Track Listing

1. Stranger In The City
2. Slow Down
3. Stand Up (And Give Me A Reason)
4. Time
5. Manhattan Skyline
6. Glamour Boy
7. Do It Anyway
8. Remember Yesterday
9. Music Man
10. House On The Hill
11. Slow Down
12. Stand Up (And Give Me A Reason)
13. Remember Yesterday

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #34465 in Music
• Released on: 2007-11-19
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

Customer Reviews

A Timeless Album which has stood the test of time & and is inspirational to today's music!
This was my first ever album purchase in the long hot summer (heat wave) of 1976 and the single Manhattan skyline were in the top 40's in the charts. I found this single to very funky rhythm & timeless dance track and which reminded of Steve Wonder. My second favourite track was Remember Yesterday, a brilliantly sung ballad (I have heard other artists sing the same titled song - and none of them can beat John Miles. This was also my second favourite & level pegging with Remember Yesterday. The disco-rocker track: Slow Down, inspired many disco-orientated artists in 1977 - which later transpired into disco fever of "stayin alive: Saturday-night fever & grease musicals a year later. My third favourite was Stranger in the City - a haunting piece with clear and crisp music with super lyrics. The track Music Man reminded me of Leo Sayer's `one man band' but an improvement on it. Finally, I found the track Time to be very emotional and powerful as well and Stand Up was good. Overall, different kinds of Album with more funk for the American market from Rebel - probably due to the Music `opus' which dominates that album & its popularity. This album & artist has been overlooked for it's genius and inspiration to others. For all those into classical/progressive rock type of dance music - then this is what the current trend is in today's music. Music trends & styles seem to repeat themselves like fashion every thirty years or so - but not exactly the same but unique to that particular period of time. It is a pity that the recent CD release of this album by Lemon Records has not lived up to the modern-day technical standards & expectations. I am still tempted to purchase the CD, for posterity as I still have my vinyl copy for such purposes!

Why don't we appreciate our genuine talent in this country?
I still have this on vinyl album and strange as it may sound, am reluctant to get the CD, even with the additional tracks. The reason is that I think my copy may be a first pressing and there is definitely a huge difference in the sound quality with first pressings. I have "The Best of John Miles" on CD and to be honest, "Stranger In The City" (a superb song) sounds more vibrant on my vinyl copy than it does on the CD compilation! Decca vinyl seems to be exceptionally good quality (perhaps due to their obvious bias in pressing classical albums) and the sound all-round is much better. Onto the merits of the album. What can I say? What a grossly under-rated talent John Miles is. The album version of "Remember Yesterday" is slightly different to the single version. Even the vocals sound different so I think the single was probably re-recorded altogether. I can never understand why it was never a massive hit - surely one of John's finest songs ever! I still play it a lot now and absolutely love it. There are more gems on this album too. Beautiful production, great songs - why was this man never more successful when he was recording these great songs? Paul Nicholas released the single "Grandma's Party" at around the same time that "Remember Yesterday" was released and that was a much bigger hit. Go figure - it's beyond me. If you're new to John Miles, sadly the compilation CD has I believe now been deleted which is a shame as it would have given the new listener a good all-round introduction to John's work, but you can't really go wrong with investing in this album. Truly one of this country's last really great singer/songwriters.

John Miles - still a great talent
The John Miles back catalogue is being released by Lemon and this was his second album. Like his first one ("Rebel") Amazon appear to have the same album for sale at different prices. The more expensive one, though still a bargain price, has four additional tracks and I think the extra is worth it for one track alone! Three of the additionl tracks are simply single versions of the album tracks and are there really for completion. The fourth additional track - and the one which makes paying the extra worth it - is a recording which never appeared on a John Miles album (except a "Best Of" compilation) and was the B-side to one of the singles ("Slow Down" I think). It is "The House On The Hill"; a rock ghost story (possibly based on Susan Hill' novel "The Haunting Of Hill House" - but maybe not!) In my teen years in the late seventies I loved this song and it still sounds good today.

Indeed, that can be said of the whole album. I always found it to be not as strong as "Rebel" but it did have many strengths including the afore mentioned disco-beat hit "Slow Down" (probably Miles' third biggest single hit after "Highfly" and "Music") and the two beautiful songs "Remember Yesterday" and "Time".

Lighter in touch to the "Rebel" album (and suffering from not being produced by Alan Parsons) it is still a varied and powerful album. I have played it all the way through twice today in my car and it's amazing to think it is thirty years old (particularly when you think there was thirty years difference between he thirties and the sixties and what a HUGE difference there was in the music of those decades!) It has stood up to the ravages of time well and is a recommended CD to add to any decent collection.