Reviews (page 6 of 7)
Nothing stands out in this album. Just there. 2.5/5
Plus one for trying to do something different. Another one for touching very different genres and styles. That's it. 3/10
Nothing noteworthy or revolutionary present here... 1991 was an important year for music, and this feels like a remnant of the past.
It was ok
Æi, ég er kannski of dómharður, því hér voru alveg ágætir sprettir inn á milli, en Jesús hvað þetta er langt og alltof oft boring, bæði rödd og drón. Það er góð 40 mínútna plata þar grafin í 90 mínútum af leiðindum.
Couple of OK moments, but this is pretentious, long and boring. Pass.
Decent, kinda boring after awhile as it sounds the same
Favorite Song: If You Loved Me At All
2.5
Another one for my never-ending baffling inclusion of quite-niche "not that great really" UK artists from the 70s/80s list
I like some stuff with similar elements, and there's particular songs I like, but the longer this album went, the less I cared for it.
Not into this. It had its moments musically, but not a lot of them, and the vocals were just terrible.
It started so well with the first two tracks but then it went downhill horribly and never recovered. Believe me, I wanted to like it, I gave it a fare shot, but it wasn't good beyond Double Vegetation.
I feel bad for the people who thought they had to slog through the deluxe edition; the original album is hard enough at 76 minutes.
A challenging album to get into. Julian Cope’s deep, often tuneless voice does grate quite often and even though there’s so many different styles swirling around here there’s just not much in the way of quality songwriting so this act of throwing a hundred things against a wall and trampling over it in monotone boots comes off as super indulgent and messy. And crushingly long. 2.5 stars.
Good, nothing noteworthy.
So so weird, he just kept moaning
Well I cannot criticise this for not being varied. It was a bit all over the place! Found it too cooky for my liking. But interesting listen..
Another one of those "what are we doing heres"
🎧The sonic equivalent of scrambled eggs mixed with horseshit. Favorite track: If You Loved Me At All
And if you read Wiki article it shows what sh**s Led Zeppelin are!
Never heard of this guy. This doesn't hit for me even though I feel like it should. Cannot put my finger on it - wait, it came to me on track 3: if Rusted Root discovered U2. Also: Deluxe edition? 2 fucking hours long? I got stuff to do, man.
This was ok, but nothing stood out enough to listen to again
- Boah ich will ehrlich sein, ich hab mir das Album nicht komplett von vorne bis hinten durchgehört. 2,5 Std. - da müsste es schon meine Lieblingsband sein, damit ich mir so ein Album in einer Session einfach mal reinziehe und selbst da würde es mir wahrscheinlich irgendwann schwer fallen. - Aber ich habe trotzdem in jeden reingehört (manche Songs komplett aber immer min. 30 sek.-1 min.) und ich erlaube mir nun trotzdem ein Urteil - Ich finde es ganz schwer, dieses Album zu bewerten, denn ich finde es musikalisch gar nicht mal so schlecht. Irgendwie hat der Stil was echt cooles. Aber leider ist das Album und die Songs selber so minimalistisch und dadurch leider größtenteils sehr eintönig. - Also zwischen den Songs kann man durchaus unterscheiden, viele der Songs selber sind aber seeehr unabwechslungsreich, teilweise nur 2 Akkorde, die sich durch ganze Songs ziehen. - Finde ich an sich auch nicht schlimm. Komme dann aber doch wieder darauf zurück, dass das Album zweieinhalb Stunden geht und dann wird es doch leider recht zäh. - That beeing said, ich fand viele Songs auch absolut cool und kreativ. - Und dann waren da auch noch Songs, die zwar nicht eintönig, waren aber mir dafür wiederum zu experimentell - Und jetzt weiß ich nicht, was ich vergeben soll. Hätte ich einzelne Songs bewertet, wären wahrscheinlich die meisten so 3/5. Durch diese unnötige epische Breite ist das Album aber als ganzes dann doch gesunken. Rating: 2,5
Nie najgorsze ale nie do zapamiętania. I bardzo długie. 2/5
I know he isfamous for reinventing himself, but if every song is different from the next, and they all are terrible..
