Julian Cope presents Head Heritage

I agree. I think he is one of those artists that has been very lucky with the critics. And Real World / WOMAD has a lot to do with that. Slagging off Gabriel was the equivalent of calling Mother Theresa a ****. Most of his solo stuff after PG 4 is so dull it makes Sting sound like Smokey Robinson. And the music he wrote for the performance art thing in the Millenium Dome was bilge of the highest order. When it comes to post Lamb the best things he did were the piano ballad version of "Here Comes The Flood" on Fripp's "Exposure" and "Don't Give Up".

And the way the music press and media totally abandoned long-form rock music in 76/77 was a fairly scandalous exercise in collective amnesia. A lot of the music that was made between say 74 and 76 was terrible and the change in drugs-of-choice did bad things to people's egos but I think it took the best part of 15 years for English music to recover from the Flat Earthism of Punk. Punk just left the middle ground open to MTV and the greedheads and 100% focus on singles rather than 40 minute musical experiences. Baby. Bathwater.

If you set aside the Prog and Psych revivalists like Marillion it was a lonely empty road for original long-form English rock music between say "Awaken" and "Laughing Stock" or "Laser Guided Melodies".

That's very well said Ian. Exact and astute. Do you blog or write re. music? If not, you should do ( and that's not just because I agree, you have an insight and turn of phrase even if I don't agree with a particular point).

Well the fact that you have done it in the past shows in a lot your posts when you're getting deep into a topic. Always informative and a pleasure to read. Keep it on!

:-) Om Shanti.

I think it took the best part of 15 years for English music to recover from the Flat Earthism of Punk. Punk just left the middle ground open to MTV and the greedheads and 100% focus on singles rather than 40 minute musical experiences. Baby. Bathwater.

You can maybe blame Phil Collins for opening the door to the likes of the Lighthouse Family but he didn't create an audience for that bilge. I blame Thatcher myself and the idea of "good taste" being something consistent that you can take off the shelf at Habitat.

Yes he has made a lot of terrible records but there were a lot of artists who made their name pre Punk who cashed in their chips in an undignified fashion in the 80s pandering to MTV in the worst way - Winwood, Palmer, Clapton for three. I would put Bowie in that category too. And Rod.

Pretty much agree there. Esp Winwood and Clapton. I've no doubt mentioned this before, but I remember seeing a programme about EC (South Bank Show I think?) where he said he preferred his demo's to his latest album. And whilst I admired his honesty I thought someone of his stature should have ensured they had some kind of artistic authority. Probably niave of me I know!

As for Winwood...never saw the attraction in those 80's records at all. It wasn't just the blandness - his voice was awful. Remove that peg off your conk, young man! It as certainly hard to reconcile with that great white soul singer reputation as far I was concerned.

Rod and Bowie seemed to lose the plot although at least one of them did at least recover - what do you mean which one? ; )

And in his (Bowie's) case I'll always defend Let's Dance - sure it was DB going pop after Scary Monsters (which still sounds pretty weird at times) but I thought he pulled it off on that one. And even after that he'd still pull off the odd great 45 - Absolute Beginners, Never Let Me Down, This Is Not America - even if the albums were pretty much toss till he started getting interesting again in the early 90's. And then there was that television collaboration with La La Human Steps where he did that noisy rendition of Look Back In Anger which sounded fab at the time.

But Palmer - I thought he started the 80's very well even though I'd never been a fan of his. I've got a lot of time for the Clues LP - some so-called old fart embracing technology and singing Gary Numan songs was rather novel at the time. And the singles Looking For Clues and Johnny & Mary were fab IMO. Even Julie Burchill liked J&M and she didn't like anything! ; )

And although I never bought it and I know a lot of people will consider it somewhat naff, but I've always had a soft spot for Addicted To Love. A fun pop single IMO that has admittedly suffered from over-exposure.