Peggy Suicide

I wish I loved anything as much as the listmaker loves British guys who jerk off on tape and call it "music."

“By 1984, Cope's love of hallucinogens -- as well as a toy car collection that occupied nearly an entire year of his life -- was at an all-time high.” I rest my case, your honor.

Flying blind again going into this one with an artist I have never heard of. “Pristeen” is certainly unique. Halfway through the songs I started wondering if I had taken something a half hour ago that was starting to kick in. I wasn't sure if I was going to like this album at this point, but the opening drums and guitars in “Double Vegetation” grabbed my attention. The verses show off Julian Cope’s vocals which were starting to grow on me. Good song! As the album progressed, I was liking this more and more. There were a number of standout songs. "East Easy Rider" with its cool, groovy sound, the organ in "Promised Land", "Safesurfer" and its mantra-like ending, "If You Loved Me At All" with its really catchy chorus, the also catchy "Drive, She Said" with that old-school guitar vibe (perhaps my favorite song on the album - "Yeah we could crawl but I'd rather drive, she said"). PEGGY SUICIDE has a lot of subtle things happening in the music alongside some very pointed lyrics in songs like "Soldier Blue" and "Leperskin". The former seemed disturbingly relevant today - so much for progress. The youth choir singing "Western Front 1992 C.E." over the strange drips and ominous music was very cool although it may have a decidedly niche appeal. "Hung Up and Hanging Out to Dry" spends more time out in the more experimental sounds. These songs were well-placed later in the album as by now I am fully on-board and ready to appreciate them, although I could see how they might inspire the use of the skip-forward button for some. I pretty much fell in love with this entire album. I had thought there was no way I'd make it through the extra 11 tracks of the DELUXE EDITION, but by the end of the original album's quietly appropriate last song "Las Vegas Basement," I was more than happy to hear more. The additional tracks of the Deluxe Edition (an entire album’s worth) consisted largely of music that seemed suited for the lobby of a boutique Millennial hotel or maybe the Cosmopolitan in Vegas. Nearer the end were some alternate versions and very experimental pieces. The Deluxe Edition I didn’t mind but probably wouldn’t visit that often and wouldn’t recommend to new listeners. Judging from PEGGY SUICIDE, Julian Cope is a very interesting person in a profession that is filled with interesting people. One review referred to him as a madman, and that seems apt. This madman's music is fantastic and inventive, the lyrics at some times pointed and other times cryptic, and this album has a lot to say. Madmen can often end up creating unlistenable music. Fortunately I did not find this to be the case here. This album is a wonderful, trippy, exciting journey. Fantastic!

Julian Nope

Immediately angry because this album is 2.5 hours long! The first song "Pristeen" asks me "how much can [I] take," and honestly, after listening to this song, I don't know if I can take much more of the whining. The album redeems itself slightly with the song "East Easy Rider." Its groovy. The song "American Lite" with its "haha hehe" line got me giggling. I am SO bored of listening to this album. I can't wait for it to be over.

Not gonna listen to an album with that cover. Sorry. 1/5

This feels like the kind of album that would be playing super loud at a record store and you'd be shopping and grooving and you'd pick up a copy and then listen on your walkman and it would feel like a wonderful secret. I loved this an awful lot. Even songs that started out kind of annoying (is he rhyming "mistake" with "mistake"?) built to something magnificent. Different tracks brought to mind wildly different things: Pristeen reminded me of Jesus Christ Superstar, Double Vegetation of The Who's Tommy, Promised Land of Leonard Cohen, Safesurfer of Pink Floyd. Several of the tracks are a total groove and a half: East Easy Rider, If You Loved Me At All, Soldier Blue, Not Raving But Drowning, Head. I was dancing along for a lot of it. And then we end with the easy, mellow Las Vegas Basement. I didn't pay much attention to lyrics. They seem repetitive but I didn't mind that at all. Love it love it love it. Thank you for this!

First time hearing this or anything from Julian Cope. It feels aggressively artful. That is, the existence of the songs and their collection into this album represents a single object. As songs in and of themselves, they show a stunning array of style and execution.

