Search and Destroy : Julian Cope

I live with the drummer from Spanish Doom rock band Orthodox who are reviewed in the book, so was lucky to get Copendium for cheap. It is indeed a fine looking object.

Agree with whoever said upthread search the books and destroy the music though.

I ordered it, but it isn't here yet. Once you get beyond Interpreter, you've really gotta love the guy to want to buy his records. There's lots of fun to be had, but... I don't know what to say. It's like being a fan of classic Doctor Who or something. Does anyone else, and I say this coming from a position of totally loving the guy, think his current aesthetic gives off a power Euro-racist vibe? Maybe it's only from the American POV. But all the Norse gods, white-red-and-black, psych metal, Germany and Japan stuff... sets off aesthetic alarm bells. Maybe he's reclaiming it or something.

Woden is pretty fun, if you liked Odin, if you like 70 minutes of rumbles, drones and space noises. I do!

Unreservedly loving the new album. First Cope album I've listened to compulsively in a dog's age.

Takes a couple listens, but the melodies are fantastic and there's a bit of variety in style/vibe(two things I wasn't finding much of in his work of the last 10+ years).
Definitely hearing something here that I haven't heard since Jehovahkill and bits of 20 Mothers.

If you rate Jehovahkill, there's def something here for ya.

So... should I go back and try the last few albums? Initial listens on most were VERY underwhelming.
What did I miss?

genuinely disliked it on a cursory first listen (sad, cuz i'd love to love some new jc), but i'll come back in a couple days and try again.

genuinely disliked it on a cursory first listen (sad, cuz i'd love to love some new jc),

well, that's me done.

hard work JC = not interested JC.

i don't mind listening to an album a few times for the click to happen (in fact those albums are often the best), but he has drifted too far away from my world in recent years for me to give him another chance ..

Raffles, I highly rec Citizen Cain'd. It's too long but the good stuff is v v good and it is song-form in a kind of crazy horse style.

I believe I have Citizen, Mr. Lewis, so... will try (try try). Thanks for the heads up!

Mark E - didn't really find this a difficult listen at all. after a handful of listens, I can hum 70% of the tunes on it from memory. Been awhile since that was the case w me and JC. I can certainly see it not being everybody's cuppa though! It IS on Spotify, so... try before you buy applies!

also, i think i saw a non-special edition of the 'Copendium' compilation today.
i.e a pretty basic 3 cd boxset edition - no book .. just the cds.
is it worthy of a lot of £££ ?
i have never heard of any of the bands ... is it unlistenable gumph, or worthy ?
well, i have heard of some of them, but never knowingly heard them ..
for reference - i like some of the f*cked up mad prog stuff on finders keepers - is that a valid reference point ?

cool idea re spotify ..

didn't think he would be part of that crowd ..

will listen as i think i need to reconnect with JC after many years of distance

( i mean, there was a time he was my #1 all time, and so when he fell off from the top spot, never mind the list completely, i took it personally !)

Never picked up Compendium.
Been years since I used to purchase anything with his name on it (hey ho Modern Antiquarium).

If anyone has info, I'm curious too.

re: Spotify: for some reason, the first three songs are listed in the single section... and the RS in the album section is songs 4-11.

Cope is on twitter now... has a mailing list... and he's putting new things on Spotify. Lookit him go!

you know what really pisses me off ..
if he did a 'f*ck it here's the classics' tour for festivals etc, it would totally totally rule (if skinner were allowed into the band of course!).
he has a brilliant back catalogue, and yet he seems so intent on burning all good will that us old f*ckers have towards him.
if ever there was a dictionary definition of the phrase 'ever decreasing circles' then all they would have to do is put in the explanation as 'julian cope' and all would understand.
such a shame ..

Weirdly, I was pondering buying the Modern Antiquarian yesterday ... now that you can buy it for 20 odd quid from Amazon (I must confess I have previously bought a copy and sold it without reading for £100+).

IIRC he played a st julian track and a teardrops song the one and only time i saw him but i could be wrong.

but yeah this is probably the "f*ck it here's the classics" tour i'd most like to see in the world

The only time I saw him was solo at the Middle East back in, I think, 1995. Round 20 Mothers, I think.

