Julian Cope - The Unruly Imagination (2009)

Julian Cope - The Unruly Imagination (2009)

rock, alternative | 1cd | eac-flac-cue-log-cover | 320MB

HH24

This commemorative CD contains 50 minutes of music, including two songs from the unreleased E.P. DIGGERS, RANTERS, LEVELLERS, several brand new pieces especially recorded for this project, and songs from Cope’s vinyl-only 7” PREACHING REVOLUTION E.P. The CD features the same sumptuous packaging as Head Heritage’s Urthona album, replete with two poems printed on individual cards. This delightful package is a highly limited edition that will enjoy only this sole pressing.

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Tracks
-01. Preaching Revolution [7m12s]
-02. Militant Feminist Dream [3m12s]
-03. Mother, Where Is My Father? [2m34s]
-04. I Wanna Know What's In It For Me [2m20s]
-05. Fuck Me U.S.A. [2m13s]
-06. Gang Of Four (At Home He Feels Like A Tourist [4m6s]
-07. Alexei Sayle Driver Improvement Course [2m35s]
-08. Creedist Blues [3m51s]
-09. James Naylor Enters Bristol On A Donkey: 1656 [5m2s]
-10. Chairman Mao [14m4s]
-11. Spitfire Boys (British Refugee [3m19s]

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Julian Cope - Black Sheep (2008)

Julian Cope - Black Sheep (2008)

rock, alternative | 2cd | eac-flac-cue-log-cover | 475MB

Head Heritage 23

Head Heritage:
BLACK SHEEP is Julian Cope’s new album for 2008CE, and is a musical exploration of what it is to be an outsider in modern Western Culture. Across 11 songs and one epic poem, Cope examines the idea of social outcasts and how they — through their sheer obstinacy and strength of personality — carve a path for themselves in the normal world, often changing society’s own concepts of normality in the process. On BLACK SHEEP, Cope attributes his personal descent into outsider-dom to his 9th birthday on which 116 children his own age died in the infamous Aberfan Disaster. Cope also asserts that the West has been rigorously directed towards the outsider concept, first by the rejected ‘Black Sheep’ prophet Jesus Christ, whose own people ignored his revelation, and secondly by St. Paul, another ‘Black Sheep’ whose singular take on Christianity has come down to us through the Roman Empire. Available on two half-hour-long CDs and later on gatefold double-vinyl, the 11 songs of BLACK SHEEP reveal Cope at a pinnacle of songwriting and feature sumptuous lashings of orchestral Mellotron, orchestral percussion and marching bass drums, plus oboe, wah guitar, rumbling synthesizers and gorgeous harmony vocals.

Tracks
Disc 1: Return of the Native
-1. Come The Revolution
-2. It's Too Late To Turn Back Now
-3. These Things I Know
-4. Psychedelic Odin
-5. Blood Sacrifice
-6. The Shipwreck of St. Paul
Disc 2: Return of the Alternative
-1. All The Blowing-Themselves-Up Motherfuckers (Will Realise The Minute They Die That They Were Suckers)
-2. Feed My Rock'n'Roll
-3. Dhimmi is Blue
-4. The Black Sheep's Song
-5. I Can Remember This Life

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Julian Cope - Peggy Suicide (Deluxe Edition) (1991)

Julian Cope - Peggy Suicide (Deluxe Edition) (1991)

