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''Face to Face: A Live Recording'' is a live album by Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, released in 1977. ==Background== Following the release of the 1976 studio album ''Love's a Prima Donna'', the band embarked on a UK tour to promote it. This tour featured the same second line-up of Cockney Rebel as since their formation in late 1974, with the exception of guitarist Jim Cregan, who had left the band to join Rod Stewart's touring band. The tour featured Jo Partridge on guitar in his place.〔http://www.discogs.com/Steve-Harley-Cockney-Rebel-Face-To-Face/release/813544〕 From the tour Harley recorded a number of concerts between December 1976 and January 1977, using the Rak Mobile and La Maison Rouge as the live mobile recording studios. Tony Clark was hired as the album's engineer and co-producer. The best tracks were then sorted for a live album. The mixing was completed at EMI Studios, Abbey Road, and Air Studios in London, before being mastered by Ken Perry at Capitol Studios, Los Angeles.〔 Shortly before the album reached the shops, the announcement was made that the band were to split. The double LP live album titled ''Face to Face: A Live Recording'' was released to coincide with the band's split.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=The Great Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel Story )〕 The album reached #40 on the UK chart, lasting four weeks within the Top 100.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Face To - A Live - Album Search - Official Charts )〕 As part of the album's promotion, the live recording of "The Best Years of Our Lives" with its B side "Tumbling Down" was released in July 1977, however it failed to make a chart appearance.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=45cat - Steve Harley And Cockney Rebel - Best Years Of Our Lives / Tumbling Down - EMI - UK - EMI 2673 )〕 The single did not make a chart appearance in the UK. In the Record Mirror, dated 26 March 1977, it was announced that Harley was listening to the tapes of recently recorded concert performances for a possible live release. It was also noted that Bop DeLuxe and Black Sabbath were working in live albums at the same time too.〔http://www.harleyfanzone.com/70/Scrapbook/1977/sabbath/sabbath.htm〕 In an article on Harley within the same issue, written by Ray Fox-Cumming, Harley commented: ''"Quite frankly, I've always been much bigger as a live performer than I have on plastic."'' When speaking on the upcoming live album: ''"It will probably be my next album release. I can only say probably because I'm also just about to start on a new studio album and if that gets finished fairly quick, it could come out first. Basically it will be the whole of the one-and-a-half hour show I did on the last tour. We recorded the concerts at Glasgow, Birmingham, Newcastle, Hammersmith and The Rainbow, so there are plenty of versions of each song to choose from and make a good album. The results of what has been mixed so far have turned out excellently."''〔http://www.harleyfanzone.com/70/Scrapbook/1977/going_soft/going_soft.htm〕 When discussing the mixing and sorting of the live album Harley revealed: ''"I have cheated a little bit, though I think quite justifiably so. I altered the running order a bit, although I don't think that most people who went to the concerts will even notice. The reason for the change is that a running order which seems right for a show can be nonsense on plastic. Each side of each of the two records has to have a beginning and an end, which in all means eight ends-and-beginnings. In concert you don't have that problem. You just go smack, smack, smack from one song into the next. I've also cheated a tiny amount by erasing the odd bum note. Out of five versions of a song that I've got to choose from, there will always be one where the vocal's in tune, the guitar solo sounds great and everything else is just about perfect, but even then there's always some little thing that's off and I'm not going to spoil a good track by allowing an obvious bum note on it when that can be avoided."'' In comparison to studio versions, Harley felt that the live versions ''"knock spots off them. In most cases they're 10 times better."'' However Harley did also reveal that he had not enjoyed the process of mixing the tracks: ''"To me, it's a very uncreative operation. It's only, after all, engineering and engineering is evil, and not particularly exciting, necessity."''〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Face to Face: A Live Recording」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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