Search and Destroy : Julian Cope

http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/

Genius squanders. It's a well known fact.

Autogeddon is fab.

Destroy: There is little I would literally destroy but much that I never listen to: _Floored Genius 2_ and everything from _My Nation Underground_ onward.

http://www.thewire.co.uk/images/artists/cope_julian/COVER309.jpg

oh dear

Incredibly giant version: http://www.thewire.co.uk/images.php?imageID=2779

His hair is bad.

God loves Helvetica.

I am not a fan of Cope's music, but I can't help but admire the man. He always makes me smile. I love his purple prose writings.

I notice the Wire describes how he took two acid tabs to celebrate (or get over) his 50th birthday. He took a dose of salvia this past summer ("the doors it opened took a very long time to close again"). As a result of which he has temporarily stopped driving his car: "he says he saw a wasp on the windscreen and tried to squash it with his finger, and inadvertently poked a hole right through the glass".

I didn't think the effects of salvia were that extreme.

he's starting to look like Don Bolles

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3043/2815187723_7b229622f6.jpg

A lot of posters seem to respect the man but slight the music. Which is fine, but I love the music to death. Sure, he's terribly uneven, but I'm a sucker for unadorned guitar pop perfection, and most everything he's released contains a couple classics (kinda like Robyn Hitchcock or GBV/Pollard in that sense). Seek the Julian Cope EP (w/ "World Shut Your Mouth"), Fried and Peggy Suicide for starters. And work out from there. A few favorites:

Reynard the Fox
Bill Drummond Said
Sunspots
Elegant Chaos
Head Hang Low
World Shut Your Mouth
Warwick the Kingmaker
Spacehopper
Jellypop Perky Jean
Hanging Out and Hung Up On the Line
Safesurfer
Head
Upwards at 45 Degrees
The Tower
Don't Call Me Mark Chapman
s*t*a*r*c*a*r
Senile Git

And the Citizen Cain'd LP (I no) is pretty goddam great, as far as heavy-duty Stooges/High-Rise worship goes.

I really like the album "Interpreter". Maybe it's unfair to call it his Brit-pop album, but it does have some musical and production similarities with other albums of the time, like "Different Class" or "Denim on Ice". It's eclectic, well produced pop music that is very seductive because of the idiocyncratic author and some more interesting influences than most pop records at the time.

A lot of posters seem to respect the man but slight the music.

I realise that I wrote above that I'm "not a fan of his music". That was rather sloppy of me. I should have said that I've not yet gotten to know his music. I actually reckon he'd be right up my alley. So thanks for the recommendations. The Citizen Cain'd LP especially sounds perfect.

He played a couple of solo shows in Italy last week and I'm told they were beautiful affairs (friend band Father Murphy supported him in Rome).
Cope on acoustic guitar, casiotone and piano, a lot of old and new favourites, including Teardrop Explodes stuff like You Disappear From View.

Screaming Secrets:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysbtAOtF-w8

Pristeen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj5tizDPubg&feature=related

Citizen Cain'd is great. It includes two brilliant lengthy songs in a kind of perfected heavy ecstatic Neil Young vein: "I Will Be Absorbed" and "Feels Like A Crying Shame".

Contenderizer OTM- his every record has duds, but his way with a killer hook is too seldom noted.

I must say I quite liked last year's Black Sheep. A very good acoustic-tinged album, with more than a few nods to Jehovakill and Fried.

so, no one loves Autogeddon, then? I'm about 5-6 albums deep & thinking of picking up that one (or 20 Mothers) next

Autogeddon's no Jehovahkill, but it's decent enough imo. This was a pretty bizarre Top Of The Pops appearance from that era:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nttnQxRpKrg

Autogeddon has more than a couple of good songs - I even like Starcar, that's nothing more than a blatant rip-off of Maggot Brain.

There's a lot of filler in 20 Mothers, but I listened to it a lot at the time and again there is more than a nice pop song.

I always loved Robert Mitchum. Not sure if it's on an album, but it was done for a Radio 1 session as tribute to Pete de Freitas.

I remember a funny interview Cope did about the time of Autogeddon, admitting that he'd very recently learnt to drive, and was really enjoying his new-found driving freedoms.

That version of "Robert Mitchum" is on the new expanded version of "Floored Genius 2".

A version of "RM" is on Skellington, I believe.

I remember a funny interview Cope did about the time of Autogeddon, admitting that he'd very recently learnt to drive, and was really enjoying his new-found driving freedoms.

Yeah, that's pretty much what 'Ain't No Gettin' Round Gettin' Round' is about iirc.

Well, he's back:

Happy New Year and welcome to PSYCHEDELIC REVOLUTION, the first of two albums of Julian Cope songs for 2012. Gone temporarily are those massed percussion Black Sheep workouts of recent years, replaced across PSYCHEDELIC REVOLUTION’s two half-hour-long CDs by eleven epic examples of the Archdrude’s most scrupulously-written balladry. Listen to those fucking lyrics! And as CD1 and CD2 are dedicated to Cope’s two most politically intense heroes and heroines – Che Guevara and Leila Khaled – listeners will be right to expect the always fiery intensity of the Archdrude’s performance. Expect tales of insurrection, tales of building new cultural traditions and tales of sexism, racism and even species-ism. Yes, both intellectually and sonically, this is a record to engage deeply with the listener’s unconscious. And with its massed banks of Mellotron 400, wah-acoustic guitars, oboe and brass, this new Cope album ! is one to Send You Under again and again.