alternative, rock | 2cd | eac-flac-cue-log-cover | 1050MB

Universal | rel: 2009

Allmusic:
Casting the ill-advised attempts at too-clean modern rock from his late-'80s days firmly aside and fulfilling the promise of Skellington and Droolian, Cope on Peggy Suicide produced his best album to date, overtopping even his Teardrop Explodes efforts. Showing a greater musical breadth and range than ever before, from funk to noise collage -- and more importantly, not sounding like a dilettante at any step of the way -- Cope and his now seasoned backing band, with drummer J.D. Hassinger in and De Harrison out, surge from strength to strength. Ostensibly conceived as a concept album regarding potential ecological and social collapse, Cope wisely seeks to set moods rather than create a straitjacketed story line. As a result, Peggy Suicide can be enjoyed both as an overall statement and as a collection of individual songs; its sequencing is excellent to boot, moving from song to song as if it was always meant to be that way. Cope's voice is a revelation -- for those not having heard the hard-to-find Skellington and Droolian, his conversational asides, bold but not full-of-itself singing, and equally tender, softer takes when the material demands it must have seemed like a complete turnaround from the restrained My Nation Underground cuts. He handles all the guitar as well, with Skinner concentrating on bass and keyboards; guest Michael "Moon-Eye" Watts does some fine fretbending as well, including an amazing performance on the awesome "Safesurfer," a lengthy meditation on AIDS and its consequences. Picking out only some highlights does the album as a whole a disservice, but besides offering up an instant catchy pop single, "Beautiful Love," Cope handles everything from the minimal moods of "Promised Land" and experimentation of "Western Front 1992 CE" to the frenetic "Hanging Out and Hung Up on the Line" and commanding "Drive, She Said." An absolute, stone-cold rock classic, full stop.

Tracks
cd1
01. "Pristeen"
02. "Double Vegetation"
03. "East Easy Rider"
04. "Promised Land"
05. "Hanging Out & Hung Up on the Line"
06. "Safesurfer"
07. "If You Loved Me at All"
08. "Drive, She Said"
09. "Soldier Blue"
10. "You..."
11. "Not Raving But Drowning"
12. "Head"
13. "Leperskin"
14. "Beautiful Love"
15. "Western Front 1992 CE"
16. "Hung Up & Hanging Out to Dry"
17. "The American Lite"
18. "Las Vegas Basement"
cd2
01. "Easty Risin (East Easy Rider Remix)"
02. "Ravebury Stones"
03. "Love L.U.V. (Beautiful Love Remix)"
04. "Dragonfly"
05. "Heed: Of Penetration And The City-Dweller"
06. "Bring Cherhill Down"
07. "Safesurfer ('91 Tour 7" Version)"
08. "If You Loved Me At All ('91 Tour 7" Version)"
09. "Butterfly E"
10. "Straw Dogs"
11. "Anyway At All"

Personnel
*Julian Cope (also credited as "DeHarrison" or "Double DeHarrison") - vocals, electric & acoustic 12-string/wah-wah guitars, bass guitar, Moog synthesizer, string arrangements
*Donald Ross Skinner - bass guitar, electric guitar, organ, Omnichord
*Michael "Moon-Eye" Watts - electric & infinite guitar
*Ron Fair - piano
*G.S. Butterworth - Moog synthesizer
*Rooster Cosby - drums, percussion, congas
*Mike Joyce - drums on "Hanging Out & Hung Up On The Line", "You..." & "Las Vegas Basement"
*J.D. Hassinger - electronic drums, tambourine
*Ronnie Ross - baritone saxophone
*Aaf Verkade - trumpet
*Dan Levett - cello
*Lulu Chivers, Edwin Vernon, Camilla Mayer - background vocals
*Hugo Nicolson - engineer

sample & buy: Peggy Suicide (deluxe edition)

Julian Cope - Jehovahkill (Deluxe Edition) (1992) (eac-log-cover)

Julian Cope - Jehovahkill (Deluxe Edition) (1992)

