The Psychomodo

The Psychomodo
Studio album by Cockney Rebel
Released	2 June 1974
Recorded	February - March 1974
Studio	Morgan Studios, Nova Sound Studios and AIR Studios, London, UK
Genre	Glam rock[1]
Length	40:25
Label	EMI
Producer	Steve Harley, Alan Parsons
Cockney Rebel chronology
The Human Menagerie (1973) The Psychomodo (1974) The Best Years of Our Lives (1975)

The Psychomodo is the second studio album by Cockney Rebel. Produced by Steve Harley and Alan Parsons, it was released by EMI Records in June 1974.^[2]

Background

After signing a three-album deal with EMI Records, the band released their debut The Human Menagerie in November 1973.^[3] The album failed to enter the UK Top 100, as did the single "Sebastian", however the latter did become a success across Europe.^[4][5] After the single and the album failed to make the UK charts, EMI Records told Harley there were no potential singles from the album, and that the band had yet to record one. Harley responded by writing the follow-up non-album single "Judy Teen" which went to #5 in early 1974.^[6]

The success of the song broke the band into the UK mainstream, and work on the second album, The Psychomodo, had already commenced. The album was recorded during February and March, at Morgan Studios, Nova Sound Studios and AIR Studios in London. It was mastered at Abbey Road Studios. The album saw Harley receive his first production credit, as he worked alongside Alan Parsons. Harley later recalled: "The Psychomodo, too, was a record whose time we laughed through. Alan Parsons came in as co-producer/engineer, and his own willingness to accept many offbeat ideas made life easy enough." Harley and Parsons would work together again to produce the band's next album too. In similarity to the band's debut album, a large symphony orchestra and choir was used on the album, and all orchestral arrangements were again conducted by Andrew Powell. Geoff Emerick also returned as an engineer.^[7]

In the booklet for compilation album Cavaliers: An Anthology 1973-1974, Harley recalled the songs for the band's first two albums: "I do remember where the songs came from. They came from a young man's dream, where the blending of musical literature and mad, formless imaginings, could hang out together at the same folk club and present him with an entire raison d'etre."^[8] In an article for the Birmingham Post, Harley recalled the first two Cockney Rebel albums: "Those first two albums were heavily orchestrated. I was 22 years old, at Abbey Road with a full orchestra and a choir for songs like "Sebastian". I'd busked with those songs for a year before Cockney Rebel signed to EMI, so to get all that was just... oh, it was magnificent for a young man."^[9]

Before the album was released, EMI issued the lead single and title track "Psychomodo" on 17 May 1974. However the single was quickly withdrawn from sale soon afterwards. However with the single given a proper release across Europe, the song did reach #28 in Belgium.^[10] The album was released on 2 June 1974, and was a success, proving to be the band's breakthrough album. The Psychomodo reached #8 in the UK, and remained in the Top 100 for 20 weeks, which would prove to the be the band's longest charting album.^[11] On 26 July 1974 the second single from the album, "Mr. Soft", was released. It was a success in the UK, reaching #8 on the charts, and also in Ireland where it reached #16.^[11][12] Later in the year "Tumbling Down" would be the final single to be released from the album, but as a promotional release in America only, under the artist name Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel.^[13]

During the chart run of "Mr. Soft", Cockney Rebel split up, following an extensive UK-based tour. By this point, problems within the band had already reached a head, and all the musicians, with the exception of Elliott, quit at the end of a successful UK tour. For many years, it was believed that Harley purposely chose to disband the original line-up and start on a new career path. However years later Harley began to reveal the truth behind the band's split.^[14] The band members had demanded to write material for the group, despite the initial understanding that Harley was the sole songwriter. On 18 July the band received a 'Gold Award' for outstanding new act of 1974, and a week later they had split up.^[15] As Harley was the sole songwriter for the group, he reaped the majority of the financial rewards. After the UK tour promoting The Psychomodo, three of the band members, led by Milton Reame-James, approached Harley insisting they too were going to write songs for the third album. However Harley felt this was unfair as he had been the one to originally hire the musicians for his group, and explained the deal to them at the time. The band split as a result, and Harley chose to revive the group with a new line-up, under the name Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel. The only member of the original line-up to join the new group was drummer Stuart Elliott. In 1975 Harley would reach the number one spot in the UK with "Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)", a song based on the split of the original band. In a television interview recorded in 2002, Harley described how the lyrics were vindictively directed at the former band members who, he felt, had abandoned him.^[16][6]

