"Psychomodo" is a song by the British rock band

Cockney Rebel Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel are a British glam rock band from the early 1970s from London. Their music covers a range of styles from pop to progressive rock. Over the years they have had five albums in the UK Albums Chart and twelve singles in ...

, fronted by

Steve Harley Steve Harley (born Stephen Malcolm Ronald Nice; 27 February 1951) is an English singer and songwriter, best known as frontman of the rock group Cockney Rebel, with whom he still tours, albeit with frequent and significant personnel changes. Ea ...

. It was released in 1974 as the lead single from their second studio album ''

The Psychomodo ''The Psychomodo'' is the second studio album by Cockney Rebel, which was released by EMI in 1974. It was produced by Steve Harley and Alan Parsons. Background Cockney Rebel's debut album, '' The Human Menagerie'', was released in 1973 and fail ...

''. "Psychomodo" was written by Harley, and produced by Harley and

Alan Parsons Alan Parsons (born 20 December 1948) is an English audio engineer, songwriter, musician and record producer. Parsons was involved with the production of several notable albums, including the Beatles' ''Abbey Road'' (1969) and ''Let It Be'' ( ...

Background

"Psychomodo" was recorded during sessions for ''The Psychomodo'' in February–March 1974. The song was inspired by the album's overall theme which was described by Harley in 1974 as "very much a concept: psychomodal – stream of consciousness". On ''The Psychomodo'', the song is preceded by the opening track "Sweet Dreams", which segues into "Psychomodo".

Release

EMI originally intended to release "Psychomodo" as a single in the UK, with a release date of 17 May 1974. Although copies were pressed, EMI cancelled the single's release when the band's preceding single "

Judy Teen "Judy Teen" is a song by the British rock band Cockney Rebel, fronted by Steve Harley. It was released as a non-album single in 1974, and became the band's first UK hit, after their debut single, " Sebastian", was only a hit in continental Europ ...

", which was released in March 1974, began to climb the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. It made its debut on 11 May and reached its peak at number 5 on 22 June. "Psychomodo" still received a single release in certain Europe countries (Belgium, France and the Netherlands) and became a hit in Belgium in June–July 1974. The B-side, "Such a Dream", was written by Harley, and produced by Harley and Parsons. It was initially exclusive to the single, but then appeared as the B-side to the band's following single "

Mr. Soft "Mr. Soft" is a song by the British rock band Cockney Rebel, fronted by Steve Harley, which was released in 1974 as the second single from their second studio album ''The Psychomodo''. The song was written by Harley, and produced by Harley and Al ...

". "Such a Dream" has also appeared as a bonus track on EMI's 1990 CD release of ''The Psychomodo'', and on the 2012 compilation '' Cavaliers: An Anthology 1973-1974''.

Promotion

As a regular inclusion in the set-list, "Psychomodo" has been performed live by Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel on many occasions, and various live versions have been recorded for official releases. On 28 May 1974, Cockney Rebel performed it during a BBC session for

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...

, which was later released on the 1995 compilation ''

Live at the BBC {{Unreferenced, date=May 2019, bot=noref (GreenC bot) Live at the BBC or BBC Recordings are recordings originally made for or by BBC Radio 1. Many recordings were released under several name variants. Live at the BBC *Live at the BBC (The Beatles ...

'' and ''Cavaliers: An Anthology 1973–1974''. Other live versions have appeared on '' Face to Face'' (1977), '' The Come Back, All is Forgiven Tour: Live'' (1989) and '' Acoustic and Pure: Live'' (2003).

Critical reception

On its release, the Belgian magazine ''Popshop'' was critical of the song for moving Cockney Rebel "in the rock direction". They added, "With songs like this Cockney Rebel could well become a one hit wonder." In a review of ''The Psychomodo'', ''

Record Mirror ''Record Mirror'' was a British weekly music newspaper between 1954 and 1991 for pop fans and record collectors. Launched two years after the ''NME'', it never attained the circulation of its rival. The first UK album chart was published in ''Re ...

'' stated: "The great merit of Harley's insanity is that it's laid bare here for every lost blimp to indulge. '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 AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

retrospectively reviewed the song, stating, "One of the highlights of Cockney Rebel was the wild lyrics of Steve Harley, who often fused serious ideas with dazzling wordplay along the lines of

Marc Bolan Marc Bolan ( ; born Mark Feld; 30 September 1947 – 16 September 1977) was an English guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was a pioneer of the glam rock movement in the early 1970s with his band T. Rex. Bolan was posthumously inducted int ...

. An interesting example of this approach is the title track from 1974's ''The Psychomodo''". He described the "dense, wordy" lyrics as being "like a trip through the mind of a mentally frazzled rock star" and noted the "quick-paced verses of twisty melodic frills" and the "attention-getting chorus". In a retrospective review of ''The Psychomodo'', Dave Thompson of AllMusic stated, "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,' the panicked brainstorm of the title track; and the stuttering, chopping, hysterical nightmare of 'Such a Dream'."

Cover versions

In 1980, the post-punk band

Scars A scar (or scar tissue) is an area of fibrous tissue that replaces normal skin after an injury. Scars result from the biological process of wound repair in the skin, as well as in other organs, and tissues of the body. Thus, scarring is a natu ...

recorded a version of the song as the B-side to their single "Love Song", which was released on the PRE/Charisma label in May 1980.

Track listing

7-inch single #"Psychomodo" – 4:03 #"Such a Dream" – 5:03

Personnel

Cockney Rebel *

– vocals, producer * Jean-Paul Crocker – electric violin, guitar * Milton Reame-James – keyboards *

Paul Jeffreys Paul Avron Jeffreys (13 February 1952 – 21 December 1988) was an English rock musician. He played bass guitar in Cockney Rebel between 1972 and 1974, working on the group's first two albums, and later worked with a number of British bands, i ...

– Fender bass * Stuart Elliott – drums, percussion Production *

– producer * Chris Blair – mastering

Charts

References

{{Steve Harley 1974 songs 1974 singles Steve Harley songs EMI Records singles Songs written by Steve Harley Song recordings produced by Alan Parsons