Did not enjoy
Sooo long and not energizing or inspiring. A lot of it was ambient dance track sounding things. Like Moby
Meh. Lost in the obscurity that was the 90s.
There is some interesting things here. but it's all over the place, and I really don't like the vocals but I do like weird music. I'm not sure how to rate this one yet, but I might be a 2
This is like a less-interesting, less-dark Nick Cave. 2 stars.
Sigh
Starts really bad. Pristeen sounds like a kids song. Gets a little better after a few songs. The guitar work is great, especially in Safesurfer. Too bad the lyrics suck. Most of his songs, he just repeats the same thing over and over. Some decent stuff, but oh so repetitive. Best song: Safesurfer
I really like how cacophanous the first track got towards the end. It droned for a bit (specially for an intro to an album), but I liked where it ended up. I was hoping for more to grab me after that but I didn't end up really feeling this album. Maybe it's not a bad album per se but another inclusion on the list that doesn't really feel too incredible or inspired to me. There's some cool grooves in there and some interesting structures but I feel like I'm reaching to find things to compliment rather than hearing an album and then hurrying to this review input field to make sure I capture all of my excited reactions. 2/5.
I couldn't cope.
What an utterly pointless and bloated album. A few songs do the trick, but when you include 18 tracks on an album, you better have a damn good reason.
I didn’t really care for Cope when he was with the Teardrop Explodes. I don’t much care for him as a solo artist either. With this many skippable songs it’s almost a crime to include 18 of them.
bad.
I don’t know why this is on here. Truly flabbergasted, as I was with that one echo and the bunnymen album.
Vissa bra låtar, mycket filler.
Another entry on this list that can round out your understanding of music, but really isn't even faintly essential to anyone. Especially as an album. Julian Cope is one of those that DJs, Reviewers and commentators generally persist with. They persist in making out he's a true original and the world is a more fascinating place with his music in it. But when I listen I just hear some fairly ordinary rock and pop with a few odd production choices thrown in. It is fine I suppose but really had enough by track 13. For those of you complaining this is self-indulgent or too arty or pretentious, you need to keep working your way through this list cos this barely registers in terms of poncery.
Hit or miss songs, and not a big fan of the singing. There is some nice guitar work on a couple of the songs. Mood and tempo seem to change a bit around 2/3rds of the way through. Overall underwhelmed.
There’s so much amazing rock music from 1991 that Julian Cope doesn’t really measure up. It started to get a bit more interesting, if not necessarily better, with “Hanging Out and Hung Up On The Line” and the overlong “Safesurfer.” Went back to largely less interesting after that though. “Peggy Suicide” is better than Cope’s other appearance on the list as lead singer of The Teardrop Explodes, but even that isn’t enough to get up to 3-star range. At least I got something out of this - I learned about the 1990 poll tax riots in England in response to Margaret Thatcher and the Conservatives’ attempt to put in place a ridiculous flat tax. (Cope joined the protests and his political views were pushed further by them.) The spot on the list would be better used by non-rock entries that were overlooked in ‘91, such as Boyz II Men’s “Cooleyhighharmony.”
There are some worthy nuggets sprinkled throughout this album. My main issue is that there is too much other drab stuff the part through in order to find it.
Nope
I listened to some and it was fine but I'm sorry, 2 and a half hours is unforgivable
First of all, WOW! In a bad way - this was over 2 hours long with two Discs and took forever to go through, as it was also painfully annoying at times. The reason why I am giving the album such a high rating is because of this one song - Safesrufer, that gave off good vibes during the guitar solo but then the dude started singing again. Basically, if you were to listen to the instrumental only, you would rate this 3-4 stars, but because there is singing involved, which ruins the whole vibes, this is getting only 2. It would be 1 but this one song was alright. "If You Loved Me At All" was a song that you could only (maybe) enjoy while on drugs, but I guess there is a market for this kind of music, it's just not my kind of music.
