Psychomodo

Background

Having released their debut album The Human Menagerie in late 1973, Cockney Rebel soon returned to the studio to recorded their second album The Psychomodo. The album was recorded during February and March 1974. In early March, EMI released the non-album single "Judy Teen", which would break the band into the UK charts, reaching the Top 5 in June. In mid-May 1974, "Psychomodo" was released as the lead single from the forthcoming The Psychomodo album. However, after being released in the UK, EMI quickly withdrew the song. Although it remains unclear as to why the label removed the single from sale, it is possible the song was withdrawn as "Judy Teen" was still climbing the UK charts.

Regardless, the single was still given a full release across Europe. The song became a hit in Belgium, where it peaked at #28, lasting on the chart for two weeks.

In 1980, the post-punk band Scars recorded a version of the song as the B-Side to their single "Love Song", released on the PRE/Charisma label in May 1980.

Release

The single was released by EMI Records on 7" vinyl in Belgium, France and the Netherlands. The single featured the B-Side "Such a Dream" which was written by Harley, and produced by Harley and Parsons. The B-Side was initially exclusive to the single before appearing as the B-Side to the band's following single "Mr. Soft". The B-Side would later be included as a bonus track on the 1990 EMI CD release of The Psychomodo, and on the 2012 EMI box-set compilation Cavaliers: An Anthology 1973-1974.

All three releases of the single came with a full colour picture sleeve, which each had different photographs of the band on them.

Following its original release as a single, and on The Psychomodo album, the song has since appeared on various Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel compilations, including the 1975 American compilation A Closer Look, the 1980 EMI release The Best of Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel, the 1987 EMI release Greatest Hits, the 1998 EMI release More Than Somewhat – The Very Best of Steve Harley and the 2006 EMI remastered three-disc box-set The Cockney Rebel - A Steve Harley Anthology.

Promotion

The song has often been part of the band's live set-list. On YouTube, audience recorded footage exists of the song being performed at various venues.

A number of live versions have also been released. On 28 May 1974, the band recorded a BBC session for John Peel, which was later released on the 1995 Windsong International album Live at the BBC and on disc four of the compilation Cavaliers: An Anthology 1973-1974. "Psychomodo" was featured on the band's 1977 live album Face to Face. On the 2000 live compilation ...In Pursuit of Illusion, the song was included as part of the band's set, live in Bremen, Germany in 1976. In 1989, a live performance of the song was professionally filmed during the band's "Come Back, All is Forgiven" tour. The footage, including the song, was released on VHS that year, titled The Come Back, All is Forgiven Tour: Live. Audio CD versions of the concert have since been released across Europe in many guises.

Track listing

1. "Psychomodo" - 4:03
2. "Such a Dream" - 5:03

Critical reception

In a July 1974 issue of the Belgian magazine Popshop, an article on the band commented: "Psychomodo is for us the third hit single by Cockney Rebel. It is also the title of their second LP. A few weeks ago Cockney Rebel entered the UK charts for the first time with the song "Judy Teen". "Sebastian" flopped in England despite huge promotions from their record company. With "Psychomodo", Steve Harley and his boys have gone in the rock direction. In their "Sebastian" period they were being written up somewhat as successors to the Beatles and the Stones. We don't really see it like that anymore after "Judy Teen" and "Psychomodo". With songs like this Cockney Rebel could well become a one hit wonder."

In the 1 June 1974 issue of Record Mirror, a review of The Psychomodo album stated: "The great merit of Steve Harley's insanity though is that it's laid bare here for every lost blimp to indulge. The Psychomodo: "I've been losing my head, I've been losing my way, I've been losing my brain cells at a million a day, I'm so disillusioned, I'm on suicide street..." Harley cleans out his soul and wherever he's going, he's going to take a lot with him."

Donald A. Guarisco of AllMusic retrospectively reviewed the song and stated: "One of the highlights of the Cockney Rebel style was the wild lyrics of songwriter Steve Harley, who often fused serious ideas with dazzling wordplay along the lines of Marc Bolan. An interesting example of this approach is the title track from 1974's "The Psychomodo". The lyrics to this song play like a trip through the mind of a mentally frazzled rock star who name-checks everyone from the Beatles to St. Peter as the narrator lists off his crazy adventures. Throughout the song, he exhibits a jadedness that manifests itself in turns of phrase like "I seen my epitaph/I been to heaven and back." The music keeps up with these dense, wordy lyrics by underscoring them with quick-paced verses that wrap them in plenty of twisty melodic frills. It also adds an attention-getting chorus that elongates its notes to release the song's tension. Cockney Rebel's recording of "Psychomodo" gives the song equal amounts of energy and artiness: nimble electric piano riffs and steady drums give the song a quick pace, but the usual guitar riffs are replaced with an electric violin, and Harley's stylized vocals lend the lyrics a theatrical touch. "Psychomodo" was never released as a single but it made a strong addition to the like-titled album and is a frequent part of Steve Harley compilations."

Dave Thompson of AllMusic retrospectively reviewed The Psychomodo album and highlighted the song as an album standout by labeling it an AMG Pick Track. He stated in his review: "Reversing the nature of "The Human Menagerie", the crucial songs here are not those extended epics. Rather, it is the paranoid vignette of "Sweet Dreams," surely written in the numbing first light of that precipitous fame; the panicked brainstorm of the title track; and the stuttering, chopping, hysterical nightmare of "Beautiful Dream" (absent from the original LP, but restored as a CD bonus track) which stake out the album's parameters."

George Starostin retrospectively reviewed The Psychomodo album for his website, and picked the song as the joint best song along with "Mr. Soft". He stated "The album opener "Sweet Dreams", is kinda chaotic and hookless, but that's no big problem because its real purpose is to merely serve as a short prelude to the record's quintessential track, the title one. "Psychomodo" is simply a magnificent song, built on a series of crunchy repetitive poppy (yes, 'crunchy' and 'poppy' don't necessarily contradict each other) guitar and violin riffs, with a top-notch descending vocal melody on top - and, of course, it announces the album's theme well enough. "Psychomodo" is like a haplology of 'psychic Quasimodo', and Steve does compare himself with Quasimodo, obviously using his being 'physically devastated' as a metaphor for his own state of mind. All the same, the song itself sounds pretty cheerful and even carnivalesque - it's only after you spend some time working on the lyrics that the truth becomes apparent."

Personnel

Additional personnel