Cockney Rebel was an English rock band fronted by Steve Harley. They released the 1973/74 albums The Human Menagerie and The Psychomodo and scored UK/European hits with “Judy Teen” and “Mr. Soft.” Their sound combined music hall, folk, and lavish orchestral pop.
After the original band’s breakup, Harley retained drummer Stuart Elliott for the second iteration behind the UK chart-topper “Make Me Smile” and the 1975/76 albums The Best Years of Our Lives, Timeless Flight, and Love’s a Prima Donna. Harley cut two 1978/79 solo albums, Hobo With a Grin and The Candidate, then left the scene for many years.
Members: Steve Harley (vocals, acoustic guitar), Stuart Elliott (drums, percussion), Paul Jeffreys (bass, 1972-74), Nick Jones (guitar, 1972), Pete Newnham (guitar, 1972), Jean-Paul Crocker (guitar, violin, mandolin, 1972-74), Milton Reame-James (organ, piano, harpsichord, 1972-74), Jim Cregan (guitar, 1975-77), George Ford (bass, 1975-77), Duncan Mackay (keyboards, 1975-77), Jo Partridge (guitar, 1976-77)
Background
Cockney Rebel evolved from a musical friendship between singer/songwriter Steve Harley and musician Jean-Paul Crocker, who played guitar, mandolin, and fiddle. They met when Harley auditioned for the unrecorded folk act Odin (not the English/German hard-rock band), which included Crocker, fresh off a short (post-album) stint with the folk-psych band Trees.
Harley (b. February 27, 1951) took interest in music and literature during his polio-stricken youth, when he found refuge in the music of Bob Dylan and the poetry of T. S. Eliot and D. H. Lawrence. At age 17, he secured work with the Daily Express, which led to stints as a reporter for the Essex County Standard, the Colchester Evening Gazette, and the East London Advertiser.
From 1971, Harley moonlit on London’s folk circuit with solo acoustic originals on open-mic nights. After meeting and busking with Crocker, Harley formed Cockney Rebel as a vehicle for his own material. He enlisted Crocker, bassist Paul Jeffreys, and drummer Stuart Elliott. A sequence of guitarists passed through the initial ranks before keyboardist Milton Reame-James completed the lineup. Soon after stabilizing, they signed to EMI.
The Human Menagerie
Cockney Rebel released their debut album, The Human Menagerie, on November 9, 1973, on EMI. It contains ten Harley originals, including “Hideaway,” “Loretta’s Tale,” “Muriel the Actor,” and “What Ruthy Said.”
Jean-Paul Crocker plays mandolin, guitar, and electric violin on The Human Menagerie. Arranger Andrew Powell (in his second orchestral credit) scored and conducted the 50-piece string section on the album’s two lengthy epics, “Sebastian” and “Death Trip.”
A1. “Hideaway” (3:47)
A2. “What Ruthy Said” (2:30)
A3. “Loretta’s Tale” (4:11)
A4. “Crazy Raver” (3:45)
A5. “Sebastian” (6:55)
B1. “Mirror Freak” (5:10)
B2. “My Only Vice” (2:47)
B3. “Muriel The Actor” (4:09)
B4. “Chameleon” (0:49)
B5. “Death Trip” (9:50)
Sessions occurred in June/July 1973 at Air Studios, London, with ex-Driftwood singer Neil Harrison, a rookie producer with subsequent credits behind Gonzalez and Bijelo Dugme. As EMI A&R, Harrison secured the orchestral budget and the services of Powell, who earned his first arranger credit on Mudanzas, the recent fourth album by Stray.
Late-period Beatles soundman Geoff Emerick engineered The Human Menagerie in sequence with 1973 albums by Matthew Fisher, Tír na nÓg, Nazareth, and Shoot.
The cover shows Harley seated in a peacock chair, surrounded by the band in matching tuxedos with satin flares. EMI in-house photographer Peter Vernon took the front- and back-cover images (posed separately). A prior Barclay James Harvest and Master’s Apprentices photographer, Vernon’s subsequent credits include sleeves for Budgie, Gryphon, The Saints, and Shanghai.
EMI first issued “Sebastian” as a late-August single in edited form for the UK (4:03) and Europe (5:31), backed with “Rock and Roll Parade,” an outtake from the Harrison sessions.
B: “Rock and Roll Parade” (2:49)
“Sebastian” reached the Benelux Top 2 and German Top 30.