I'm not sure where to start with this one. I guess to get the obvious out of the way, it's long. It seems a bit Madchester-adjacent, so it seems to lose itself in the groove more often than not, and at about the third track I realized it's extremely repetitive. I flitted between giving this a two and a one, but I think the length eventually chewed me down to a one. There were some decent grooves on here, but they are too few and far between, and I'd really rather listen to anything else. Maybe even Lenny Kravitz again. At least he knows brevity.

Weird.

This album is too irregular for me. There are some great songs, but there are also some experimental and dislocated songs (more appropriated in some kind of really experimental album)

Schrodinger’s cat. The movement of the Holy Spirit. The ending to most of the Coen brothers’ movies. I commented in my review preceding this one that sometimes you don’t completely or immediately comprehend an artist, where they’re coming from, what they’re trying to express, and it adversely affects your enjoyment. Other times, you don’t get it, and its ok. But in this particular instance, I neither immediately nor completely understood Julian Cope’s 'Peggy Suicide'; but, I loved it! He claims the whole thing is a meditation on humanity’s relationship with Mother Earth, and there are certainly songs that may be interpreted in that way. But I also heard him reflecting on a myriad of other things like birth control, police brutality, politics, religion- just to scratch the surface. And I’ve got a hundred questions that need answering: What/where is Cope’s promised land? Who’s the apostolic hag? What’s the significance of 1904? What is the meaning of the lyric, ‘Concentric circles running to the American lite’? Or, ‘It’ll all wash down when it rains’? And when he sings on the opening track, 'Pristeen' (spell check is now screaming at me), ‘How much can you take? ‘Cause your lying to me was your first mistake. Your trusting in me was your major mistake,’ is he singing about or as (and I’m guessing here) Mother Earth? This is a recording to spend some time with, to re-visit, on many occasions. And not just for the lyrics, which are rhymed and rhythmed masterfully. The music is wonderful, too. Passionately sung (and I loved the use of echo on his voice), unique melodies, a wide variety of styles and arrangements while at the same time keeping it simple in the best way, great supporting musicians, even better production (the sound engineer excelled.) There wasn’t a bad or even mediocre track in the bunch. And man, 'Hanging Out And Hung Up On The Line' is rockin’ the way rock oughta rock! I’d love to see this performed live. I was 32 years old and living in the very small town of Como, TX when this LP was released. Nirvana’s 'Nevermind' pretty much dominated my cassette deck back then, along with Metallica’s 'Metallica' (Black Album) and the Rollins’ Band, 'The End of Silence.' The sheer volume of those three no doubt rendered 'Peggy Suicide' inaudible to my ears. But that was then, and this is now. Yeah, this… is… now. (Your turn, Julian. What do you think I mean by that!?) At the conclusion of his musical meditation, he leaves us with this forlorn lyric: ‘I was born to entertain, so here I go. I was shown the door before I got to sing. Only to be now forgotten.’ Well, you know what they say: When one door closes, another opens. Uh, Julian, that would be my open door. And you’re welcome to visit anytime you want.

One of my favorite things about doing this is discovering new stuff, especially when it's pretty good like this. It's solid post-punk and he's a great singer and songwriter, but it's definitely a little too long. Unless this is a compilation of non-album tracks, no post-punk album needs to be over 40 minutes. But I also don't know if I'd cut anything out? Will likely come back. B

I liked it quite a bit. Julian Cope at times sounded like he was bringing in influences from the Smiths, Lou Reed/The Velvet Underground, and various new wave/post-punk artists. The album runs a bit long and would benefit from a pruning of sorts.

I have to assume that when the list maker wrote the book, he didn't think anyone would actually listen to all the albums. Probably figured he could put whatever pretentious BS he wanted and no one would slog through the whole thing to call him out on it. This album isn't good and it's 2.5 hours long. I'll admit I did like "If You Loved Me At All" but otherwise this was completely skippable.

