Cockney Rebel - The Human Menagerie

RARE/2HAND VINYL LP ON EMI 1973

EMI EMA 759 made in GT. Britain in gatefold cover.

Vinyl VG+. Cover VG-.

Indulging for the first time in Cockney Rebel's debut album -- and one uses the word "indulging" deliberately, for like so much else that's this delicious, you cannot help but feel faintly sinful when it's over -- is like waking up from a really weird dream, and discovering that reality is weirder still. A handful of Human Menagerie's songs are slight, even forced, and certainly indicative of the group's inexperience. But others -- the labyrinthine "Sebastian," the loquacious "Death Trip" in particular -- possess confidence, arrogance, and a doomed, decadent madness which astounds.

Tracklist

01. Hideaway - 3:48
02. What Ruthy Said - 2:29
03. Loretta's Tale - 4:10
04. Crazy Raver - 3:43
05. Sebastian - 6:55
06. Mirror Freak - 5:10
07. My Only Vice - 2:47
08. Muriel The Actor - 4:08
09. Chameleon - 0:49
10. Death Trip - 9:51