Julian Cope on the Phone

Gorilla, Manchester
22/2/20

Self Civil War

Received in the post this morning and two listens in...

My god there's some good stuff on this. Lyrical puns, the Archdrude's bass pumped up and in the foreground, heavy on the mellotron and an excess of guitar solos.

I'm enjoying it immensely.

Coping With My Vinyl

Still on the letter C, it's time for the Julian Cope vinyl collection. Bar a couple of releases - 2007's You Gotta Problem With Me and this year's RSD pressing of Drunken Songs - Julian's solo albums stopped being released on vinyl when he left Echo records after the release of Intepreter in 1996.

Still a great listen, even the perceived low point - the glossy My Nation Underground - has enough classic moments to make it worthwhile.

 

An Unsung hilight from each studio album...

Kolly Kibber's Birthday
Holy Love
Planet Ride

I'm Not Losing Sleep

Doomed

"....Atonement of Wasp"

Hung Up And Hanging Out To Dry

The Mystery Trend

Wayland's Smithy Has Wings

Ain't But The One Way

Leli B

Cheap New-Age Fix

Soon To Forget Ya

Don't Drink and Drive (You Might Spill Some)

All Rite

Five albums in an ongoing series of meditational grooves and vibrations from Julian Cope.

I presume the series will end when he runs out of Rite puns.

Peggy Suicide

After seeing JC live last night for the second time this year, I thought I'd reevaluate what has been, for me, arguably the greatest album ever made.

So, 25 years on, does it still hold up? In short, it's a resounding yes.

There's a great story that Julian told about this album. On being presented with a new 18 track double album, Island records (no doubt scarred by their failed attempts at moulding him into a million selling pop star) suggested that he go away and think about how many of those songs were REALLY good enough to make it onto his next release, in the hope that he could whittle it down to a more marketable single album. When asked at their next meeting how many of those 18 songs were left, Julian's answer was "nineteen".  He's only gone and written another song to add to the release.

So what finally came out was, on vinyl, a brilliant, sprawling, double album split into four phases with enough for even the casual cope fan. After all, he has always had an ear for a good pop melody - Just listen to Head, Beautiful Love or The American Lite.

For those who hadn't heard the low key Skellington and Droolian released from the previous 12 months, this new music, and in particular his vocals, were a revelation. This was a new Julian Cope, his voice sounding more confident, free and mature than ever before and the songs flying through genres with wild abandon.

Phases 1 and 2 concern themselves with classic and psychedelic rock music - standout track, the mind blowing 8 minute Safesurfer, with its dueling guitars, was once described as what happened after the fadeout on Hotel California as the guitars ascend heavenwards.

Phases 3 and 4 draw on more recent influences and there's a distinct post-Madchester feel to some of these tracks. This would've made a great pop album in itself. The fact that this is disc 2 of a double album shows what a roll he was on.

Lyrically, there's a more overt political slant than previous albums, being no doubt influenced by his active involvement in the Poll Tax demonstrations and downfall of Margaret Thatcher - as well as documenting the Poll Tax demonstrations for the NME, Julian claims to have stood on Downing Street emitting bad vibes toward number ten that led to her resignation. Promised Land is almost heartbreaking in its description of a once great nation torn apart and stands as one of the most emotive anti-Thatcher songs ever written.

He may not have bettered this album - although the equally ambitious Jehovahkill gives it a run for its money - but this release was a springboard for an ongoing series of diverse, creative and rewarding releases. 

2012 Re-View

So here it is - the best music things of 2012.

Best song:
PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING - Spitfire

Of course.
I've already raved about this - it's one of those rare songs that I can listen to on repeat. Six months on, I still get a buzz whenever I hear the intro.

Best song title:
Scott Walker - SDSS141E+13B (Zercon, A Flagpole Sitter)
Clocking in at just shy of 22 minutes, the track almost outdoes the title when it comes to incomprehensibility. Sublime, ridiculous, pretentious, hilarious, impenetrable but totally compelling. Not quite "Make It Easy On Yourself" then.