nope

Entering Julian Cole with only "World, shut your mouth" as lubrication, I knew that this pegging probably wasn't going to be suicidal, but the album title and cover art did mean that I started gingerly, anticipating the need to work for the reward. At 2h34m, I knew I was in for a long, long session and that takes stamina for anyone. Cope opens up, so to speak, with Pristeen. Which is repetitive, clunky and has undertones of sexual violence against a virginal ("pristine") and dubiously aged (it's spelt Pristeen, ffs) lover. When I say clunky, I really mean it. There's nothing artful or adept about the lyric "coz your lying to me was your first mistake and your trusting in me was your major mistake". It immediately sets up the subject as a naive that the older, more cynical party can use. And use they do - "how much can you take" seems pretty explicit about that, and the imagery presented asking how difficult it is to go down on someone you hate cements that, tied closely into the subterfuge and cynical exploitation of someone looked down upon, disrespected and by absolutely no means equal. I have seen suggestion that the song is allegorical, and actually about human exploitation of the natural world, but I find that rather a stretch, personally. Only Cope could tell us, I guess. It's a tough opener for two and half hours to come. But. As the album opens out, it funks up considerably, and Cope"s proficiency as a lyricist is cemented firmly by the time "If you loved me at all" comes around. I'm not going to spend too much time digging into the rest of the album in this review - nobody has time for that, and I certainly don't have the talent - but Cope dances around styles that please me greatly, folding freeform jazz, noise, synth and electronica into the broader themed rock in a way that's complimentary and sympathetic. I mean, apart from the appalling electrosynth trumpet in "Beautiful love", that is. I don't even need to get to volume 2 before I realise that Cope is a straight up and out musical genius. Remembering that he's also a best-selling author and renowned expert in antiquity and neolithic archaeology, it might be that's he's a straight up and out genius full stop. Great stuff, and I actually regret leaving this in my "mop up" list of albums I didn't get round to at the time, because I could have had another year and a half of this album in my life.

I liked this. Kinda trippy, really long album but enjoyable all the way through.

Emännän näköinen... taustakuvassa... muuten hyvä.. heh... tarvitsee vähän.. heh.. cope.. kopin.. kopinkeinoja.. heh.. silmänraastot ja muut tarttuneet varttuneet....tavat... heh.. jatkuvalla syötöllä ja käytöllä.. tässä perheessä.. heh... Kuunnellessa.. ei kuitenkaan.. tarvitse murehtia... tai-.. maallista.. heh.. musiikkia..

Peggy Suicide I love World Shut Your Mouth, but despite liking it, it has never made me want to delve into Julian Cope’s discography. I always get crusty Glasto canal boat vibes, and I don’t want another Levellers on my hands. However I enjoyed this, particularly on repeat listens. I’d definitely question whether it needs to be 18 songs and an hour and fifteen minutes but I found myself liking the slightly idiosyncratic and trippy folky, baggy, new wave-ness of it. I can hear a bit of Velvet Underground, Inspiral Carpets, Can, Echo & the Bunnymen, early Verve, The Clash, Happy Mondays in it, all good stuff. Pristine’s folky intro is very nice and I like the build into a slightly psychedelic guitar and organ track. Double Vegetation is a good too, I like the triplets on the acoustic in the back half. East Easy Rider is great, a nice groove going on with a great vocal. Promised Land has a slightly haunting feel, which I also like. Hanging Out and Hung Up On the Line is a fine punky thrash, but the riff definitely elevates it. Safesurfer’s guitar pyrotechnics may not be fully successful, but it's a great song with a pretty progressive message for 1991. Lovely groove on If You Loved Me At All, and a great song. Drive She Said is ok, really reminds me of something, but not one of the stronger tracks. Soldier Blue has a great hypnotic feel, but I prefer the instrumental parts to the verses with the guitar underneath. You…is also just ok, these three songs being a bit of a dip before picking back up with Not Raving But Drowning with it’s great spacey groove. Head is another great little track, the organ and bass working nicely together. Leperskin is another nice groove, despite the first few bars sounding like the What’s Mr Chips Doing music from Catchphrase. Apostolic Hag is a great insult too. Not entirely convinced by the calypso of Beautiful Love but I did find myself starting to enjoy it, as there is a bit of joyful carefreeness to it. Not sure there’s a great deal going for Western Front 1992 CE. Can feel quite a lot of Can influence on Hung Up & Hanging Out to Dry, love the drum pattern and the snare sound. I like a lot of The American Lite, but not the spoken word parts so much, they’re bit poetry slam. Quite catchy though. Las Vegas Basement doesn’t start promisingly but it settles down into a sweetly bit darkly melancholic tune with a pleasing, gentle vocal. Great track. A bit of a surprise overall how much I liked this. Despite there being a couple of possibly redundant songs I really enjoyed its vibes. It's a real grower, and definitely something I will come back to. 4. 🌍🌍🌍🌍 Playlist submission: Las Vegas Basement

Some of the most self-indulgent non-sense I've ever heard. Some of it shows promise, but it's longer than a movie.