Cockney Rebel performed “Hideaway” and “My Only Vice” for the February 10, 1974, broadcast of The Old Grey Whistle Test. “Hideaway” appeared as a single in Denmark only (b/w “Loretta’s Tale”).
“Judy Teen”
On March 11, 1974, Cockney Rebel released a standalone single: “Judy Teen,” an early Harley song about teen love, backed with “Spaced Out.”
A. “Judy Teen” (3:40) recalls a brief love affair from Harley’s adolescence.
B. “Spaced Out” (3:01)
“Judy Teen” was the debut production of Alan Parsons, a late-period Beatles tape op and recent Pink Floyd engineer.
Cockney Rebel mimed “Judy Teen” for the May 23 broadcast of the BBC music program Top of the Pops, which twice aired the song amid late-spring in-studio numbers by 10cc (“Wall St. Shuffle”) and Sparks (“This Town Ain’t Big Enough for the Both of Us”).
“Judy Teen” reached the Benelux Top 30 and broke Cockney Rebel in the UK, where the single reached No. 5 and sparked concert fan hysteria.
The Psychomodo
Cockney Rebel released their second album, The Psychomodo, on June 2, 1974, on EMI. It features several songs that run together, including
The Best Years of Our Lives
Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel released their third album, The Best Years of Our Lives, on March 7, 1975, on EMI.
The album contains nine Harley originals, including the UK hit “Make Me Smile” and the Andrew Powell-arranged “Panorama,” a brassy belter with backing vocals by Tina Charles, Linda Lewis, Pink Floyd sidewoman Liza Strike, and Harley’s then-girlfriend Yvonne Keeley.
George Ford plays string and contrabass on the album, which features Stuart Elliot on marimba and Cregan (a multi-instrumentalist in prior bands) on mixed guitars. Duncan Mackay’s arsenal consists of the Yamaha grand piano, Wurlitzer 200 electric piano, Hammond B3 organ, Clavinet D6, and Elka Rhapsody 610 string machine.
A1. “Introducing ‘The Best Years'” (1:06)
A2. “The Mad, Mad Moonlight” (4:30)
A3. “Mr Raffles” (4:32)
A4. “It Wasn’t Me” (6:02)
A5. “Panorama” (5:36)
B1. “Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)” (3:58)
B2. “Back to the Farm” (5:54)
B3. “49th Parallel” (3:12)
B4. “The Best Years of Our Lives” (6:00)
Sessions occurred in London in November/December 1974 at Abbey, AIR, and EMI Studios. Alan Parsons produced and engineered The Best Years of Our Lives in sequence with albums by Ambrosia (ST), Al Stewart (Modern Times), The Hollies (Another Night), and Pilot’s Second Flight.
Mick Rock designed and photographed the cover, which shows Harley fending off paparazzi as he heads into a hotel room with Keeley. The back cover shows a ‘Polaroid’ of the couple in a limo with their arms extended through the frame. Rock also snapped 1975 covers for Arthur Brown, Mr. Big, Seventh Wave, and Thin Lizzy.
“Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)” first appeared in late January 1975 as an advance single backed with “Another Journey,” a Harley exclusive from the Parsons sessions.
B. “Another Journey” (2:47)
Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel mimed “Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)” for the January 30 and February 27 broadcasts of Top of the Pops, which aired the song four times amid winter in-studios by Andy Fairweather Low (“Mellow Down”), Betty Wright (“Shoorah! Shoorah!”), Bohannon (“South African Man”), Fox (“Only You Can”), Lynsey De Paul (“My Man and Me”), Pilot (“January”), Queen (“Now I’m Here”), Slade (“How Does It Feel”), Supertramp (“Dreamer”), and Syreeta (“Your Kiss Is Sweet”).
On the week of February 22, 1975, “Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)” reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart, where it overtook “January” by Pilot and bowed a fortnight later to “If,” a cover of the Bread ballad by Kojak actor Telly Savalas. “Make Me Smile” also reached No. 1 in Ireland and peaked at No. 5 in the Netherlands, No. 7 in Belgium, and No. 17 in Australia.
In mid-May, EMI lifted “Mr. Raffles (Man, It Was Mean)” as the second single, backed with a live version of “Sebastian.”
Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel mimed “Mr. Raffles” for the June 5 and 19 TotP broadcasts, both lost episodes that also featured in-studio numbers by Gilbert O’Sullivan (“I Don’t Love You But I Think I Like You”), Hot Chocolate (“Disco Queen”), Nazareth (“My White Bicycle”), Retta Young (“Sending Out an SOS”), and Roy Wood (“Oh What a Shame”),
“Mr. Raffles” reached No. 7 in the Netherlands and No. 13 on the UK Singles Chart.
The Best Years of Our Lives reached No. 4 on the UK Albums Chart and No. 11 on the Dutch Albums Chart. In late 1975, Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel embarked on their first US tour as an opening act for The Kinks, then promoting Schoolboy’s In Disgrace, their second of two studio albums released that year.
“Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)” dented the US Billboard Hot 100 in March 1976 (thirteen months after its UK chart peak) after its inclusion on A Closer Look, a US-only compilation of tracks from the first three Cockney Rebel albums.
Timeless Flight
Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel released their fourth album, Timeless Flight, on January 30, 1976, on EMI.
The album contains eight Harley originals, including three titles on a colors theme: “Red Is a Mean, Mean Colour,” “White, White Dove,” and the lavish ballad “Black Or White,” performed with a ten-piece choir and string arrangements by Duncan Mackay.
On Timeless Flight and its followup, Cockney Rebel are Harley’s five-piece backing band composed of MacKay, guitarist Jim Cregan, bassist George Ford, drummer Stuart Elliott, and his percussionist brother Lindsay Elliott.
The ballad “Understand” features backing vocals by Steve’s girlfriend Yvonne Keeley, her older sister Patricia Paay (a Dutch pop icon), and Sixties UK pop singer Barry St. John.
A1. “Red Is a Mean, Mean Colour” (4:30)
A2. “White, White Dove” (5:40)
A3. “Understand” (7:10)
A4. “All Men Are Hungry” (4:48)
B1. “Black Or White” (5:46) Harley drew lyrical inspiration from “The Hollow Men,” a 1925 poem by T. S. Eliot.
B2. “Everything Changes” (2:22)
B3. “Nothing Is Sacred” (5:44)
B4. “Don’t Go, Don’t Cry” (5:02)
Harley self-produced the album across three hot summer months in London, where sessions occurred at Trident Studios with engineer Peter Kelsey, a soundman on 1976 albums by Spiders From Mars, Strange Days associate Paul Travis, and the RSO release Peter and the Wolf, a jazz-rock adaption of Prokofiev’s 1936 children’s symphonic tale, recorded by members of Brand X and Colosseum II.
They recorded “Black Or White” at EMI (Abbey Road) Studios with engineer John Leckie, a future new wave soundman who earned his first production credits on 1976 albums by Be-Bop Deluxe (Modern Music) and the Doctors of Madness (Figments of Emancipation).
Sessions for “Understand” and “Nothing Is Sacred” took place at Scorpio Sound with engineer Ray Hendriksen, who also worked on 1975/76 albums by John Entwistle’s Ox, Streetwalkers, and the Sensational Alex Harvey Band.
UK and European copies of Timeless Flight appeared in an off-white gatefold with Harley’s disembodied head attached to a Zorro mask (front) and candid studio photos and lyrics (inner-gates).
Mick Rock photographed this cover and Harley’s followup amid 1976 photoshoots with Dirty Tricks, Lou Reed, The Surprise Sisters, Strapps, and Reed protege Nelson Slater (the latter two covers noted for their suggestive imagery). Timeless Flight and Reed’s concurrent Rock and Roll Heart feature blunt typography by Steve Ridgeway.
“Black or White” first appeared on November 7, 1975, as an advance single, backed with a live version of the Best Years track “Mad, Mad Moonlight.”
In mid-February 1976, “White, White Dove” became the second single, backed with “Throw Your Soul Down Here,” an outtake from the Timeless Flight sessions.
B. “Throw Your Soul Down Here” (4:03)
Timeless Flight reached No. 18 on both the Dutch and UK Albums charts. Harley embarked on a winter/spring ’76 UK/European tour with a sixth Cockney Rebel backing member: rhythm guitarist Jo Partridge (b. May 29, 1954; Redruth, Cornwall), a recent David Essex sideman and member of the Kiki Dee Band.
Love’s a Prima Donna
Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel released their fifth album, Love’s a Prima Donna, in October 1976 on EMI.