Best album:

Field Music - Plumb

Or is it Dexys - One Day I'm Going To Soar?
Or maybe The 2 Bears' Be Strong?
Both strong contenders, but I'll go for Field Music - because of it's brevity, I can listen to it repeatedly SO many more times.

A great "alternative rock" album:
Dirty Projectors - Swing Lo Magellan
What I love about Dirty Projectors is how essential everything is. Every sound, note, hit of a snare drum, have a purpose, each adding something unique - there's nothing superfluous here and no generic guitars strumming with a bass playing the root note. Oh, and the songs are pretty good too, which helps.

A great "alternative electronic rock" album:
Fuxa - Electric Sound of Summer
A Christmas present, so there's still plenty to discover with this as I've only had it for just over a week. Post/space rock and electronica, featuring three brilliant cover versions - Our Lips are Sealed, Some Things Last a Long Time and Cheree (which they have stretched out to 10 minutes). In fact the Suicide references stretch further than covering Cheree, with another track being named "Marty Suicide" and the sound on many tracks coming across a bit like Suicide collaborating with Lali Puna - that is if Suicide were a bit happier and enjoyed spending summer afternoons lying in a field listening to the birds singing.

Five great gigs
So much great live music. Here's five examples.
Grandaddy (Ritz)
Public Service Broadcasting (Soup Kitchen)
Pulp (Motorpoint Arena)
Dexys (Green Man Festival)
tUnE-yArDs (Green Man Festival)

Some great album covers:

Three Ambient Records:

It was quite refreshing to find the man who is to blame/thank for the whole genre showing the kids how it should be done. Brian Eno's Lux is one of the most beautiful things he's released in a long time. It sounds even more special now I have it on "180g DMM mastered double vinyl". Honest.

Daniel Lopatin is steadily becoming one of my favourite 21st century artists, with three brilliant albums released over the last couple of years. After Ford and Lopatin's homage to the 80s (1980s and 2080s) that was Channel Pressure, and Oneohtrix Point Never's sublime Replica, we now get a collaboration with Tim Hecker on the Instrumental Tourist album, which might be called ambient, but a thoroughly modern and forward thinking ambient.

Oh and Julian Cope released Woden, which was originally recorded in 1998 but left in the vault. He describes it as "one 72-minute ambulent meditation upon Warden Hill & Avebury". After a difficult opening section, it transforms into a beautiful and absorbing three-note melody accompanied by the distant sound of church bells. Or is it the sound of distant church bells?

Drone Pop:
I'm talking about Circles by Moon Duo, a Wooden Shjips side project (for one member anyway) that takes the sound of Wooden Shjips / Spaceman 3 and blends it with tunes that border on pop. Fantastic stuff.

And talking of side projects...
Tame Impala or Pond? Well, they both released great albums, with TI getting (most of) the accolades. Lonerism was the more consistent, but Beard, Wives, Denim contained Moth Wings - a psych rock masterpiece. A tough one to call.

Hot Chip or The 2 Bears?
Both will put a massive grin on your face. In Our Heads sounds like Hot Chip (understandably), whilst Be Strong is the perfect soundtrack for anyone pining for some post-house, Ian Dury-esque pop...and anyone who is in need of a Bear Hug.

Reissue of the year:

In agreement with 99% of all music publications, it has to be Can's The Lost Tapes. Archive material from 1968-1977 and previously unreleased, this is probably the most remarkable thing I've heard in years. So good, in fact, that I bought it twice.

Oh, how they spoil us:
After a six year gap, Mouse on Mars return with not one, but two shiny new albums of their unique glitchy electronica in a collision with techno, krautrock and hip-hop. One for the head (Parastophics) that you can dance to, which took years to complete, and one for the feet (Wow) that you can admire for it's cleverness, which was thrown together over a few months. Both great.