On 24 November 2012, Harley performed live at the Birmingham Symphony Hall. The band, with the orchestra and chamber choir, made up about 50 performers together, saw The Human Menagerie and The Psychomodo albums performed in their entirety for the first time. In 2013 the performance was released as a CD album, and DVD release, under the title Birmingham (Live with Orchestra & Choir).^[17]

Release

The album was originally released on vinyl LP by EMI Records across the world, including the UK, Italy, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Greece and Yugoslavia.^[18] In 1975 the album was released in America on vinyl, and on 8-track, but under the new band name Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel. This release also had a new sleeve, replacing the original album's band photograph, and instead featuring a photograph of Harley holding a telephone.^[19][20] In 1985 the album was re-issued on vinyl in the UK via Fame.^[21]

The album was first released on CD by EMI in 1990. This release featured two bonus tracks - "Big Big Deal" and "Such a Dream".^[22] "Big Big Deal" had been released as Harley's debut solo single, though it was withdrawn soon after release.^[23] It had been released in November 1974, at a time when the new Cockney Rebel line-up had not yet been finalised. "Such a Dream" had been the B-Side to both the "Psychomodo" and "Mr. Soft" singles.^[24][25] On 26 July 1991, a Japanese edition of the CD was issued, with the same bonus tracks, under the Progressive Rock Series.^[26] In 2001 the album was released on CD by BGO Records, but without any bonus tracks.^[27] On 13 May 2009 the album saw another CD release in Japan, as a remastered, limited edition version.^[28]

The album was also included in its entirety on the 2012 remastered four-disc box-set anthology compilation album Cavaliers: An Anthology 1973-1974. This release also included B-Sides and live tracks of the period.^[29]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Steve Harley.

Chart performance

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[31]
Rolling Stone (German edition)	[32]
Veronica Magazine	[33]
New Musical Express (N.M.E.)	mixed[34][35]

Dave Thompson of Allmusic wrote: "If "The Human Menagerie" was a journey into the bowels of decadent cabaret, "The Psychomodo" is like a trip to the circus. Except the clowns were more sickly perverted than clowns normally are, and the fun house was filled with rattlesnakes and spiders. Such twists on innocent childhood imagery have transfixed authors from Ray Bradbury to Stephen King, but Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel were the first band to set that same dread to music, and the only ones to make it work. "The Psychomodo" was also the band's breakthrough album. Harley's themes remained essentially the same as last time out - fey, fractured alienation; studied, splintered melancholia, and shattered shards of imagery which mean more in the mind than they ever could on paper."^[36]

In the N.M.E. magazine dated 8 June 1974, Charles Shaar Murray stated: "There's more to Harley and his gang of mincing Biba dummies than a fast mouth and a good costuming job. Most of "Psychomodo" is disposable. But on the first side, "Mr Soft" succeeds primarily on the strength of the arrangement. But it's "Ritz" that justifies the existence of the album. Harley wanders the mirrored corridors of his phantom hotel, and the elegant, mournful violin collides with its own dark side before the whole things erupts into a nightmare party sequence. Whether "Ritz" was just a fluke (as most of the rest of the album suggests) is a matter of conjecture. Anyway, there it is, for better or for worse. One good track don't make a star, but Harley has proved that he does have something going."^[34][35]

In a review of Cavaliers: An Anthology 1973-1974, Uncut magazine stated: "Still, 1974's The Psychomodo is anything but effete. "Ritz" and "Cavaliers" fathom its For Your Pleasure-era Roxy Music depths, and Harley signs off in style on "Tumbling Down", with the John Cale-ish screams in the big pay-off line "Oh dear, look what they've done to the blues" a barbed combination of anti-Ten Years After harangue and self-reverential gloating."^[37]

Personnel

Band

• Steve Harley – vocals
• Jean-Paul Crocker – electric violin, guitars
• Milton Reame-James – keyboards
• Paul Jeffreys – Fender bass
• Stuart Elliott – drums, percussion

Production

• Steve Harley - producer
• Alan Parsons - producer
• Peter Flanagan - engineer (Morgan Studios)
• Richard Dodd - engineer (Nova Sound)
• Geoff Emerick - engineer (AIR Studios)
• John Middleton - engineer (AIR Studios)
• Andrew Powell – orchestral and brass arrangements
• Chris Blair - mastering
• Mick Rock - photography, sleeve design, etc.

References

External links

• The Psychomodo at Rate Your Music