Someone's Coming

Background

Following the release of Hobo with a Grin in July 1978, along with the lead single "Roll the Dice", plans were made for "Someone's Coming" to be released as the follow-up. The single was originally slated for release on 10 November 1978, however the release date was then pushed back to 23 February 1979. For its release as a single, a remixed version of the song was created. Like its parent album and "Roll the Dice", "Someone's Coming" was a commercial failure, failing to make an appearance in the UK Top 75.

The song was released following Harley's return to London after living in Los Angeles for the past year. Like much of the Hobo with a Grin album, the song was recorded Abbey Road Studios in London. Any remixing or additional recording was done in Los Angeles, while the song and the album was mixed at Sunset Sound Recorders in Hollywood.

In the 23 September 1978 issue of The Morning Call, an American daily newspaper for Allentown, Pennsylvania, Harley told Len Righi that the song was one of the oldest on "Hobo with a Grin" and had originally been written for Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel. He also revealed that his close friend Marc Bolan had performed on the song, along with another track from the album, "Amerika the Brave", during Bolan's final studio session before his death in 1977. He contributed backing vocals and acoustic guitar on the song, but was uncredited. Harley commented:

"The last time Marc went in the studio was for "Amerika the Brave". He also can be heard singing background on "Someone's Coming," though he's not credited. Bolan was a close friend. I had known him for a couple of years. We were a lot different. He was much more of an extrovert than me, but we grew very close. They say opposites attract."

Release

The single was released by EMI Records on 7" vinyl in the UK only. A UK promotional demo copy/DJ copy of the single was also issued by EMI. The single did not have any artwork and came in a generic company sleeve.

The single featured the B-Side "Riding the Waves (For Virginia Woolf)" which was written and produced by Harley. Taken from the Hobo with a Grin album, the song was recorded at Sunset Sound in Los Angeles. The song was later re-recorded for Harley's 1996 album Poetic Justice.

Following its release as a single, and on the Hobo with a Grin album, the song has since appeared on the Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel 1988 Castle Communications compilation The Collection as part of the label's "The Collector Series".

Promotion

Unlike the previous single "Roll the Dice", no music video was filmed to promote the single.

Track listing

1. "Someone's Coming" - 4:36
2. "Riding the Waves (For Virginia Woolf)" - 4:34

Critical reception

At the time of its release, Hobo with a Grin was reviewed in Disc magazine by writer Rosalind Russell, who commented: "The definition he had with Cockney Rebel has melted, he's gone fuzzy round the edges. And it bores me to death. His dream isn't my dream and the second hand images are too vague for me to grasp. He's also become surprisingly soppy. I can appreciate the idea behind 'Someone's Coming' for instance, but the emotion drenched drama is too strong to stomach. This track, like most of the others, suffers from an oddly old fashioned arrangement. While his back-up vocalists Gloria Jones and Yvonne Keeley are without doubt talented singers, their place in the plan is strange: the way they're used is just years out of date."

In the American newspaper The Morning Call's article and interview with Harley, author Len Righi had commented: "One of the best things about the song is Jo Partridge's guitar work."

George Starostin retrospectively reviewed the Hobo with a Grin album for his website. He stated: "...Someone's Coming and Hot Youth aren't nearly as thrilling, though (even if the strings on the former are of prime Cockney Rebel quality), and overall, it's not like I'm saying there's no filler or anything. There is, and like I said, occasionally Steve just rambles so much he forgets about the music (although even this isn't such a terrible crime, seeing as how Harley's lyrics are always intriguing). But it's just one of those albums that is so infused with personality, albeit a shaky, insecure one, you can't really reject it as 'crap' without feeling ashamed. Here's this witty intelligent guy who's obviously trying and often succeeding... and he does try to come up with interesting musical ideas, not something you'd expect from somebody just obsessed with venting out his feelings and that's it."

Someone's Coming

Riding the Waves (For Virginia Woolf)