The album contains eleven Harley originals performed with his five-piece band composed of MacKay, Cregan, Ford, and the Elliott brothers. Their recent live auxiliary, guitarist Jo Partridge, plays on the Beatles cover “Here Comes the Sun” and sings backing vocals on the doo-wop inspired “(If This Is Love) Give Me More,” Harley’s first on-record performance on electric guitar.
Side A opens with three run-together tracks. Arranger Wilf Gibson (a Centipede and early ELO violinist) scored the strings on “(Love) Compared With You,” the two “Seeking a Love” preludes, and “Sidetrack II,” an orchestral version of the non-album band-performed “Soundtrack I” — all recorded with the English Chamber Choir. Four tracks feature vocoderized vocals, performed on “GI Valentine” by Harley’s girlfriend, Yvonne Keeley. Lyrically, the songs address the topic of love from different angles and arrangements (romantic and familial).
A1. “Seeking a Love” (0:43)
A2. “GI Valentine” (1:29)
A3. “Finally a Card Game” (2:28)
A4. “Too Much Tenderness” (4:12)
A5. “(Love) Compared With You” (4:20)
A6. “(I Believe) Love’s a Prima Donna” (4:11)
A7. “Sidetrack II” (3:13)
B1. “Seeking a Love (Part II)” (1:09)
B2. “(If This Is Love) Give Me More” (4:25)
B3. “Carry Me Again” (4:30)
B4. “Here Comes the Sun” (2:55) is a song by George Harrison from the 1969 Beatles album Abbey Road; covered since by Charles Wright, George Benson, Hugo Montenegro, Ken Lazarus, Miguel Rios, Richie Havens, and Peter Tosh & The Wailers.
B5. “Innocence and Guilt” (7:13)
B6. “Is It True What They Say?” (4:41)
Sessions spanned June through August 1976 at Abbey Road Studios, where Harley self-produced Love’s a Prima Donna amid the hottest UK summer on record since 1955. The temperature inspired Harley’s decision to cover “Here Comes the Sun,” which EMI released as a single to capitalize on the nation’s mood as sessions continued on the album with engineer Tony Clark, a soundman on early Harvest titles by Syd Barrett and The Pretty Things (not Tony Clarke, the Decca/Moodies producer).
Clark engineered Prima Donna in sequence with I’m Nearly Famous, the 1976 comeback album by UK rock pioneer Cliff Richard. Tony’s assistant, Pat Stapley, also worked on 1975/76 albums by Renaissance (Scheherazade and Other Stories), Soft Machine (Softs), and the Alan Parsons Project (Tales of Mystery and Imagination).
EMI issued Harley’s “Here Comes the Sun” on July 23, 1976, with “Lay Me Down,” an exclusive from the session in progress.
B. “Lay Me Down”
Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel mimed “Here Comes the Sun” for the July 22 broadcast of TotP, which thrice aired the song amid summer ’76 numbers by 5000 Volts (“Dr. Kiss Kiss”), Billy Ocean (“L.O.D. (Love On Delivery)”), David Dundas (“Jeans On”). Dorothy Moore (“Misty Blue”), Jesse Green (“Nice and Slow”), Sensational Alex Harvey Band (“Boston Tea Party”), Slik (“The Kid’s a Punk”), and Sixties supermodel Twiggy (“Here I Go Again”).
“Here Comes the Sun” reached No. 7 in Ireland and No. 10 on the UK Singles Chart. It coincided with an EMI reissue campaign of The Beatles’ back catalog.
In mid-October, “(I Believe) Love’s a Prima Donna” became the second single, backed with “Sidetrack 1,” Cockney Rebel’s rock version of the orchestral “Sidetrack II” on the album. They mimed “Love’s a Prima Donna” for the 10/21 TotP, which also featured in-studio numbers by the Climax Blues Band (“Couldn’t Get It Right”), John Miles (“Music”), and former Aphrodite’s Child singer Demis Roussos (“When Forever Has Gone”).
B. “Sidetrack I”
Upon the album’s release, Jim Cregan joined the backing band of Rod Stewart. Jo Partridge assumed full guitar responsibilities for the ensuing Love’s a Prima Donna tour.
Face to Face
On July 8, 1977, Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel released the live double-album Face to Face, a document of their eight-date winter UK tour behind Love’s a Prima Donna.
Face to Face contains live renditions of six Prima Donna numbers and one (“Red Is a Mean, Mean Colour”) from Timeless Flight. From The Best Years of Our Lives, they perform the title track, “Mad, Mad Moonlight,” and a near double-length version of “Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me)” (7:26).
