The Human Menagerie: Cockney Rebel (BGO Records)

Cockney Rebel were big news in the early 1970s. Songwriter and lead singer Steve Harley's distinctive vocal delivery, the choice of electric violin rather than electric guitar and Milton Reame-James' inspired keyboards made for an inventive and new sound.

Early hits included Judy Teen and Mr Soft before Harley broke up the band, returning later with a new outfit whose first hit Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me) hit number one and is now considered a pop classic.

Beat Goes On Records has just released Cockney Rebel's first album, The Human Menagerie, from 1973, when glam and glitter rock was at its height.

If includes two Harley epics Sebastian (a huge hit all over Europe) and Death Trip, both of which feature a 50-plus piece orchestra alongside the band.

One of the best things about Cockney Rebel songs is Harley's lyrics, which are often rather opaque but always intriguing. In some excellent sleeve notes written especially for this re-issue, Harley reveals the background to, and inspiration for, some of the songs which will prove fascinating to long-term fans of the band. Mirror Freak, for example, was inspired by Marc Bolan, a friend of Harley's.

The album is a real mixture of light and dark. What Ruthy Said and Muriel The Actor are bright pop songs, for example, while the epics' are loaded with hidden depths, both musically and emotionally.

There are two bonus tracks Judy Teen, packed with fairground imagery, and its jaunty original B-side Rock And Roll Parade.