Awful

Safesurfer encapsulates of the beautiful and difficult parts of this album with interesting instrumentals and repetitive vocals played like another instrument. A really slow and meandering sound throughout much of the album keeps me from really enjoying too many tracks, but i found myself appreciating the more political/philosophical tracks. Drive, She Said. Soldier Blue. You. Not Raving, but Drowning. Leperskin. Beautiful Love.

довольно хорошее переосмысление психоделического рока 60-хх, да и в целом неплохой для своего жанра альбом, мне нравки, 5/5

experimental with that early 90s rock sound. was very suprised by this and liked it a lot more than i thought i would.

This album was number 242 for me. I've never heard of Julian and this is the first album I've decided to add to my personal collection after listening here - loved it.

Too long, obviously, but excellent. Annoyingly so, because I was ready to bail on it when I saw the play length, but ended up listening to and enjoying the whole damn thing.

Cool album.

Unusually, especially for a double album, my rating increased the deeper I got. All different kinds of cool.

Have on vinyl. Fantastic album, great lyrics and fresh sound across 4 sides. Can hear the influence in lots of successive artists

Wow I really enjoyed this album. It’s hilarious that the “about the artist” bio on Spotify talks about his post-punk background and heavy hallucinogenic usage, and then this album is tight bluesy/singer-songwriter, a little experimental. Great variety, which I so much appreciate after listening to albums where every track has the same energy. The guitar/piano interplay on Safesurfer is beautiful. Other favorite tracks are Drive, She Said and If You Loved Me at All. But there are lots of good ones. Great discovery!

Ok.

Ty for bringing this psychodelic artist! pleased to meet him =D Maybe the overall experience was a 4, but i give a 5 because i listened others albums and read his bio and it was delightful.

I liked this album a lot. Never heard him before...that I remember. Psychedelic, punk, brooding, odd. I need to listen again.

Aesthetically / conventionally puzzling. Maybe it belongs to the same genre-defying genre as Beck, Bill Fay, Captain Beefheart, Frank Zappa...

Yes!

What a great find. Super album

Safesurfer is absolutely epic. I was initially a bit dismissive of this and ready to be disappointed, I didn't particularly like East Easy Rider, too similar to the generic rock groove of the time. What I want from Cope is difference. Standing out from the field, paying little attention to the music scene around him and doing his own thing. And that is very much what the rest of this album brings you.

I'd never heard of Julian Cope before. His description on Spotify piqued my interest but didn't leave me optimistic that I would enjoy the album: "musician, writer, historian, and cosmic shaman... ... enigmatic storyteller, contrarian, mystic, and hallucinogen enthusiast". The unusual cover art, 75 minute length, and terrible pun for a title also didn't increase my expectations. I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions. This is a work of genius. A meandering and eclectic tapestry of sounds and genres that frequently change between, and within, tracks. Styles range from beautiful ballads of longing where understated strings pop up at just the right time, to sample-based political sound collages, post-punk, garage rock, calypso, and noodly pseudo-prog. Despite the variety and length it does feel like a piece and no track strikes as being out of place - perhaps all being tied together by the incredible attention to detail and intricacy. Whilst I prefer the more accessible first half to the more experimental second, I can't help but admire the ambition of this extraordinary piece of work. Rating: 4.5/5 Playlist track: If You Loved Me At All Date listened: 19/08/23

I do not mind a long album at all as long as the music is varied, interesting, and kickass. This album was all three. Many Very Important Albums suffer from being not very listenable. To me, it sounds like he took care of the music first, then threw in the Margaret Thatcher insults ("apostolic hag" lol) later. Best track: Safesurfer

Is it his finest solo album? yes. Is it perfect no, and there are signs of the Droolian obsessions that would lead him into full on druidery. But the songs are bullet-proof and providing you don't mind it's a double, it's a fantastic time trip to early rave culture, poll tax riots, the awful afterglow of Mrs Thatcher and how deeply wierd we all were in the early nineties. Also, lots of great photos in the packaging.

