The Human Menagerie

The Human Menagerie
Studio album by Cockney Rebel
Released	November 1973
Recorded	Air Studios, London - June and July 1973
Genre	Glam rock[1][2]
Length	44:18
Label	EMI
Producer	Neil Harrison
Cockney Rebel chronology
The Human Menagerie (1973) The Psychomodo (1974)

The Human Menagerie is the debut studio album by Cockney Rebel. Produced by Neil Harrison, it was released by EMI Records in November 1973.^[3] The album failed to appear on British or American charts.^[3]

Background

Having trained as a journalist for three years, Harley embarked on his musical career through "floor-spotting" within London folk clubs during 1971 and 1972.^[4] The songs that would appear on The Human Menagerie were largely penned at a time when Harley was on the dole. He spent 1972 busking with the songs in London, in subways and runways under such places as Hyde Park Corner, Marble Arch, Leicester Square and Covent Garden. Harley would use busking to test his own songs on an audience, and to supplement his income from benefits.^[5] He first met violinist John Crocker when he became a member of the folk band Odin. However not feeling entirely suited to the folk scene, as well as wanting a vehicle for his own songs, Harley decided to form his own band Cockney Rebel.^[6] With Crocker on board, the pair advertised and auditioned drummer Stuart Elliott, bassist Paul Jeffreys, and guitarist Nick Jones. This line-up played one of the band's first gigs at The Roundhouse in Chalk Farm, London, on 23 July 1972, supporting The Jeff Beck Group. Nick was soon replaced by guitarist Pete Newnham but Harley felt that the Cockney Rebel sound did not need an electric guitar and they settled on the combination of Crocker's electric violin and the Fender Rhodes piano of keyboardist Milton Reame-James to share the lead.^[7]

During 1972, representatives on behalf of the band began to send demo tapes to various labels. Mickie Most discovered the band at a London nightclub known as The Speakeasy, and offered the band their first contact with his RAK Publishing. In turn this influenced the A&R personnel at EMI Records, and during the same year the label offered the band a contract.^[8] The band was signed to EMI after having only played five gigs.^[9] This three album deal commenced with the recording of the debut album The Human Menagerie during the summer of 1973.^[10] The album was recorded in June and July 1973 in Air Studios, London, which at that time was located in Oxford Street above a department store. The album was produced by Neil Harrison, who was an EMI staff producer and A&R man at the time. Harley later recalled Harrison was "fearless as he allowed my imagination to run loose". Harrison had made the suggestion of using a large symphony orchestra and choir for the album. With Geoff Emerick on board as the album's engineer, Andrew Powell was hired and put in charge of the orchestral arrangements. The use of an orchestra required a large budget, and despite Cockney Rebel being a new, uncharted act, Harrison was successful in obtaining the money from EMI.^[11]

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."^[12] 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."^[13]

Before the album was released, EMI issued the band's debut single "Sebastian" on 31 August 1973. Despite becoming one of Harley's most popular songs, the song failed as a single to break the Top 100 within the UK, though it did peak at #2 in both Belgium and the Netherlands, as well as #30 in Germany.^[14] In November 1973, The Human Menagerie followed, but again failed to make an impact in the UK, though it would end up later gaining critical acclaim and cult status.

After "Sebastian" 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 broke the band into the UK mainstream when it went to #5 in early 1974.^[15] A second single from The Human Menagerie was "Hideaway", released in Denmark only during 1974.^[16]

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 and the United States. Capitol Records released the album in Canada. During 1974 the album was also released in Yugoslavia and Chile.^[18] In 1975 the album was released in Portugal, with an exclusive sleeve. This edition of the album was made for the Portuguese club 'El Circulo De Leitores', who would press their own records and books with the permission of the original labels.^[19] In 1979 the album was re-issued in Greece.^[20]

The album was first released on CD by EMI in 1990. This release featured two bonus tracks - "Judy Teen" and the non-album track "Rock and Roll Parade", which had been the B-Side to "Sebastian".^[21] A Japanese edition of the CD was issued in August 1992, with the same bonus tracks.^[22] In 2004 the album was released by BGO Records, again with the same bonus tracks.^[23] In 2008 a digipack CD version of the album was released in Greece's Espresso newspaper.^[24] On 13 May 2009 the album saw another CD release in Japan, as a remastered, limited edition version.^[25]

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 previously unreleased 'early versions' of many of the debut album tracks, as well as B-Sides and live tracks of the period.^[26]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Steve Harley.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[27]
Record Collector	[28]
Classic Rock (magazine)	[29]
Mojo (magazine)	[30]
The Westmorland Gazette	favourable[31]
New Musical Express	unfavourable[32]
The Ottawa Citizen	unfavourable[33]

