The little blighter's been back again, with his mate the fox this time! Just seen the two of them scoffing scraps inder my window. I wonder what they think of my Julian Cope CDs?
I'm having a Cope evening, see.
Julian Cope used to make great records. Brazen poppy brilliance with a pagan slant. I got into him after reading an interview with him in the Fortean Times in the early nineties, and even now, I rate his Peggy Suicide album as one of the greatest in my collection. Like when Bowie was in his prime, it's bursting with ideas and freshness. Never was into the eighties Cope, or the Teardrop Explodes thing, I liked his 90's releases.
So I keep buying his latest offerings, which are often called "the most accessable Cope album since 20 Mothers" by JC fans on the internet, the same way every new Bowie album is "the best since Scary Monsters".
And of course, I'm ultimately disappointed. As I am again by the latest Cope release Black Sheep.
I'm not disappointed in the way that I am about Bowie not being able to write a good tune anymore, or about Morrissey not being able to make me laugh and cry all in one song like he did in the Smiths ("but my faith in love is still devout").
I get disappointed with Copey because he's probably at the top of his game still, and he's moved on from me. He probably doesn't want to make 'pop' masterpieces anymore. He's concerned with other stuff now, and each release seems to be a lo-fi Stooges homage ranting against organised religion. Nowt wrong with that, I've seen Iggy many times, and I'm big on questioning the beliefs we're unfairly forced to believe, but there's a darkness and bleakness in these later recordings leaves me a bit cold. I liked it better when he used to "speak to the lovers of the world" . .
As I say, it's not that he can't do it. You still hear flashes of what I loved in my favourite Cope albums on Black Sheep, it's just that he wants to do what he's doing now. And I don't blame him for that, and I don't expect him to make records to suit me.
Just as the King himself gave up great fifties rock & roll and fantastic sixties pop for mawkish ballads in the seventies, Cope has given up making pure pop music. I was toying with the idea of seeing him in Liverpool Friday, but I'm saving pennies for the 2009 Eclipse, (China no less!) and I've got Amsterdam plane tickets to buy for a fun Rock & Roll excursion in a couple of months, and I wouldn't want to drive there and drive back, I'd want the full pub/gig/stop over routine.
I hope he tours, his shows are always well worth the admission fee.
Anyway, me talking about the eclipse has given me a Copey title for this entry.
And here's a pic I took of the great man himself in Stoke last year.
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