A stunning album - idiosyncratic and unusual, Cope follows his own path to make this absorbing album which sound like nobody else.

This is a musical odyssey that requires multiple listens

I have no idea about who this guy is or his deal in general, but this was really interesting. Album length kind of uncalled for, but on the other hand a normal length wouldn’t have been enough to get lost in, which was very fun with this

Going to give this a 5. I always liked the album, especially Safesurfer of course, but there is a lot more to like: the songwriting.. lyrics.. general atmosphere, same vibes as that Soft Boys record from the 70s: Underwater Moonlight. So, it is great that both are included on the list.

I actually own a copy of this but I haven't listened to it (until now) since it was a new release. I bought it because I had quite liked a couple of Cope's earlier albums, "Saint Julian" and "My Nation Underground" but for whatever reason I didn't remember much of this. I have a vague memory of thinking maybe he had had some kind of breakdown. Who knows what I was thinking because man, I really dig this. I definitely did not remember so much of it having that funky, swirly Madchester sound which I still really enjoy. Anyway I think this is gonna get five stars from me.

I was probably not going to listen to this album today. I have been jazzed about the last few albums. I got on this list, and I had a bunch of other stuff that I was going to spend my time listening to today. Also, this album was longer than an hour, which usually reduces my excitement to listen to it. I still give thid Hey a shot later in the afternoon at holy shit. This was one of the biggest prizes on this list for me. Had never heard of this guy, he never seen this album. And I can’t find a lot on the history of this album, there’s a Wikipedia article, but it’s more about the political content that made its way into his songs. I’m finding it adjacent to Primal Scream. It’s an album like this that makes me heat bands the call them self psychedelic rock. Because most the time they’re just fooling around on instruments and playing music that is intentionally obtuse. This kind of stuff though on Peggy Suicide is the real psychedelic as it has amazing, musical complexity, and structure, but while you’re listening to it, just transports your mind somewhere different. I also thought that I was probably gonna drop this down star because it was going on for so long, and I thought it was going to overstay as welcome. But this thing keeps its flow, the entire way through, and wins a big finish, which I love to see on an album. It’s a strategy that basically dead tnow in 2022. Amazing album and if anyone was thinking of skipping over it, I would advise against it

Prog rock with a dose of 80s cynicism. Pink Floyd without the irritating bits. Absolutely loved it.

Zeer afwisselend album. Het was iedere keer benieuwd zijn naar hoe het volgende nummer zou klinken. Enkele zeer rustige nummer, en ook iets meer rock-nummers met goeie riffs. Leuke verrassing

Never heard of Julian Cope but this is a great album. Sort of post-punk grungy stuff. Will definitely be exploring some more of his music.

I really enjoyed this disc from another artist I'd never heard of.

Well... that was a fun ride.

Sounds very diverse and creative, good flow through the album, liked a lot better than some of the other “punk” or “post punk” on this list. If out of 10 stars, I’d probably go 9, but I’ll give it the 5 stars for a truly creative piece of art and pleasant surprise that didn’t lose my interest over the long playback time

Unabashedly artful. Genuinely enjoyable most of the songs

Eclecticismo y distorsión, guitarras y New Wave, cantautor progresivo. Tiene temazos. Para escuchar en modo concentración literaria.

I liked this way more than expected.

Very interesting album. It has a wide range and a plethora of instruments sprinkled throughout. I think I even heard some John Zorn on sax! A lot of styles and different artist vibes (Nick Cave, David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Jim Morrison, Beck, Gorillaz...I can go on and on). Long album but I was in for all of it. It never really lost me; each track brought freshness. Not sure Deluxe Edition was intended but the album cover shows it as such and I'm not mad. Disc 2 is also great with groovy mixes and collabs. Julian took several hallucinogens (maybe a few too many at the end there) and put out a really cool album. "Peggy Suicide" and JC are unknowns from left field for me and a gift from the list. I'm diving deeper into the psychedelic journey from here. Also a good album for this month with Peggy Day coming up...solid 4.0.