PSYCHEDELIC REVOLUTION features chanteuse Lucy Brownhills taking lead vocals on the title track, and arrives with a 16-page booklet chock full of new political art and poems from the Archdrude. Dig PSYCHEDELIC REVOLUTION and look out for its sibling REVOLUTIONARY SUICIDE later this year. It’s 2012, fuck yeah!
Phase of CHE GUEVARA

Raving on the Moor
Vive Le Suicide
Cromwell in Ireland
Revolutionary Man
As the Beer Flows Over Me
Hooded & Benign

Phase of LEILA KHALED

Psychedelic Revolution
X-Mass in the Woman’s Shelter
Roswell
Because He Was Wooden
The Death of Rock‘n’roll

I got this today. The pic doesn't do it justice, with it's black lizard-skin looking cover, the layout, print, even paper used, it looks like an ancient holy text.

http://www.faber.co.uk/media/cache/c6/ea/c6eaa7c0dabf52f7f6ec3351d172977f.jpg

Review: http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/171487-julian-cope-copendium/

where'd you get it?

thought this revival was going to be someone telling us that the new album was a return to form as the pr gumph goes on about peggy suicide.

"Welcome to 2013 and the truly Post-Thatcher Age, and Welcome to Julian Cope’s long delayed new album REVOLUTIONARY SUICIDE: eleven sumptuous and highly charged songs that teem with outrageous orchestrations and compellingly-crafted words of protest, activism and historical richness. Weep along with the dreadful beauty of the Archdrude’s most epic ever song ‘The Armenian Genocide’, sway with the bucolic agricultural rhythms and devotional lyrics of ‘Hymn to the Odin’, pump your fists in the air to the Detroit soul of the title-track, or just give yourself entirely to the divine-but-gaping 70-minute-long musical maw, nay, the Hot Mess that is REVOLUTIONARY SUICIDE. New poems? You got it! New concepts? You got it! We got the Mayans’ predictions out the way and we’re all still here. So maybe everything that went before 2013 was just a dry-run for what’s to come. Perhaps you’ll even be! lieve that once you’ve heard the enormous scope and vision of REVOLUTIONARY SUICIDE.

love the write up, but i cant deny that i fear the druids output these days.

anyone heard it yet ?

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!

thats what i thought.
not heard it in years as i bought it on cassette.

I too own My Nation Underground on cassette, and I love it! Had no idea JC was not into it but we all have our quirks.

Playing it now. Is that... a vibraslap on 5 O'Clock World???

It's an excellent album - title track and Charlotte Anne esp.

(A weird comparison to make as they're nothing alike musically but in terms of discography replacement/neglect it's sorta Julian's The Burning World)

Interpreter is exactly where I stopped with my Cope collection.

I don't want to go too hard on the post-Interpreter era because I really do love some of it (the drone trilogy Queen Elizabeth, Odin, and Woden for example) but really how do you top a run of albums like Peggy Suicide -> Jehovahkill -> Autogeddon -> 20 Mothers -> Interpreter?

With the two Teardrops Albums + World Shut Your Mouth + Fried + St. Julian but that's just me

“I will be absorbed by the river” and “feels like a cryin shame” are as good as anything he ever did

But as pointed out, citizen cain’d was a long time ago too

And in the days of LP those two songs could have made a whole album almost

Peggy Suicide -> Jehovahkill -> Autogeddon -> 20 Mothers -> Interpreter

I mean, this was exactly the run where I first dipped my toes in, but yeah... such a fantastic run.

Which is to say I understand CC has its share of filler but the core is v v nugatory

Peggy Suicide -> Jehovahkill -> Autogeddon -> 20 Mothers -> Interpreter?

There should be a name for this era. When he became full archdruid making fantastic multihued earth-conscious concept records but still had hit albums and hit singles. It's the period I've always been the biggest fan of.

yeah, it's like the era of overlap between his pop star and drude phases

It's like the opposite of Abacab-era Genesis

(aka the best era of Genesis)

I too own My Nation Underground on cassette, and I love it! Had no idea JC was not into it but we all have our quirks.

lol I saw this thread in SNA and I thought, I'm going to post about how I regularly put on my cassette copy of My Nation Underground while putting away laundry ... and yeah! It's really fucking good!

xp that is indeed the best era of Genesis

I gotta say there is one blemish in that imperial drude phase and its name is autogeddon

Hey wait is “Charlotte Anne” a pun on “charlatan”?

Sure is. (Or at least I have always assumed it was.)

I gotta say there is one blemish in that imperial drude phase and its name is autogeddon

― realistic pillow (Jon not Jon), Monday, 30 January 2023 20:12 (six days ago) bookmarkflaglink

but it rules

I like the song where he brains a fucker but it’s mostly dud for me

Autogeddon is kind of crucial in two different sequences of Copework - it's a self-consciously "minor" album after Peggy and Jehovah, keeping a similar crew of regular players and ambitious songwriting, but with less production and more focused themes to the writing - which paves the way for the similar restricted instrumentation and non-fussy production of 20 Mothers - which broadly takes a more positive approach to themes than the 'hovakill->'geddon sequence, and continues up to the outright "fuck it, pop star!" vibe of Interpreter. (The sonic approach of Autogeddon also suits the lyrical concept, ofc.)

But it's also the culmination of an extremely minimal detour with Rite and Skellington 2 - it works as a final chapter in that trilogy, as a bridge back to fully-arranged songs, or as a grounding/reset after the two major-label double-albums.

This looks interesting -

https://superdeluxeedition.com/news/the-teardrop-explodes-culture-bunker-1978-82/