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Julian Cope presents Head Heritage

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Revolutionary Suicide
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Andfurthermoreagain
Andfurthermoreagain
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Edited Jun 12, 2013, 11:47
Re: Revolutionary Suicide and recommendations please
Jun 12, 2013, 11:45
Daniel wrote:
Definitely it's a grower. I think The Armenian Genocide alone worth the price of the admission. Disc 1 is a beauty rural folk with great lyrics. Disc 2 is different and has typical elements of Cope's music in more than one tune. Is it me or the keys at the beginning of Paradise Mislaid sounds a bit like Genesis? Am I mad or in a coma? Either way, great song. There's even certain distant spirit to Plastic Ono Band's Instant Karma period in the mood of a couple of songs. Beyond the dispute of opinions seems to me that it's a great record. What is certain is that Cope doesn't seem to be willing to make the album that most of his fans expected and decides to do what he wants to do. In my opinion that is more than commendable and that's why I follow him for so many years now. I'm fed up of musicians who repeat their formula indefinitely and taken sabbatical years between albums, thanks but not my cup of tea. Julian is a fine artist true to himself.


You're not wrong about the Paradise Mislaid thing - the chords did remind me of a Genesis tune (not sure which one as I'm not a fan but possibly Turn It On Again?). I also thought the lyrical subject matter quite surprising as Julian's not usually one to tackle the Davies/Weller/Dammers/Albarn social commentry thing so to speak. Not sure what angle he's coming from (ie, withering contempt a la Albarn, outright hostility a la Weller or passive sympathy a la Davies) as not used to hearing this kind of concept through Cope's songs. Really good tune though - almost classic Cope in a Tamworth-era style.
In fact I love this album (and Psychedelic Revolution) - I hadn't bought an 'official' Cope solo album since I guess Interpreter (alhtough I did get the first two Brain Donor albums and I have Floored Genius 3) so decided to get the new one on a slightly influenced (see below) whim and got the last one too as they seemed to be companion pieces. Was expecting to be underwhelmed but hey, I was rather pleasantly surprised and entertained.
See, I've found Cope's latterday stuff to be a bit hit and miss to my tastes but always meant to go back and check stuff out that seems to have been righteously praised and discussed positively in hindsight (so Black Sheep and Unruly may be next up). Essentially I don't normally fall into the catagory of a non-objective fan who'll buy anything with his name on it (although I was until Queen Elizabeth ha ha).
Funnily enough it was someone on this forum who said they might have to listen to Revolutionary Suicide along with Fried to help with their appreciation that swung it for me and yes, there are lots of elements that remind me of mid/late-80s Cope in these last two albums (Psychedelic Revolution the title track is a psychotic Jellypop Perky Jean and Xmas In The Womens Shelter has that Saint Julian b-side/Torch (Get Next To Me) vibe down to a tee, various Casio sounding keys and rhythms, his voice and harmonies on some tracks etc.).
I also like the fact that Cope still employs what I term as the 'fade-out-tease', ie. interesting musical things start to happen during the fade out of a song (see Hymn To The Odin particularly - that bass keyboard as it fades out is lovely) making you wish the song lasted that little bit longer.
Oddly, I sort of find the over-used (ha) explosion noise quite amusing in a twisted way - I think being a not-quite-successfully-out-grown attention-seeking only child it reminds me of my own childhood necessity to continue doing something until I'm told (in no uncertain terms) to stop immediately! And then do it again. Makes me chuckle really. I wonder if its a noise from the effects bank of one of his Melltrons. It certainly gets some use though (I imagine as I delve deeper I will hear it more and more. It's his equivalent of Kevin Ayers' 'banana' I guess.

Now going back to back-tracking, I was warned off Citizen Caind and Dark Orgasm by a fellow Cope fan who loved similar Cope stuff to me so took his advice-to-avoid as probably having some merit but perhaps other recommendations would now be welcome as I'm feeling I've missed out seriously the last 15 years. Basically, I really like (maybe love) PR & RS and my favourite period is WSYM through to Jehovahkill with heavy bias towards Fried and Peggy - so where next?
In reply to:
Re: Revolutionary Suicide (Daniel)		 Replies:
Re: Revolutionary Suicide and recommendations please (Moon Cat)
Re: Revolutionary Suicide and recommendations please (IanB)
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