The Psychomodo
| The Psychomodo | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by Cockney Rebel | ||||
| Released | 2 June 1974 | |||
| Recorded | February–March 1974 | |||
| Genre | Glam rock | |||
| Length | 40:25 | |||
| Label | EMI | |||
| Producer | Steve Harley, Alan Parsons | |||
| Cockney Rebel chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
| Rolling Stone (German edition) |  |
| Veronica Magazine | |
| New Musical Express (N.M.E.) | mixed |
The Psychomodo is the second studio album by Cockney Rebel, released in 1974. It was produced by Steve Harley and Alan Parsons.
Having signed a three-album deal with EMI Records in late 1972, the band released their debut album The Human Menagerie in November 1973. The album, and the single "Sebastian", both failed to enter the UK charts, although the single did become a hit in Continental Europe. The lack of success in the UK led EMI to feel that Harley had yet to record a potential hit single. In response, Harley went away and re-worked an unrecorded song of his called "Judy Teen", which was released in March 1974 and became a UK Top 5 hit.
When "Judy Teen" was released and began climbing the UK charts, the band had already started recording their second album The Psychomodo. The album was recorded during February and March 1974, at Morgan Studios, Nova Sound Studios and AIR Studios in London. It was mastered at Abbey Road Studios. On the album, Harley received his first production credit, working as producer alongside Alan Parsons. In similarity to the band's debut album, a large symphony orchestra and choir was used on certain tracks, with the orchestral arrangements again conducted by Andrew Powell.
In the liner notes for the 2012 compilation Cavaliers: An Anthology 1973-1974, Harley 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. More strings and horns, and again we had Andrew Powell, with his brilliant classical-rock thinking, to orchestrate. 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."
In a 2013 interview with the Birmingham Post, Harley recalled of 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."
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