"The Human Menagerie" by COCKNEY REBEL - November 1973 UK Debut Album on EMI Records featuring Steve Harley, Jean-Paul Crocker, Milton Reame-James and EMI Engineer Geoff Emerick (May 2018 UK Chrysalis 1CD Reissue and Remaster from Original Master Tapes – Housed In Fold-out Card Digipak Packaging) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

 

 

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"...Back In The Fold..."
 

What I like about Steve Harley's first two platters when his band was simply called COCKNEY REBEL 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?

 

I also suspect that those albums (especially the seriously sophisticated debut) have crept into evolving cult-status precisely because "The Human Menagerie" and 1974's "The Psychomodo" have held up so incredibly well – rediscoveries too for those looking back to the extraordinary year that was 1973. Part Roxy Music in its knowing Glam Rock lipstick smear – Part posturing Queen in its musical structures and theatrical themes – part Elton John on the piano with Paul Buckmaster string arrangements classing up his tunes to the nines – COCKNEY REBEL is and was all of those things.

 

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 famed-Beatles sixth member GEOFF EMERICK – this transfer of their EMI Records debut album 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.

 

Take the utterly epic near ten-minutes of "Death Trip" that ends Side 2 – I can remember my EMI LP always losing traction as the complex/Prog Rock-ish song worked towards the run out groove. Here the clarity is amazing and for me is like hearing the album anew. Violins, Piano and Guitars all kicking in about six minutes in - and those whacky lyrics – and then the huge Brass and Strings finish - so damn cool. All this for six quid! To the tunes...

 

UK released 4 May 2018 - "The Human Menagerie" by COCKNEY REBEL on Chrysalis CRC1081 (Barcode 5060516091331) is a straightforward 1CD Reissue and Remaster from Original Master Tapes of their 1973 debut album that plays out as follows (44:24 minutes):

 

1. Hideaway (3:45 minutes) [Side 1]

2. What Ruthy Said (2:29 minutes)

3. Loretta's Tale (4:07 minutes)

4. Crazy Raver (3:41 minutes)

5. Sebastian (6:52 minutes)

6. Mirror Freak (5:08 minutes) [Side 2]

7. My Only Vice (2:46 minutes)

8. Muriel The Actor (4:07 minutes)

9. Chameleon (0:49 minutes)

10. Death Trap (9:51 minutes)

Tracks 1 to 10 are their debut album "The Human Menagerie" – released November 1973 in the UK on EMI Records EMA 759 and EMI Records ST 11294 in the USA. Produced by NEIL HARRISON (Engineered by Geoff Emerick) – it didn’t chart in either country.

 

COCKNEY REBEL was:

STEVE HARLEY – Vocals (all songs written by)

JEAN-PAUL CROCKER – Electric Violin, Mandolin and Guitar

MILTON REAME-JAMES – Keyboards

PAUL JEFFREYS – Bass

STUART ELLIOTT – Drums and Percussion

Guests:

Andrew Powell – Orchestra Arrangements

 

The original album was a gatefold sleeve with the lyrics and photos of the five-piece band – all have made the transfer to the tasteful foldout card digipak – but no liner notes to talk of nor historical appreciation, input from Harley etc. So you are essentially left with the remaster, which is stunning.  

 

EMI did a 5:42 minute edit of "Sebastian" 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 forthing second studio album "The Psychomodo" in June 1974. All four would have made for seriously tasty Bonus Tracks, but alas. 

 

"The Human Menagerie" opens with "Hideaway", an almost bop-along pastoral - all skipping beats and Harley's weirdly affecting and affected voice. It reminded me at the time of Deram's East Of Eden from three years before. The audio is fantastic and I can't help thinking it might have made a more commercial single release than "Sebastian". Shimmering guitar siddles across your speakers with "What Ruthy Said" - so very Roxy Music but in a less menacing way. Production quality shines through again for the kick-the-actor-from-behind "Loretta's Tale" and I love that phased vocals middle-eight about 2:40 minutes - genuinely inventive. "Crazy Raver" gives it some violin sawing - want to be a big star lyrics - and we never do learn who the lady backing singers are? But the album lifts into the artistic stratosphere with "Sebastian" - swirling and beautiful - I still find it shockingly brilliant. Next year (2023), "Sebastian" is 50 years old and I am certain it will continue to gain fans for years to come (the Remaster is just so good too). 

 

Side 2 opens with a deliberate Funk moment in "Mirror Freak" - flimsy disguise is destined to make it in a big, big way. And again the Remaster making mincemeat of the sound I've been hearing all these decades (the Bass and lingering Piano at last audible). Sounding a little The Strawbs had a baby with Fairport Convention - the folksy jaunt of "My Only Vice" is another deep album fan fave - backgrounds of pearls. The cod Caribbean "Muriel The Actor" is my least liked track on the LP - Harley getting close to a pastiche of Bowie in his affected voice. What follows though soon puts that blip into my rear-view mirror - the 45-seconds of a quiet to start with "Chameleon" leaps into a stunning orchestral moment only to be eaten alive by the huge "Death Trap" - an amazing piece of songwriting. The string arrangements swoop and sway - it's fab stuff. 

 

I know that Cockney Rebel was always an acquired taste and 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" is where it all started, and you can so hear why...