Didn’t listen to the whole album, just the first four songs. The repetition in the first song started to hug me until it began to build. Then I thoroughly enjoyed it. The rest didn’t stay with me. I’m giving what I listened to a 2.
Meh
Chore to get through
Underwhelmed.
Enjoyed "Safesurfer" despite the terrible title, "If You Loved Me at All," and "Beautiful Love." Otherwise, seemed artificial and pretentious.
The first song was just weird. It got better but not great.
woof
weird album. took me hours to finish this album.
I liked Safesurfer. There's some other decent stuff here too, but this wore out its welcome long before the end of its 1hr 16 running time. The single Beautiful Love is one of the weakest on the album IMO.
#284. This is in no way, shape, or form something that anyone needs to hear before they die. Every track on this album is skipable. 2/5: uninteresting.
Can’t get into his voice
Julian, my man, how do you Cope with putting out another bad album? :/
It’s a shame when you read this is an artist’s best album and it’s still not that good
Favourite song- Easy east rider. 2.5 stars
Sounds interesting, but I don't really get it. His singing is somewhat off-putting for me.
Somewhere in between not particularly memorable and just plain boring.
This is very strange and very long. I like to give albums like this 2 listens because I’m not familiar with it and it’s hard to review on only 1 listen. However, the length and repetitiveness of this is keeping me from wanting to do it. My wife listens with me on the weekends and hated it so much that she made me put on headphones to listen to it. In the end, I think the British bias of the book editors comes into play here. I could have died happy having never listened to this.
Wel ok maar mist iets ofzo . Ook beetje rare lyrics soms ofzo
Listened to this a 2nd time and still undecided. Some good songs and some strange stuff. Overall too long
Molto banale e poco significativo , non ho ascoltato tutto
Too long this took my whole morning
Jesus Christ. There’s nothing absolutely terrible about this, but there’s nothing notable about it either. I haven’t liked plenty of the well-known and loved albums on this list, but I’m fine to listen bc they have significance. This is just, ugh. Excuse me while I go listen to the new Taylor Swift. 2.7
Still not a fan
TWO HOURS AND THIRTY FOUR MINUTES.
I've never heard of this artist before and I struggled to get through the 1st disc. This album is not my style.
This is the album of a boy who didn't get enough attention from his mommy -- or got too much. It starts and ends pretty well, but in the middle it's pure self-indulgence.
Julian Cope is an English musician who champions obscure and underground music. His album "Peggy Suicide" is an art rock album - a broad assortment songs, covering a wide number of topics, with a variety of feature instruments. Cope's deep voice has a very cool aesthetic and is probably the best part of the album. While this album is lauded as Cope's best work, this artist and album have been unable to escape the UK.
Peggy NOOOOO 😳 I dunno, I see the appeal to this, and if I actively listened enough times I could find the enjoyment in it. But I don’t think I should have to do that much legwork to meet this album where it is, especially when there are more albums of it’s time that execute its sound better. Respect, but not enjoyment
Kinda silly and meandering. Not bad, but really not great.
Did not convince me
In most cases on this list, versatility is a good thing. In this case it's a curse. There are some good moments, good tunes, but a lot of the music is weird compilation of guitar play and average singing. 2.5/5.
Some cool psychedelic guitars but those can’t really save this giant pudgy slog of an album. Overlong and self-important.
interesting choice...i figured if a julian cope record were represented here it would be the one with world shut your mouth or charlotte anne on it. i've never been a big fan of his, but at least those singles are better than...east easy rider and beautiful love here. i can appreciate the ambition here, but outside of safesurfer i barely even liked most of the songs here. 2.5/5
Not a fan.
I cant Cope.
It's OK. Instrumentation and song writing is good but none of the songs especially grabbed me. 18 songs is too long and I got bored of it.