In the N.M.E. magazine of 26 January 1974, Roy Carr reviewed the album, and wrote: "Judging from the mass of press coverage that Cockney Rebel are currently grabbing for themselves, it would appear that their verbose frontman Steve Harley is suffering from a chronic dose of verbal diarrhoea. Worse still, their debut album reveals an almost total lack of direction to substantiate these over-inflated claims. It's OK publicly slagging-off one's immediate competition, if, like Muhammed Ali, you put your money where your mouth is. On this all-important count both Harley and Cockney Rebel fail miserably. Songs like "What Ruthy Said", "Loretta's Tale", "Muriel the Actor" and "My Only Vice" smack of a bygone era when rock became pretentious and punch-drunk from an over-abuse of psychedelics. Such claptrap could be palmed off as being "surreal" if it were not for the colourless and tasteless musical stew these raw dumplings have been dropped in. All "The Human Menagerie" proves is that Cockney Rebel are a hype and a rather effete one at that."^[34]

The Ottawa Citizen, a Canadian newspaper, published a review of the album by Bill Provick on 22 May 1974. He stated: "The Human Menagerie has some rather interesting ideas, approaches and styles, but they are all scattered throughout the never-changing mush of play-acting. The music has a multitude of low-key gimmicks - like the grandiose horns in "Death Trip" - but no real soul to hang them on - plenty of tinsel but no tree. The David Bowie vocals seem programmed - even more so than the music - and have no edge. The instrumentation is cleverly diversified but comes out one dimensional and plastic - nice, colourful reproductions that lack the inner fire and conviction needed to make them glow with life. If Cockney Rebel wanted to imitate someone, they could at least have aimed for Jethro Tull - they accidentally come close sometimes. Decadent rock without passion was never so boring."^[35]

Dave Thompson of Allmusic wrote: "Indulging for the first time in Cockney Rebel's debut album is like waking up from a really weird dream, and discovering that reality is weirder still. A handful of Human Menagerie's songs are slight, even forced, and certainly indicative of the group's inexperience. But others - the labyrinthine "Sebastian," the loquacious "Death Trip" in particular - possess confidence, arrogance, and a doomed, decadent madness which astounds. Subject to ruthless dissection, Steve Harley's lyrics were essentially nonsense. But what could have been perceived as a weakness is actually their strength. Few of the songs are about anything in particular. But with the sub-orchestral production driving strings and things to unimaginable heights, and Cockney Rebel's own unique instrumentation - no lead guitar, but a killer violin - pursuing its own twisted journey, those images gel more solidly than the best constructed story. The Human Menagerie is a dark cabaret - the darkest."^[36]

In the Record Collector of July 2004, Joe Matera wrote: "Cockney Rebel's debut has weathered well - for many it's now considered an art-glam masterpiece. But though Steve Harley's compositions are peppered with the glam influences of his day, (Bowie, Roxy Music), within its musical walls lie something closer to a dark cabaret that's laced with playful pop wit and subtle prog-folk tinges. With tracks such as Sebastian, My Only Vice and Death Trip, Harley demonstrated his masterful control of momentarily alluding to some serious lyricism before plunging into absolute lyrical nonsense."^[37]

In August 2004, Geoff Barton reviewed the album for Classic Rock magazine, and wrote: "It's remarkable to recall the impact that Cockney Rebel had when they arrived on the scene in 1973 with "The Human Menagerie". Wide-eyed British teenagers who had been too young to succumb to early Bolan 'n' Bowie had a hero of their own: Steve Harley. Cockney Rebel were a brand new thing in futuristic satin suits and twirly bow-ties - and they didn't even have a lead guitarist. Instead, Harley's highly mannered, nasal, twanging voice was augmented by violin player Jean-Paul Crocker. A mass of quirky, unfathomable, psychotic lyrics added to the attraction. It's about time "The Human Menagerie" was recognised as a classic."^[38]

Andrew Thomas of The Westmorland Gazette reviewed the album in 2004, stating: "Cockney Rebel were big news in the early 1970s. Songwriter and lead singer Steve Harley's distinctive vocal delivery, the choice of electric violin rather than electric guitar and Milton Reame-James' inspired keyboards made for an inventive and new sound. "The Human Menagerie" was released in 1973 when glam and glitter rock was at its height. It includes two Harley epics - Sebastian and Death Trip - both of which feature a 50-plus piece orchestra alongside the band. One of the best things about Cockney Rebel songs is Harley's lyrics, which are often rather opaque but always intriguing. The album is real mixture of light and dark. "What Ruthy Said" and "Muriel the Actor" are bright pop songs, for example, while the epics' are loaded with hidden depths, both musically and emotionally."^[39]

Mojo magazine reviewed the album in their July 2004 issue, and unfavourably wrote: "Steve Harley's fourth-form-poetry and mannered delivery enraged non-believers. He thought it was Ray Davies meets Bolan. But it's Marlene Dietrich meets Rambling Syd Rumpo. Hilarious."^[40]

Personnel

Band

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

Production

• Geoff Emerick – engineer
• Andrew Powell – string arrangements
• Peter Vernon – photography
• Star Trek Enterprises – design

Notes

References

• Buckley, Peter (2003). The Rough Guide to Rock. Rough Guides. ISBN 1-84353-105-4. 

External links

• The Human Menagerie at Rate Your Music