Best Format:
Barry Adamson - Brighton Rockers. Released as a playable postcard. That's right, a postcard that you can play.

And here's some more albums I've loved this year:

Barry Adamson - I Will Set You Free
Spritualized - Sweet Heart, Sweet Light
Euros Childs - Summer Special
Neil Young - Psychedelic Pill
Pye Corner Audio - Sleep Games
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Hallelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!
Four Tet - Pink
Daphni - Jiaolong
Toy - Toy
Squarepusher - Ufabulum
The Flaming Lips With Heady Fwends

Anyway, you get the point...

Julian Cope's Copendium

Well this is a surprise. Not that Mr Cope has another book out, but that the "standard" edition of this book is out now rather than the scheduled release date of November. A deluxe signed version containing 3 CDs was released earlier this year and, costing over £100, I decided to wait for this more affordable version, which still feels pretty deluxe to me - in its hardback embossed, fake snakeskin cover.

So, after two autobiographies, two 'samplers' (covering rocks Kraut and Jap) and two books on the megaliths of Britain and Europe, comes Copendium. Subtitled "An Expedition into the Rock'n'Roll Underworld" this is, as with his other books and at almost 700 pages, what the terms 'weighty' and 'tome' were designed for.

I've not read the book yet (I only got it today), but I have read some of the chapters that appear in the book, as it has all appeared at some time on the Head Heritage website (so, if you're not interested in owning a book, it's all there for you to read for free). These aren't necessarily album reviews, they're more like essays on different artists using an album (or albums) as the central theme of the writing.

At a glance it's clear that this book - covering music from the outer reaches of rock over the last 60 years - is written with the same sense of drive and passion that has made his previous books such compelling reading, which means it's going to cost me a fortune; Krautrocksampler acted as a buyers guide during the mid-90s, Japrocksampler introduced me to the delights of the Flower Travellin' Band and Speed, Glue and Shinki. No doubt I will soon be tracking down albums by (*turns to random pages in the book*) Battiato, Factrix, Simply Saucer and Vibracathedral Orchestra.

Not that it's a complete exercise in obscurism though, so don't be frightened off - there's still space to write about James Brown, Comets On Fire, Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath and Van Halen.

The comments by David Peace on the back state that this book "is unlike anything you have read before", which means that if you are interested in books or exploring music then this is essential reading. I'll let you know how I get on...

The "Joe Strummer Memorial" Busking Tour

One chilly afternoon in October 2008, with a biting wind blowing, Julian Cope and Black Sheep turned up at the site of the Peterloo massacre to perform the Manchester leg of his Joe Strummer Memorial Busking Tour. Over 3 days they travelled the country, busking at "UK cultural centres" (11 of 'em according to the website) - it was advertised online a couple of days before they set of and no times were advertised, so it was very much a case of hanging around and waiting for them to show up. When they did arrive, he had a brief chat with us before starting the...err...gig. It was a pleasure to meet the great man.

I decided to capture some of it on my phone and, had my hand not turned blue with the cold wind, I'd have filmed more. Still, what you have here is fairly representative. Check out the other people's videos on Youtube for other footage of this and other venues.

Here's what the Head Heritage site had to say about the choice of venue:

"On August 16^th, 1819, the huge crowd of 80,000 people, which had gathered in Manchester’s St. Peter’s Field to protest about the price of bread due to the unfairness of the new Corn Laws, were brutally attacked by cavalry fresh from the Battle of Waterloo who’d been sent to police the situation. With over 700 injured and 15 dead, the incident became known as the Peterloo Massacre and led to the forming of the Manchester Guardian."

And here's the footage I took:

And the highlight - parts 3 and 4 are one track (I missed the first 5 or 10 minutes I'm afraid) split into two, incorporating a version of Pristeen and the legendary "face solo"...

Stills from the video are also on Flickr