My only point of contact for Julian Cope was as the vocalist on SunnO)))'s "My Wall". Imagine my surprise when we get slightly left-of-center 80's pop/rock, along with drones, psychedelic rock, Madchester stylings, Mod-era rock if it were played by Beck; Cope routinely demonstrates that he has his finger on the pulse of contemporary trends and the ability to anticipate styles and trends that would become typical in the 90's. You have to appreciate Cope's willingness to experiment, and that his experiments all turn out well! Psycheldeliic tto varying deegres

Timeless psychedelic music. Going to have to dig into his other stuff. 4/5

90's psychedelia

Given my apathetic critique of The Teardrop Explodes, I walked into Julian Cope’s solo material expecting the very worst, especially when that means I’m confronting a 75 minute art rock record with conflicting genre descriptions. The name “Peggy Suicide” does little to appeal to the palette, honestly. Yet, I am very pleasantly surprised that I really liked this record! It has flaws, no doubt. The length is the most obvious of them all. If this was half the run time, it would be a much stronger record, even if there was no discernment about what tracks to cut. At 75 minutes, you’re kind of worn down no matter what style of Cope’s you prefer, and a harsh edit could’ve made that less of an issue. Still, I think I’m not the biggest fan of his psychedelia, which seems like a holdover from his time with The Teardrop Explode. The acid-fueled songs do clog up the back half, and are what made me consider removing another star, although I think they’re mostly forgivable. The bigger sonic issue is when Cope makes an attempt at funk and/or dance music; not only do these songs draw from the now-very-dated rave era, but they do NOT fit his style whatsoever. “East Easy Rider” is the worst of them. Honestly, any time Cope uses this excessive runtime to experiment and do hard pivots, this record starts to lose me. I’m all for weaves and bobs, but there needs to be some form of consistency. Thankfully, the most constant thing here is a foundation of solid post-punk vibes, with an emphasis on the punk. This makes the majority of these songs more energetic than post-punk normally is, and helps keep things exciting, despite the weaves and bobs and acid and length. Even longwinded cuts like “Safesurfer” hit heavy because they have a punk energy behind them. The best moments, though, just come down to good ol’ fashioned songwriting, with “Pristine,” “If You Loved Me At All,” and “Drive, She Said” being infectious and undeniable ear worms anyone can love. Like many records of this length, Peggy Suicide has its problems. Sometimes, those problems feel so hard to ignore that I want to focus in on them. But that would force me to ignore how much good is on here, and I want to praise that. On the surface, track-by-track, Cope has more hits than misses. Like, a 60/40 split. That’s not the strongest amount of praise, but it’s still praise. I still do enjoy this record, and will continue to revisit it. I don’t know if everyone needs to hear it, but for my own taste, I’m glad I came into contact with it. Maybe if I explore more of Cope’s back catalog, I’ll find another album to include over this, but for now, despite its flaws, Peggy Suicide is a good starting place for me.

Cool mix of styles, with alot of nice buildups. Don’t know if this counts as prog but noticed some elements of it. Almost a 4.5 I’d say

Muy bueno, inclusive sorprendente a ratos. Considerablemente largo, pero vale la pena entrarle. Yo no conocía a Cope y lo disfruté mucho.

Surprisingly good

Did not expect to like this as much as I did. Plenty of lyricism, unique instrumentation, groovy beats, and pleasant vocals.

ok.. ik had al van die man gehoord... maar nog niks ván gehoord... verraste mij toch... beetje van alles maar vooral van alles goeds.... net ietsje te lang voor de volle vijf

