The Cockney Rebel Rules!

Glam Rock. You've heard of it, right? Sure you have...David Bowie, T. Rex, Mott The Hoople, Roxy Music, Slade, Gary Glitter. Glam Rock was all the rage in the UK and select parts of North America between 1972 and 1974. To be frank, those are the names of acts that immediately spring to mind when Glam Rock is mentioned and, hopefully, you have heard something from all of them. However, there were other performers and groups that were categorized as Glam Rock-Some rightly so and some not.

There is one band that, musically, were easily enough shelved with the rest of the Glam acts, but this group displayed more than just run-of-the-mill Glam rock.

Cockney Rebel, led by the one and only Steve Harley, released 2 albums that outshined most all of the others. 1973's Human Menagerie and 1974's Psychomodo, captured the essence of Glam while elevating it higher. The production is top notch, especially on Psychomodo, which was co-produced by Alan Parsons (Dark Side Of The Moon, Alan Parsons Project, The Beatles)

For me, the 2nd album is the best. When I hear the songs "Sweet Dreams" "Psychomodo" and "Mr. Soft", not only am I taken back in memory to my "Glam" trip to the UK in 1973 when I was first introduced to Cockney Rebel, but after all the Glam records I have heard, I cannot help but think that this band and their 2 albums were so much better than the average Glam act (screw Gary Glitter) and just as important and just as high in quality as anything by T. Rex or David Bowie, at the time.

It's true, that the albums did not fair as well, as subsequent record released by Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel (as they were referred to as post 1974) - check out sometime Best Years Of Our Lives, but these 1st two albums were a unique snapshot into the world of Glam Rock in 1973 & 1974. BTW - 3 of Steve Harley & Cockney Rebels' songs were included in the 1998 film Velvet Goldmine.

Truly, if you are looking for something kaleidoscopically enetertaining and sounding, then you really must search out these 2 albums. They were both just recently re-issued in Japan on the coveted Mini LP CD, and once again thanks to the Japanese, the sound is immeasurably good.

If you find these records, I really hope you enjoy them as much as I do.