded, remixed and cut at Abbey Road Studios in London. It features a 10-piece choir, made up of members of the band and other backing vocalists. The song's strings were arranged by keyboardist Duncan Mackay.

In November, "Black or White" was chosen to precede the album as its lead single. Despite the band's success earlier in the year, the song failed to reach the UK Top 50, which in turn gave the UK's music press the chance to predict Harley's commercial eclipse. However, "Black or White" did reach #2 on the BMRB's UK Breakers Chart on 22 November 1975 (which would be equal to #52 on the UK Singles Chart, at a time when the national singles chart only ran to the Top 50).

Speaking to Record Mirror & Disc 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." Later in the liner notes of the 2011 BGO CD release of Timeless Flight, Harley added: "They didn't get it in the right shops at the right time and promote it properly."

The song was inspired by the 1925 poem The Hollow Men by British poet T. S. Eliot. Talking to The Observer newspaper in April 1976, Harley revealed that T. S. Eliot was a big hero to him, and that he nicked the form of "The Hollow Men" for "Black or White"."

Release

The single was released by EMI Records on 7" vinyl in the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Italy and Japan. The single featured the B-Side "Mad, Mad Moonlight (Live)" - a live version of the album track from the band's 1975 album The Best Years of Our Lives. The B-Side was recorded live at the Hammersmith Odeon, London, on 14 April 1975. The track was written by Harley but no producer for the live version was credited.

The UK release had no artwork and was issued in a generic company sleeve, while all other releases came with full picture sleeves. The Belgium and Netherlands editions used the same photograph of the band on the sleeve, but with a different design. The German and Japanese releases had separate close-up photographs of Harley. The single had two covers in Italy - one featuring a close-up shot of Harley playing guitar and singing on stage, while the other used a crest-like drawing, featuring a girl figure and two Union Jack flags. This latter sleeve incorrectly noted that the song was a "Top-Hit in England".

In the UK, a promotional demo copy/DJ copy of the single was also issued by EMI. The Japanese edition of the single, unlike the other countries, was promotional only.

Following its release as a single, and on Timeless Flight, the song would later appear on various Steve Harley compilations, including the 1980 EMI vinyl compilation The Best of Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel, and the two 1996 Dutch EMI compilations The Best of Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel and Premium Gold Collection.

Promotion

A music video was filmed to promote the single. Filmed in Studio 3 at Abbey Road Studios, the video was directed by Mick Rock, who also took the photographs and designed the album sleeve for Timeless Flight. In an exclusive 2004 interview for the unofficial fan site Harley Fanzone, he said: "We did a great video of "Black or White" at Abbey Road with Mick Rock." The hoodie that Harley wore in the video was made by Yvonne Keeley, Harley's girlfriend and backing vocalist of the time.

In the UK, the band performed the song live on the ITV music programme Supersonic. The footage has since been wiped and presumed lost. The band also performed the song on the Dutch TV show TopPop. In the 16 May 1976 issue of the Dutch-Belgian magazine Joepie, an article on the band's performance of the song on TopPop stated: "Chances are that Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel group will never occur in the Netherlands. While shooting for TopPop (where their single "Black or White" - also flopped!), he was anything but cooperative, and gave the director a lot of headaches. Steve Harley is underdone as a tough guy, but this time it was really from the scuppers."

In the 29 November 1975 issue of British music magazine Melody Maker, a full A4 black-and-white advert was displayed to promote the release of the new single.

On 24 November 2012, the band performed the song live at the Birmingham Symphony Hall. At this concert, Harley and the band, supported by an orchestra and chamber choir, performed the band's first two albums in their entirety. "Black or White" was one of three additional tracks on the night, and this live version appears on the CD and DVD release Birmingham (Live with Orchestra & Choir).

