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Studio album by Cockney Rebel
Released November 1973
Recorded June–July 1973
Studios Air Studios, London
Genres Glam rock,[1][2] dark cabaret[1]
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, released by EMI in November 1973.[3] It was produced by Neil Harrison.

Background
After training as a journalist for three years, Steve Harley embarked on a musical career, which began with `floor spots` in London folk clubs in 1971.[4] He also had a brief spell as rhythm guitarist and co-singer in the folk band Odin, where he met future Cockney Rebel violinist Jean-Paul Crocker. It was during this time that Harley began writing his own songs, including those which were recorded for The Human Menagerie. Most were penned while Harley was on the dole after leaving his career in journalism. He began busking with his songs in London in 1972, including at Hyde Park Corner, Marble Arch, Leicester Square and Covent Garden. The busking allowed Harley to test his songs on an audience and to supplement his income from benefits.[5]

Harley`s time in Odin made him realise he was not suited to the folk scene and, as a vehicle for his own songs, he decided to form his own band, Cockney Rebel, in 1972.[4] With Crocker on violin, the pair advertised for and auditioned drummer Stuart Elliott, bassist Paul Jeffreys, and guitarist Nick Jones. One of the band`s first gigs was at the Roundhouse in Chalk Farm, London, on 23 July 1972 supporting the Jeff Beck Group. Jones was soon replaced by Pete Newnham, but Harley subsequently felt the band did not need an electric guitar, particularly after the addition of keyboardist Milton Reame-James. Therefore, the band settled on the combination of Crocker`s electric violin and the Fender Rhodes piano of Reame-James.[6]

During 1972, representatives of the band began sending demo tapes to various labels. Mickie Most discovered the band at London`s Speakeasy Club and offered them their first contract with his RAK Publishing. In turn, this drew the attention of the A&R personnel at EMI Records, who then offered the band a three album contract in late 1972.[5] They signed to EMI after having only played five gigs together.[6]

Recording
Cockney Rebel recorded their debut album in June and July 1973 at Air Studios in London, which at the time was located in Oxford Street above a department store. EMI hired their staff producer and A&R man Neil Harrison as the album`s producer and Geoff Emerick as the engineer. In 2012, Harley recalled of his experience recording the album, `The news that our engineer would be the nigh-immortal Geoff Emerick brought wide-eyed excitement to those of us who knew details of Beatles` albums` sleeve notes. Neil Harrison was himself fearless as he allowed my imagination to run loose.`[5]

It was at Harrison`s suggestion that two tracks, `Sebastian` and `Death Trip`, should feature a large symphony orchestra and choir. Harley agreed, and Harrison was then successful in obtaining a bigger budget from EMI to accommodate the use of a 50-piece orchestra. Andrew Powell was hired to compose and take charge of the orchestral arrangements.[5] In 2004, Harley recalled,

`In the backyard of a Chelsea bistro, Neil Harrison and I were sharing a pot of coffee when he told me he would like to record an orchestra and choir onto `Sebastian` and `Death Trip`. We were about three-parts through [the album], so Neil, my producer, must have known his announcement that afternoon would bowl the young Steve over. And it did. But seeing them in there, fifty-plus classical musicians, mostly old enough to be my dad, was a real shocker. We were young and full of dangerous ideas and adventure; ready to experiment without consideration for the consequences or cost. And Joop Visser, EMI`s head of A&R and the man who discovered us, was a consistently kind ally to Neil and myself; otherwise there would have been no orchestra or choir!`

Harley added in 2012, `Such a budget for a new signing is pretty close to unthinkable today. I`m still not sure how Neil persuaded the money-men to sign such crazy big cheques, but his nous and his charm helped turn those big tracks into epics and I`ll forever be in his debt for that.`[5]

Shortly after its release, Cockney Rebel expressed some criticism towards the album. In a 1974 interview with Melody Maker, Harley called it `flat` and one that `talks a lot and says nothing`.[7] He told the NME that same year, `That album was wishy-washy... I knew that the day I came out of the studio, but for Chrissakes I wasn`t going to come out and actually say that, `cause it was my life`s blood and I wanted it to sell.`[8] Speaking to Music Scene in June 1974, Elliott felt the band were `too inexperienced` when they recorded the album. Crocker was critical of the album`s production and stated, `I didn`t like the first album at all. A couple of tracks on it were okay, but on the rest of it the production lets us down badly. The band was struggling to get along with the producer all the time and we just didn`t seem to get anywhere. So in the end we turned out an album that everybody liked, but which the band didn`t. There was nothing wrong with it musically, it`s just that the ideas that were there weren`t coming out properly. It was very light and sterile, and a bit frigid.` Crocker expressed the view that the band wanted the album to be `heavier than it was` and added that instead they `sounded like a bleedin` folk group most of the time`. He also complained about the orchestra used on some of the tracks, `The orchestra we used mucked it up as well. I`ve only played violin for about three years, but I was quite a bit better than a lot of those blokes, and they`ve been playing donkeys years. They had the technical ability, but they had no feel.`[9]

Song information
`I 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.`

— Steve Harley recalling the songs that formed The Human Menagerie and The Psychomodo albums in 2013.[5]
Before he formed Cockney Rebel, Harley would supplement his dole money by busking and cleaning floors. He was inspired to write `What Ruthy Said` after polishing a parquet floor for a famous model. Harley commented in 2004, `She wore grey and looked quite severe and beautiful as the smart set of pre-war Germany would have looked, and I got `What Ruthy Said` from that day.` `Mirror Freak` was written about Marc Bolan. Harley and Bolan later became good friends; their first meeting saw Bolan ask Harley if `Mirror Freak` was about him. Harley commented in 2004, `He was Narcissus personified and would have been looking everywhere for signs of his impact and influence.`

`Death Trip` has been described by Harley as `a more complicated piece` than `Sebastian`. He originally intended the preceding minute-long track `Chameleon` to be part of the song, but both Harley and Harrison later decided it worked best as a preface to `Death Trip`. Both songs were inspired after Harley attended the inquest of a friend, who died of a heroin overdose.[10]

All songs written and composed by Steve Harley.

No. Title Length
1. `Hideaway` 3:51
2. `What Ruthy Said` 2:32
3. `Loretta`s Tale` 4:13
4. `Crazy Raver` 3:47
5. `Sebastian` 6:58
6. `Mirror Freak` 5:13
7. `My Only Vice` 2:50
8. `Muriel the Actor` 4:10
9. `Chameleon` 0:48
10. `Death Trip` 9:53
1990 EMI and 2004 BGO CD bonus tracks
No. Title Length
11. `Judy Teen` 3:43
12. `Rock and Roll Parade` 2:55
Personnel
Cockney Rebel

Steve Harley – vocals
Jean-Paul Crocker – electric violin, mandolin, guitar
Milton Reame-James – keyboards
Paul Jeffreys – Fender bass
Stuart Elliott – percussion
Additional musicians

Vicki Brown – backing vocals[32]
Production

Neil Harrison – producer
Geoff Emerick – engineer
Andrew Powell – orchestral arrangements
Pete & Denny – tapes
Wally Traugott – mastering
Sleeve

Peter Vernon – photography
Star Trek Enterprises – sleeve design