"The Psychomodo" by COCKNEY REBEL – June 1974 UK Second Studio Album on EMI Records (January 1975 in the USA as Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel) featuring Steve Harley, Jean-Paul Crocker, Milton Reame-James, Paul Jeffries, Stuart Elliott and Producer Alan Parsons with EMI Engineer Geoff Emerick (May 2018 UK Chrysalis 1CD Reissue and Remaster from Original Master Tapes – Housed in a Tri-Panel Fold Card Digipak) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Twisted Tales of Men..."

 

What I like about Steve Harley’s first two platters (when his band was simply called COCKNEY REBEL in the UK) is that you can’t actually pigeon hole the sound they made. Art Rock maybe? 10cc’s more sophisticated and perhaps more snooty older brother? And why was their mister so soft?

 

Their second album and first Produced by wonder-kid Alan Parsons of Dark Side Of The Moon fame (alongside principal songwriter Steve Harley) has like its predecessor crept into evolving cult-status precisely because "The Human Menagerie" from November 1973 (their debut) and 2 June 1974’s "The Psychomodo" have held up so incredibly well.

 

Soundwise, Platter number two continued on from No. 1 and also contained the genuine smash hit single "Mr. Soft" – a whacky piece of carnival that propelling the uh-la album up the British charts to eventually nestle at No. 8 – a huge improvement on the non-charting debut (in fact as I remember, most copies of the LP from late 1974 actually had stickers on them advertising that it contained the hit single "Mr. Soft"). Part Roxy Music in its knowing Glam Rock lipstick smear – part posturing Queen in its musical structures and theatrical themes and part Elton John on the piano with Andrew Powell string and brass arrangements classing up his tunes to the nines – COCKNEY REBEL is and was all of those musical chameleons – and a few more besides.

 

I know fans sometimes prefer deep debut album dives like "Sebastian", "Hideaway" and the magnificent near 10-minutes of "Death Trap" that tail ends Side 2 – but by 1974 and studio LP No. 2 - "The Psychomodo" showed amazing songwriting growth. You could categorize the title track "The Psychomodo" where Harley has a chat with a traumatized St. Peter as part Ron and Russell Mael’s Sparks, part SAHB, part Mott The Hoople and Roxy Music over on Island Records getting all "Stranded" and "Mother Of Pearl". I still get a kick of the Mick Rock front cover photo – that look – so British and so Cockney Rebel – all alarm and mock theatrics and yes – a singular band.

 

But what you don’t get from the non-stickered foldout card digipak packaging of this solitary rather bland looking 2018 CD Reissue - is the gobsmacking Remastered Sound taken from original quarter-inch master tapes (says so on the credits beneath the see-through tray). Originally Engineered by a gang of four that included famed-Beatles sixth member GEOFF EMERICK and Produced by the legendary ALAN PARSONS (with Harley) – this transfer is beautifully clean and not brick-walled with noise-reduction dampeners or oomph for the sake of it. Everything is in its place and just so. Fans will love that crispness of "Singular Band" and those huge twelve strings guitars swirling around "Ritz". And you can buy it for a fiver – to the tunes...

 

UK released 4 May 2018 - "The Psychomodo" by COCKNEY REBEL on Chrysalis CRC1082 (Barcode 5060516091355) is a straightforward 1CD Reissue and Remaster from Original Master Tapes of their second studio album (from 1974) that plays out as follows (40:29 minutes):

 

1. Sweet Dreams (2:03 minutes) [Side 1]

2. The Psychomodo (4:02 minutes)

3. Mr. Soft (3:17 minutes)

4. Singular Band (3:00 minutes)

5. Ritz (7:10 minutes)

6. Cavaliers (8:30 minutes) [Side 2]

7. Bed In The Corner (3:35 minutes)

8. Sling It! (2:35 minutes)

9. Tumbling Down (5:51 minutes)

Tracks 1 to 9 are their second studio album "The Psychomodo" – released June 1974 in the UK on EMI Records EMC 3033 and January 1975 in the USA on EMI Records ST 11330. The American LP was credited as Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel with the same tracks, but different front and rear artwork (this 2018 CD Remaster uses the original British artwork only, by Mick Rock). Produced by ALAN PARSONS and STEVE HARLEY (Engineered by Geoff Emerick, John Middleton, Richard Dodd and Peter Flanagan) – it peaked at No. 8 on the UK LP charts (didn’t chart USA).

 

COCKNEY REBEL was:

STEVE HARLEY – Vocals (all songs written by)

JEAN-PAUL CROCKER – Electric Violin, Mandolin and Guitars

MILTON REAME-JAMES – Keyboards

PAUL JEFFREYS – Bass

STUART ELLIOTT – Drums and Percussion

Guests:

Andrew Powell – Orchestra and Brass Arrangements

 

The original album was a single sleeve with an inner lyric bag – all has made the transfer to the tasteful three-way foldout card digipak – but no liner notes to talk of or historical appreciation, input from Harley etc. So you are essentially left with the remaster, which is (at least) stunning.

 

EMI did a 5:42 minute edit of "Sebastian" from the debut album with the Non-LP B-side "Rock And Roll Parade" on the flipside (31 August 1973 on EMI Records EMI 2051) - while the Non-LP "Judy Teen" and its B-side "Spaced Out" followed on 11 March 1974 (EMI Records EMI 2128) – neither on the forthcoming second studio album "The Psychomodo" in June 1974. All four would have made for seriously tasty Bonus Tracks, the obvious two for this reissue, but alas.

 

I am suspecting fans will leap into the lethal triple-whammy of "Mr. Soft", "Singular Band" and his masterpiece of swirl - "Ritz" that ends Side 1 – a seven-minute piece of musical and lyrical brilliance that still thrills in 2023. Cool too to hear that mad string/brass bit at the end (so Kevin Ayers) in decent clarity (my vinyl Dustbuster had usually had enough by then). Side 2 opens with eight minutes of "Cavaliers" – a vicious lyrical attack on machismo and posturing (I would admit it’s not exactly a pleasant way to spend a Saturday afternoon). Again the Remaster whomps on the upbeat "Bed In The Corner" – another song by Harley where you can never quite work out if he’s loving the woman he is with, or slagging her off.

 

We go riffage wild for "Sling it!" – 2:35 minutes of slashing, soloing guitar that feels a bit too manic for its own good (Punk before 1976?). The album ends on a piano ballad that smolders, builds and caresses with its strings and flutes and lyrics about Sunday Communion, dawn on the Moulin Rouge and the Titanic sailing into Brighton - "Tumbling Down" being my other favourite track on the album.

 

Ok, it’s not a masterpiece and I know that Cockney Rebel has always been an acquired taste (Harley quickly started writing hit singles that stormed the charts culminating in the gorgeous "Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me)" - a No. 1 in 1975 that still gets Classic Radio play on probably a daily basis).

 

But "The Human Menagerie" and "The Psychomodo" is where all the theatrical music started (cool years 1973 and 1974) and when you trip out to songs like "Death Trap" on the debut and "Ritz" on this - you can so hear why people are drawn to them in a post Aladdin Sane Bowie-less world...