"Peggy Suicide" is the seventh album and a double album at that by English musician and author Julian Cope. The Wiki-listed genres are art rock and pyschedelic rock. Anytime art rock is listed that means anything under the sun. Critics cite this as the beginning of Cope's trademark sound and approach and as a turning point into a mature artist. The album "laid bare many of his convictions including hatred of organized religion, increasing public interest in women's rights, the occult, alternative spirituality (paganism, Goddess worship), animal rights and ecology. The album was produced by Cope and Ronald Ross Skinner. With Cope as lead singer, Skinner and him played multiple instruments and the album includes a whole host of other musicians. Commercially, it hit #23 in the UK. "Pristeen" opens the album. A stark song with acoustic guitar and background keyboards. The song builds as a wobbly electric guitar comes in. It's a song about a young female lover and Mother Earth. Cope is screaming by the end. Hey, "East Easy Rider" has a groovy, funky beat with a wah-wah distorted guitar. It's song about the duality of riding a motorcycle which he can't deny the fun and freedom of yet the pollution is going to kill us. Cope goes full on punk in "Hanging Out & Hung Upon a Line." Frenetic, a screeching guitar, the band in full charge mode. It's another song about ecology. A long instrumental with a droning guitar, drumbeat and organ open "Safesurfer." Cope keeps repeating to his darling that he's safe. A song obviously about STD's, more specifically AIDS. It is 1991 and in the height of the AIDS' fear as I remember. The song ends with a haunting piano and chaotic guitar. "Beautiful Love" actually has a danceable beat, sounding quite similar to the Soup Dragons at that time. A simple love song with a piano, Moog synth and even a trumpet. Quite lovely. This is a very good album with a lot of well-constructed and varied songs. I suppose the album could have been trimmed down from its 18-song length but I'm not complaining. A lot song build with intensity (seems to be the theme this week) and I heard snippets of post-punk, blues, jazz, funky, industrial and dance. I also picked up on most of his themes mentioned in the opening paragraph. I'm not sure I caught any paganism or Goddess worship thoughts but I honestly don't know what those thoughts would entail. Anyway, a worthy listen and I will check out his post-1991 albums which include "Jehovahkill" and "Autogeddon" which complete a trilogy.

Started off with a bit of a Velvet Underground/Lou Reed kind of thing; then pushed to 80s alt akin to The The; next track was funk rock and if they added a horn section it would have fit right in. Each track seemed to explore a new space and I have to give props for the diversity and quality for each track within those many styles. My comments are just on the tracks from the original album. The extra hour on the Spotify "Deluxe Edition" of remixes and whatnot might have knocked it down a star as that got a bit redundant and monotonous.

This album was a bit of a grower for me. It started off a little uninteresting, but as it progressed I found myself enjoying all of its oddities more and more. It definitely seems more wacky than what I remember from The Teardrop Explodes (it’s the same feller). I guess having a solo career as well allows you to let your imagination run away and try more experimental things. I’m not sure what genre I’d even class this as. Art rock, maybe?

A pretty interesting album. Felt in some ways like a precursor to the Brian Jonestown massacre.

This guy is like if Leonard cohen, the stooges and beta band accidentally all fell into the transporter from the fly. 4 is probably overrating but I was very much thrown by how much travelling of styles was here and it did interest me.

The first album is great but man, I do not enjoy a musical interlude, which is basically the second half. That said, one can hear a great deal of the next ten years of music in one album.

прикольно.напомнило боуи и lcd soundsystem

I loved this album way more than I expected to

I saw this was 2.5 hours and almost skipped it. While I didn't know anything about this band, I listened to it and some of the songs were pretty solid! Rating higher so I can return to it in the future. Nice surprise!

A sinister sounding rave up at the end of the world whilst indulging in rather innovative approaches to the increasingly morphing sounds of techno indebted rock and roll. Julian Cope was only born to entertain and there he goes... the kind of music made for BC and AD times. Favorites: Pristeen, Double Vegetation, East Easy Rider, Promised Land, Hanging Out and Hung Up on the Line, If You Loved Me at All, Drive, She Said, Not Raving But Drowning, Beautiful Love, Western Front 1992 C.E., Hanging Out and Hung Up to Dry, Las Vegas Basement.

I was familiar with Julian Cope because I liked The Teardrop Explodes, but the musical style of this album is varied and completely different. Overall I really liked the album, and preferred the instrumentals on disc two, "Ravebury Stones" for example.