4/10 meh? 1001 albums is a lot of albums it seems. 3-12-2024
Weird
Blech
It feels like an album people trying a bit too hard to come across as tragically hip tell everyone they like even though they've never actually listened to it. Not me. I could tell I wouldn't care for it before even listening.
2.5
I had no idea Julian Cope was in Teardrop explodes! Totally makes me want to revisit that band and the rest of Julian Copes catalog! But this album didnt do much for me.
Unfortunately, this does nothing for me. Not the fault of the artist ofcourse. It's mine, for being a silly goose.
Not sure how to classify this UK rock? Not for me though.
not my cup of tea but could understand why some ppl would relate
bit rubbish
Interesting to hear something new. Some good rock beats and guitar riffs. Not convinced about the songs overall, look lyrics and melodies.
Why? What is special about this?
2h34 minutes? Gtfo. This album was not nearly good enough to justify it, soured me on the whole experience.
Not my cup of tea
Liked the first half of the album but the second half lost me. It became too out there in a way that did not grab me.
This is a super long album. A double album. The first disc was pretty solid. Experimental rock/psych that sounds like something Nick Cave would make if he was so inclined. The second album is a lot of remixes and electronica heavy experimentation. This second disc drags the whole album down pretty bad. It's like an electronica themed reimagining of the first disc. He should have just cut it off at one disc and left it alone. It doesn't help that the total runtime for the album is 2 hrs 34 mins. It definately over stays its welcome. Especially given the fact that it descends into fucking electronica garbage around the same time you are starting to get sick of the album. It's a Shame, because the first disc is easily a 4, but this God awful second disc drags the whole thing down to a 2 at best. Favourite songs: Hanging Out and Hung Up On The Line, East Easy Rider, If You Loved Me At All, Beautiful Love Least favourite songs: You..., Hung Up and Hanging Out To Dry, Ravebury Stones, Love (L.U.V.) - Beautiful Love Remix, Dragonfly, Heed: Of Penetration and the City-Dweller - Head Remix, Safesurfer - 1991 Tour Single, Butterfly E, Straw Dogs, Anyway At All (basically the whole 2nd disc is shit) 2/5
I am usually in for the super weird stuff. But this was weird in a boring way. There just wasn't anything in there for me. It felt like a REM cover band in a few moments. And those moments were actually really good! There were other good moments as well. But no good entire songs. Which I would think would be crucial for a record to be successful even if half of this list is trying to prove otherwise.
not really my thing
Tracks that are way too long and repetitive...didn't really like it
Musically it sounds good. But it is not my taste at all. Can it be pretentious if he's very sincere about it and really lives the life? It's like Andy Warhol for me - I see what he's trying to say n and he's interesting about it, but none of it connects to me or engenders any feelings.
Mehhhh
This thing is over two hours long. The first half was just inoffensive brit rock, but the rest was just confusing and weird. I just can't understand why it was so long. I should be compensated for sitting through that much of dollar store Mick Jagger
Really wasn't my thing
Meh. Some of these songs have a serious wannabe-Doors vibe to them.