alternative, rock | 2cd | eac-flac-cue-log-cover | 1080MB

Universal | rel: 2009

-> bio & more info <-
Allmusic:
Moving into what he later described as the second part of a trilogy of albums, Jehovahkill sees Julian Cope's focus shift from environmental collapse to raging against the destructiveness of mainstream religion and an attendant celebration of earlier, heathen impulses. The artwork and design draw this out further, with Cope providing commentary on a number of ancient megalithic temples and sites, along with attendant poetry. As with Peggy Suicide, though, the music is what is first and foremost, and following that earlier album's success Cope was on a roll. With only Skinner and Cosby making up the core band this time out, plus a variety of guest performers and snippets (including cult musician/astronomer Dr. Fiorella Terenzi on the crazed Krautrock/funk of "Poet Is Priest..."), Cope turned in another 70-minute-long effort. If Jehovahkill isn't quite as perfectly balanced as Peggy Suicide, it comes darn close, definitely leaving the late-'80s trough behind. "Soul Desert," the opening number, actually almost picks up where Peggy Suicide left off, with "Las Vegas Basement," with the same low-key late-night vibe. Cope's voice is again at full strength, whether gently singing or just going all out; here he's able to do both as the song amps up further about halfway through. From there Jehovahkill move through three phases, much like Peggy Suicide was divided into four. The overall tone of the record is looser than Peggy, with Cope's various celebrations and condemnations often sounding like they were captured on a first-time run-through. He definitely sounds like he's more performing intense rituals instead of songs, as on the powerful, building intensity of "Up-Wards at 45 Degrees" and the awesome "The Tower." Combined with everything from the rural blues-goes-drone rock of "The Mystery Trend" and the combined Neu!/Stooges tribute "The Subtle Energies Commission" to the amusing "Julian H. Cope," it adds up to another fine Cope album.
--
A special deluxe edition of Julian Cope's most controversial and forward looking album, "Jehovahkill". The deluxe edition comprises two discs, the original "Jehovahkill" plus a 14 track second disc including eight previously unreleased recordings from the album sessions. Among these is a 22-minute version of "Poet is Priest", which, to borrow from Dave Cavanagh's original review in Select Magazine is "Further Out Than Even the Shipping Forecasts Are Prepared to Go." The remaining six tracks on the second disc comprise the "Jehovahkill Companion" originally released as part of a two cd format that made up "Jehovahkill"'s only single "Fear Loves this Place", a catchy little anti-christian pop ballad.

Tracks cd1:
Phase 1
-01. "Soul Desert" - 3:53
-02. "No Hard Shoulder to Cry On" - 2:44
-03. "Akhenaten" - 2:52
-04. "The Mystery Trend" - 4:17
-05. "Up-Wards at 45°" - 5:46
-06. "Know (Cut My Friend Down)" - 3:19
Phase 2
-07. "Necropolis" - 4:40
-08. "Slow Rider" - 2:18
-09. "Gimme Back My Flag" (Cope, Donald Ross Skinner) - 5:33
-10. "Poet Is Priest..." (Cope, Donald Ross Skinner) - 6:23
-11. "Julian H. Cope" - 2:49
Phase 3
-12. "The Subtle Energies Commission" - 7:49
-13. "Fa-Fa-Fa-Fine" - 2:25
-14. "Fear Loves This Place" - 4:16
-15. "The Tower" - 10:23
-16. "Peggy Suicide Is Missing" - 0:42

cd2
Phase 4
-01. "Nothing" - 2:01
-02. "I Have Always Been Here Before" - 4:35
-03. "This Is My Kin" - 4:16
-04. "Michael Rother" - 4:36
-05. "Gogmagog" - 2:45
-06. "Gone" - 4:56
Phase 5
-07. "Vivien" - 2:57
-08. "You Gotta Show" - 4:38
-09. "Sqwubbsy The Olmec" - 1:44
-10. "Sizewell B" - 4:40
-11. "Paleface" - 4:56
-12. "Free" - 5:00
Phase 6
-13. "Poet Is Priest" - 21:23
-14. "Starry Eyes" - 7:11
All tracks composed by Julian Cope; except where indicated

Personnel:
Julian Cope - vocals, wah wah guitar, bass
* Donald Ross Skinner - guitar, bass
* Rooster Cosby - guitar, drums, saxophone
* Hugoth Nicolson - synthesizer, mixer
* James Dowdall - Executive Producer

sample & buy: Jehovahkill