Really unique album that bends genres from psychedelic rock to jazz to pop.

The two most important things I can tell you: 1. Do not listen to the over 2 1/2 hours contained on the Deluxe Edition. That includes a bonus disc from 2009. (Always) use Wikipedia to find the original track listing. When the album first came out the last song was Las Vegas Basement, so stop there (if you get that far). 2. Despite what even Julian Cope himself has said, his previous major release - My Nation Underground - is a much more enjoyable album and ages just fine. The opening track to that album covers two different 60s songs and then infuses them with 80s Cold War angst - amazing. Yet the music here is strong… favorite songs “If You Loved Me At All” and “Beautiful Love” (don’t miss that one…maybe even spin that first). Many other masterful moments. But even the original release is long, and the whole feels a little less than the parts.

Once he dropped the Nick Cave impression from the first few tracks, I started to quite like this one.

I remember this being released. I didn't buy it. I'd never listened to it. Boy do I regret that now!

Es una mezcla de Iggy Pop y Lou Reed... así punk-rock.

Me recuerdan a James, Divine Comedy...

3.5

Ok... Julian Cope... I like this album a hell of a lot better than I thought I was going to. Especially after reading the comments left here yesterday. This album does really have a bad case of doublealbumitis. But unlike most bloated I know exactly what I cut and that would be exactly where the first album ends, "Drive She Said" ends side 2. The first half was looking like a light 4½ star album for me. I love the instrumentions and some of the elongated vamps that would let the guitar take over. I was actually wondering what you all were talking about. The second half is a big old mixed bag. Though I didn't dislike anything on it, and there are a handful of tracks on that I really enjoyed as well. I just didn't feel invested in the second half as much as I did the first, definitely in the 3½ star range. I think overall it feels like a very light four for the whole album. But I really did love that first half of the album. (8.1) ★★★★

I really like that. It surprised me. At first I thought it was just some random blokes saying random stuff and messing about with sounds and a guitar. And it was. But I liked it. It just kind of clicked for.

We are on a pretty great run of albums. This keeps you guessing where it’s gonna go and definitely seems in its own realm. This is taking from so many little genres but making its own. It’s a little long being a Double Album but it’s the kinda music I really love. It’s Experimental but still has stand out Songwriting and Melody . It treads that fine line well. “Safesurfer” is the definitive stand out 4/5

3-4

Almost half the songs are too slow

2nd half is the best. Beautiful Love of The American Lite is the best song. Still too long overall but low 4.

Great album, I never heard it before. It must have just been overshadowed by the likes of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, etc which were all huge at the time.

Some real cool stuff but gets overwhelming towards the end.

On the first track, I hear a touch of Lou Reed. On the second, a little R.E.M. And on the third, there’s a pretty clear Doors influence. Later, “Hanging Out and Hung Up On the Line” is a hybrid of a surf rock riff with warped-sounding 90s alt-rock. So there’s a lot of different strains of rock coming together for this album. Wow, “If You Loved Me At All” is great. Catchy pop song with some wild, screamed vocals in the refrain. This is an ambitious album with lots of slow-building, epic songs. And the style only gets more varied as the album goes on. Not all of the songs are ones I’d want to return to often but overall the album is very impressive.

Syd Barrett meets Iggy Pop.

I was not looking forward to this when it came up, but it turned out to be a rather interesting one. It starts a bit generic, but builds up to a meaty middle and ends well too. It might feel a bit too long, but it weaves in and out of genres and is rather eclectic. It's an album that needs to be unpeeled and savoured to get the best out of it - and it's worth revisiting in the future.

I did not know what to expect, and checking the reviews I feared the worst. Went on to Spotify and saw it clocked in at 2.5 hours and my arsehole nearly dropped out. I checked Wikipedia and saw the original release was 'only' 1 hour 16 minutes, and found that one instead. I wish I'd gone for the two and a half hour deluxe edition, because this is a great album.

Eclectic!

I can only describe this album as taking so much acid during a Dave Matthew’s band concert that your mind starts to go insane and fill it in with actually good music- overall a fan.

“Safesurfer” +1, who in the world is this guy, underrated

Had never heard of this guy but totally got into the album. Solid four stars.