Julian Cope presents Head Heritage

David Sylvian ‘Blemish’ - Mr Batt’s career high (IMHO of course) sees the musical abstraction and self-alienation of ‘Ghosts’ taken to extreme levels. What could be just another break-up album is here delivered in a completely unique and personal way, devoid of conventional chord sequences or anything more complex than a pulse rhythm (itself apparent on only a couple of tracks). Sylvian gently intones his near-perfect voice over sparse, obtuse and fragmented guitar lines (courtesy of avant-garde masters Derek Bailey and Christian Fennesz) and achieves true emotional catharsis without a hint of frenzy; in fact, the album rarely budges from a steady adagio or middling dynamics. Like late period Scott Walker, this is a tough nut to crack but, given due concentration, rewards immensely. In fact, this may just be my favourite album so far this century, as well as the best confessional epic since Peter Hammill’s ‘Over’. Yes, I really think it’s that good;