Was a pretty amazing show for one dude with a guitar/keyboard.
I remember him walking onto the stage, SUPER LATE, and doing a whole stetching, yawning act about just waking up... complaining about "city dwellers" and the strange hours we keep. He also played a song while walking back and forth on the bar. High entertainment!

As for "f*ck it here's the classics" - Rooster and DRS would be necessities!

It's not impossible this was the very time I saw him!

I think it was the only time he's played Boston since the Peggy show(s?) at the Paradise in 91 or so (which I was out of town for. grr), so... probably?

Hi!

Yeah, must be, I'm almost sure the show I saw was at the Middle East, and it was definitely a solo.

I was at that Middle East gig as well! Brilliant it was. Also not been into his work since, alas.

only 100 people attended that show but every one of them wasted the rest of their life on ilx

JC MidEastShow Support Group

If my memory isn't tricking me, I remember he also did a pretty fun interview on 'BCN when he was in town, which struck me as odd, as they were mainly playing Stone Temple Pilots and Candlebox round that time. He either played or had them play that tune that mentions Madonna and Courtney Love too, which the internet tells me is "Conspiracist Blues."

Quietus review sounds about right:

http://thequietus.com/articles/12603-julian-cope-revolutionary-suicide-review

http://i57.tinypic.com/2u3vdvr.jpg

Fucking hell, man.

like some sort of neolithic boogie-rock dustman

a silbury hillbilly

that's pretty much what the records sound like these days too.

has the band name WAZZOCK been taken yet?

i'm getting a hellboy vibe from the gloves

Why the WTF? have you not seen him a while or something?

He's looked like that (on and off) since about 1982.

He had to give up the Scott Walker to do it, though.

a silbury hillbilly

― john wahey (NickB), Tuesday, 16 September 2014 11:56 (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

V good.

i'm about as likely to read his novel as i am to wake up tomorrow speaking perfect inuit, but i think i would probably enjoy reading his thoughts on bono/blake or scottish independence right now

Autogeddon is amazing btw - I prefer it to Peggy Suicide if not Jehovahkill. So goddamn crazed and psychedelic - it's almost up there with Fried in terms of pure beautiful goofball madness, and it evokes a state of confused apocalyptic bliss - driving as the ultimate freedom as well as the means of damnation

Glad you revived this, for I've been listening to Jehovahkill all week and think it's one of the '90s best albums.

nice, you're right.

Peggy Suicide through Interpreter is probably one the best all-time five-albums runs in music.

I agree that Autogeddon is great. It seems v. underrated.

the emphatic pro-assassination stance of the album probably limited its appeal

Even though it was two years later, Autogeddon felt to me at the time to be in the long shadow cast by Jehovakill and the brilliant dates he played for that tour.

Autogeddon has some utterly shattering moments but it's not on the level of Fried, Jehovahkill and Citizen Cain'd for me.

Is there a story behind the lyrics change in "Greatness And Perfection", i.e. he really sings "greatest imperfection". It's a clever twist.

Put your head back in the clouds, Mr. Cope. His best.

you got room for one more, fear loves this place is in there twice! maybe it should be, it's one of his best.

Maybe Kolly Kibber's Birthday or Screaming Secrets, and they're past your cut-off but Autogeddon Blues or Dust from Interpreter.

good catch! Replaced.

you should certainly, certainly check out 20 Mothers fyi - it's full of lovely little pop songs (like Try, Try, Try, which I'm sure you'd love, and the amazing Highway To The Sun)

Yeah I like 20 Mothers more than autogeddon or interpreter tbh

Latterly, Citizen Cain'd is brilliant -- it has his hookiness AND his post-megalithic heaviness

"Try Try Try" is amazing because at that point he's clearly no longer interested in Top of the Pops but you just feel him saying "by the way, just so you know, I can still effortlessly produce incredibly hooky pop songs"

Given the other songs you liked, I'm surprised no "5 O'Clock World" -- why, because it's a cover?

5 O'Clock World is such an odd cover, by that point he'd been a pop star for like ten years.