Captain Starlet
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Re: John Balance Enters Valhalla
Aug 17, 2019, 16:58
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Certainly my favourite Cope release for many a year, as couldn't stand Drunken Songs and not overly blown away with the Dope releases.
Stylistically, it's a bit of a mishmash, there's definitely Dope and Rite elements, although the overall feel on some tracks takes me back to more of an Ambulence vibe. It kind of crosses the genres a bit, some is more Peggy/Jehovahkill era and goes through. I think it's one of those you're going to have to listen to for yourself really.
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sweetfeed
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Re: John Balance Enters Valhalla
Aug 19, 2019, 16:13
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I would highly recommend this for the curious lapsed Cope fan. I was pretty shocked to hear how PRODUCED it is (relatively speaking) compared to many of the releases from the last 10 years or so.
SANDOZ has a Mushroom-by-Can thing going on. POSITIVE DRUG TEST and JOHN BALANCE ENTERS VALHALLA are the main reasons for getting this. Both long, lush, dubby (!) in places, FX-laden joys. The final two tracks are not bad but don't quite reach the dizzy heights of the rest. It reminded me of Rite 1 and 2, the orange Dope LP (a world away from the almost Black Sheep-like Dope that we have now - I have yet to make it to the end of Black Math!), Poet Is Priest-style Jehovahkill (a bit)... but mainly it sounds like nothing Cope has done before. Andrew Weatherall will love this.
Unusual for Cope to release something like this under his own name and not a band or project name. I'd love to know how this morphed into a Cope LP proper. The cover artwork is great too. This one really deserves an LP pressing. It's great - go buy!
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Piquiod
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Re: John Balance Enters Valhalla
Aug 19, 2019, 17:53
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mine arrived on FRI....Positive Drug Test is my fav track so far....I do like this alot more than the Dope releases (my opinion only)...was a great 1st listen...I plan on playing in the car endlessly for the next week or so...gotta let it sink in (usually best w/ JC releases) - they always get better the more you listen)
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jb lamptoast-morsley
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Re: John Balance Enters Valhalla
Aug 19, 2019, 17:53
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I'm encouraged enough by various responses to go get this. Mind you I didn't mind the Dope version with Fuck Authority - probably my fav incarnation of the band
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Captain Starlet
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Re: John Balance Enters Valhalla
Aug 19, 2019, 20:38
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Can't disagree with a word of that. I think the title track is the standout for me. Know what you mean about the last two tracks, I keep forgetting to listen to the last track even though it's playing while I'm walking. I've not bothered with a lot of the Dope releases, I can't afford to keep buying all the time, sadly nowhere I can just have a listen to them before buying.
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drudeawakening
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Re: John Balance Enters Valhalla
Aug 19, 2019, 21:54
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Funny that most of these tracks featured on the abandoned first Dope release, then!
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Glam Descendant
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Re: John Balance Enters Valhalla
Aug 19, 2019, 23:42
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Have you checked YouTube? I've found Dope there in the past.
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Captain Starlet
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Re: John Balance Enters Valhalla
Aug 20, 2019, 14:28
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I've found a couple of bits and pieces but not the bits I'm looking for, such as Guerrilla Grow. Having mp3 downloads for sale would be nice
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Howburn Digger
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Re: John Balance Enters Valhalla
Aug 20, 2019, 18:30
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I think JC has aced this. The first three tracks are just splendid. Lulls you in and sounds at points like nothing is really happening... then you realise it is utterly full, grooving and utterly happening. Tracks 1 and 2 ("Sandoz" & "Positive Drug Test") are kinda joyous and upbeat. Marvellous. Track 3 ("John Balance Enters Valhalla") enters with sombre strings before some very familiar "classic" JC keyboard sounds noodle around and a relentless piledriver continues the trip. I like what JC does with track 4 ("John Valour") it is kinda playful and the core of the track seems to still be there despite having its innards gradually extracted by some kinda audio-cosmic vaccuum filter device. The final track ("Geoff, Voller Tapferkeit, Aber Leer Von Magen, Betritt Die Grosse Küche Der Unterwelt Odin") is a pleasant winding down of double bass, distorted guitars, burbling keys and echo filtered for four and half minutes to nothing.
I like how the CD has come out as a Julian Cope release. A tribute to a friend maybe have been as much a tribute if it had a different attribution. And while JC didn't call John Balance "Geoff" in life, he does on the final track as the fallen warrior Geoff "brave but hungry" enters Odins kitchen...
I'm really enjoying this very coherent sounding release on constant rotation on my car journeys this week. Marvellous package all round. Smashing, fresh-sounding tribute.
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Andfurthermoreagain
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Re: John Balance Enters Valhalla
Aug 21, 2019, 15:11
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Great mini-review and does it justice too.
I've listened a couple of times and I think this is his best 'instrumental' release since Rite Now, with possibly a few truer highs.
As others have pointed out, Sandoz could be a Jehovahkill/Peggy outtake (reminiscent of Sizewell B in some ways, with a kinda Dragonfly vocal) and as for Positive Drug Test - a latter day classic no less, and something of a stylistic side-step given there aren't many dub excursions in Cope's vast canon. Of course, being Cope, it's awash with krautrock and (what sounds like) his Mellotron, so it doesn't stray too far from the familiar. I can see me coming back to this one ... a lot.
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