This was Harley’s final release with the second Cockney Rebel iteration, which reached back to the pre-Ford/Mackay period with four Psychomodo numbers (“Sweet Dreams,” “Psychomodo,” “Mr. Soft,” “Tumbling Down”) and The Human Menagerie staple “Sebastian,” presented here in elongated form (10:29).
Harley selected the song from winter 1976/77 English dates recorded with two portable studios: La Maison Rouge (a Mercedes truck owned by Jethro Tull frontman Ian Anderson) and Rak Mobile, also used for the 1975 Sensational Alex Harvey Band release Live.
Face to Face appeared in a gatefold designed by Hipgnosis, the post-psych UK graphics firm behind 1977 covers for the 10cc (Deceptive Bends), Alan Parsons Project (I Robot), Brand X (Moroccan Roll), Hawkwind (Quarks Strangeness and Charm), Justin Hayward (Songwriter), The Moody Blues (Caught Live + 5), Peter Gabriel (“windshield”), UFO (Lights Out), Wishbone Ash (Front Page News), and Yes (Going for the One). The gatefold shows Harley blind-side crept from a shady subject (outer) and showered with confetti in an oversized checkered suit (inner-gates).
Harley sings lead on the I Robot track “The Voice.” He also lyricized four tracks and vocalized one (“Time Is No Healer”) on Score, Duncan Mackay‘s 1977 second solo album, recorded with King Crimson alumni.
Harley also appeared as a backing vocalist on “Dandy In the Underworld,” the title track to the final T. Rex album. Marc Bolan collaborated with Harley on a demo for a song that became “Madman,” completed with David Bowie, who performed with Bolan on the sixth and final episode of the T. Rex frontman’s Granada TV music series Marc, aired twelve days after Bolan’s death in a roadside accident. (A demo tape of “Madman” reached the Cuddly Toys, a post-punk glam band that scored a UK indie hit with their 1980 version of the song).
Hobo With a Grin
Steve Harley released his debut solo album, Hobo With a Grin, in July 1978 on EMI. He started the album in mid-1977 at Abbey Road Studios following Cockney Rebel’s breakup. After his February 1978 move stateside, sessions wrapped at the Record Plant in Los Angeles.
Hobo With a Grin contains four Harley solo originals: “Amerika the Brave,” “Riding the Waves (for Virginia Woolf),” “Faith, Hope and Charity,” and “(I Don’t Believe) God Is an Anarchist,” an extended creedo with percussionist King Errisson. Harley co-wrote “Roll the Dice” and “Someone’s Coming” with Jo Partridge and collaborated with Duncan MacKay on “Hot Youth” and “Living In a Rhapsody,” the latter third-written by Jim Cregan.
He included one cover, The Temptations “I Wish It Would Rain,” recorded with ex-Pilot guitarist Ian Bairnson and Little Feat keyboardist Bill Payne, who plays on “Anarchist” and all of Side A (barring “Amerika”). The tracks completed in LA (“Roll the Dice,” “Riding the Waves”) feature assorted backing vocalists, including Bill Champlin, Michael McDonald, Toto singer Bobby Kimball, and former Birtha frontwoman Rosemary Butler.
A1. “Roll the Dice” (3:26)
A2. “Amerika the Brave” (4:51)
A3. “Living In a Rhapsody” (4:18)
A4. “I Wish It Would Rain” (3:16)
A5. “Riding the Waves (For Virginia Woolf)” (4:32)
B1. “Someone’s Coming” (4:32)
B2. “Hot Youth” (2:46)
B3. “(I Don’t Believe) God Is an Anarchist” (7:20)
B4. “Faith, Hope and Charity” (3:57)
Harley co-produced the album with American Michael J. Jackson, a prior soundman for Pablo Cruise, Tim Moore, and Chunky Novi & Ernie.
Discography:
- The Human Menagerie (1973)
- The Psychomodo (1974)
- The Best Years of Our Lives (1975 • Steve Harley + Cockney Rebel)
- Timeless Flight (1976 • Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel)
- Love’s a Prima Donna (1976 • Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel)
- Face to Face (live 2LP, 1977 • Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel)
Sources:
- Discogs: Cockney Rebel
- English C Albums Directory (page 4)
- English S Albums Directory (page 7)
- 45worlds: Cockney Rebel
- 45cat: Cockney Rebel
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