Track listing

1. "Black or White" - 5:43
2. "Mad, Mad Moonlight (Live)" - 5:03

1. "Black or White" - 5:43
2. "Mad, Mad Moonlight (Live)" - 5:03

1. "Black or White" - 5:43
2. "Mad, Mad Moonlight (Live)" - 5:03

Critical reception

In the 19 November 1975 issue of the Dutch-Belgian magazine Joepie, an article on the band commented: "Soon a new single "Black or White". A worthy successor for their number one hit Make Me Smile." In a 1975 issue of Record Mirror, the magazine predicted that the song was a certain number-one single and better than Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody".

In the 7 February 1976 issue of Record Mirror & Disc, an article based on Timeless Flight noted that "Black or White" had been a "controversial single that came out before Christmas and failed to penetrate the charts. Some people have said that it's a load of self - indulgent rubbish, a minority love it."

In the Street Life magazine, Angus Mackinnon reviewed the album, and commented: "Both guitarist Jim Cregan and keyboards man Duncan Mackay are musicians of considerable maturity and sophistication. Professionals with consummate flair and good taste, and the loose-limbed structure of the eight songs here gives them ample opportunity to display as much; there's no denying Harley isn't generous in this respect. For instance, swoon to the widescreen piano arpeggios introducing "Black or White" and the song's orchestral arrangements, both courtesy of Mackay." Speaking of the album's lyrical messages, the song was mentioned again: "...You can savour Harley's pontifications concerning The Spiritual State of Man in "Black and White" and, again, "All Men are Hungry". At your leisure."

Another UK music magazine review of the album stated: "Side two's highlights are "Nothing is Sacred", and "Black or White", which I still rate as a great track despite the derisory snorts that have assailed it from all quarters of the business ever since it was released as a single." Another UK music magazine featured a review by Jonathan Barnett, who noted: "At points the LP is over-produced, a little too busy in the background, and side two (apart from the inexplicable single flop, "Black or White") is nowhere near as emotionally energetic as side one."

In a 1976 piece by Stewart Parker for his Irish Times column High Pop, Parker reviewed the album, and commented: "T. S. Elliott verses kick off the second side, in 'Black or White (and Step on It)', which contains perhaps the most tuneless singing on the album."

In the 28 May 1976 issue of the American evening newspaper The Miami News, music critic Jon Marlowe reviewed the album and spoke of the song in contrast to the album's theme: "...what it is, though, is a fine record that shows Harley obsessed with cabaret and color this time out as evidence the title - "Red is a Mean, Mean Color", "White White Dove", and "Black or White"."

In the October 2003 issue of Q magazine, Martin Aston reviewed the album, writing: "Timeless Flight bears plenty of Harley's melodic hallmarks, but some complex tripwires keep popping up: "Black or White" is a rare showing of Rebel soulfulness but the tempo is lethargic..."

Dave Thompson of AllMusic retrospectively reviewed Timeless Flight, commenting: "Unfortunately, "Timeless Flight" neglects the strong pop hooks that made "The Best Years of Our Lives" so appealing. Much of "Timeless Flight" finds Harley getting bogged down in deliberately impenetrable wordplay ("Black or White (And Step on It)") and..." Thompson also highlighted "Black or White" as an album standout by labeling it an AMG Pick Track.

George Starostin retrospectively reviewed the Timeless Flight album for his website and spoke of the song: "Harley's sentimental side steps out like never before in the almost annoyingly tender seven-minute hymn 'Understand', so that his crooning will either bring you on your knees or bore the shit out of you. But the sentimental Steve Harley doesn't scare me nearly as much as the Messiahnistic Harley of 'All Men are Hungry' and 'Black or White'. Whatever they are about, both songs are delivered way too seriously to be in any way reminiscent of the early, cynical version of Steve Harley. I mean, how do you like this: "Until we gather Life and all our Dreams/Until we cool the heat/Until we share our cup of Meat/Until the Trail of Waste is put to stud/Until we drift away/Towards the picture in the frame/Our celebration comes a Game to Play/Just Black or White/And step on it/Black or White". Me, I don't like this at all. Which begs the question[sic] - why oh why do so many singer-songwriters feel that it is necessary for them to get 'seriouser' as time goes by?"

Personnel

Additional personnel