I remember reading interviews of Julian Cope in magazines during the nineties. It looked like he was a totally bonkers shamanic figure, and it made him... endearing, in a way. I didn't have the opportunity to listen to his music until now. So I have to thank this app and the 1001 Albums book for this occasion. What I didn't know was that Julian Cope was also a TV host of sorts, hosting a game show named "Spot The Influence" (the secret name of *Peggy Suicide*). "Welcome to the show ! Today we have Cyril, a player hosting from France ! How do you do?" "Fine, Julian. Thanks for having me here!" "Sure, Cyril! Now let's play the game. Spot the influence! What's the influence on track 1 of my album?" "... Er... Let Me Think... Velvet Underground? Except that the production values are stemming from the late eighties. Which is... I don't know. A little weird for that type of song." "Ah, but you can still feel the nineties coming, can't you?" "Yeah, well, a little..." "Anyway... That's one point of view and that's one point FOR you! You can applaud Cyril, ladies and gentlemen (*The live audience applauds*) Track 2, now..." (*A very cheesy song is now heard on the PA*.) "Simple Minds!" "Ah, quite good. Two points! And quite a jarring jump between the two cuts, right?" "Er... Right. Guess the eighties aesthetics are the only common denominator here..." "Track 3, now!" (*A formless jam on a very dated *Screamedelica*-like type of rythm section ensues*). " ... Beats me. The Stone Roses and Primal Scream on *more* drugs?" "Well, I won't give you the correct answer now, Cyril. But you're not so far off the mark. About the drugs, I mean. Track 4!" "This one's not so bad. Pre-Brian Jonestown Massacre and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club by way of 60's psychedelia!" "And that's one more point! Yeah, you can reverse the influence thing, I guess. Track 5, now..." "Lame attempt to imitate Iggy Pop circa-*Lust for Life*?" "Oh, that's just very mean! What's so wrong about my voice?" "I don't know... The overaffected pretense, maybe. And the lack of conviction in the middle of it all..." (*The crowd boos the unhappy candidate after his jab at the TV host*) "Er, Okay... Now let's go to track 6. Maybe Cyril will gain the points he just lost when he said that inappropia..." "Excuse me? Julian?" "Yes?" "The thing is, I've listened to *Peggy Suicide*, as long as it is in its "deluxe version"... And it was quite a drag, to tell you the truth! The thing is, I could name all sorts of other influences I haven't quoted yet, from Nick Cave to The Doors, from John Cale to David Bowie, and from folk to funk and kraut, or new wave/post-punk. Yet I don't see the *fucking point* of this piling of influences. Especially when *nothing* in this record is up to the level of its obvious models and inspirators. I get that your lyrics are topical and/or metaphorical, which is fine. But the overall mood of this LP is so *dreary* and sloggish and dated. At least musically speaking. No offense, OK? I just tell it like I feel it. Besides, Julian, there's one thing you didn't tell me... What will I win if I give the maximum of correct answers in this game?" "Well, there's nothing to win. Apart from listening to my fine, fine album, said to be the start of my *more mature* period by prominent critics of the early nineties." (*The crowd cheers and bursts into a riotous applause, prompted by the TV host's assistant.*) "Ah OK. Goodbye, then." (*And on this, without any other word, the unhappy candidate gets out of the studio*) -- What? What do you want me to say? From my memory of those interviews, I thought Julian Cope's music would be as wild as the public figure he seemed to be. Turns out this record is both tame and overlong, filled with "exercises in style" that don't even have the charm such endeavors usually have. There are *some* good moments in this record, (and maybe even one *great* moment, the mantra that's repeated in the middle of "Safesurfer"), but they're drowned by the vapid meanderings found everywhere else. I just can't believe one of the reviewers in here compared this album to The Soft Boys's *Underwater Moonlight*. *Underwater Moonlight* is a neat, catchy, vital affair from start to finish. That's how you make very *different* influences coalesce, folks! The very contrary of what happens in *Peggy Suicide*. Since starting this equally meadering review, I've read stuff about Julian Cope's life online, and believe me, I have nothing but sympathy for the political activist, wild philosopher, and music erudite that he is (that book he wrote about krautrock would certainly interest me, even with those "factual errors" in it--his humble words, not mine--ones that made him refuse to publish it again). If only for this, because Cope's heart seems to be in the right place--just as it seemed to be for *Peggy Suicide*--I won't give him a 1/5 grade. Yet if we're talking about "essential" albums here, I honestly can't see this record being part of them. Maybe the problem with music erudites is that they know so much--or at least, are open-minded to so many different influences--that it becomes impossible for them to make all those influences cohere into a single pot. Maybe another album by Cope could convince me in the future. But as of now, I feel quite dumbfounded by what I've heard here. 2/5 for the purposes of this necessarily subjective list of "essential albums, translating to a 7/10 grade for more general and "objective" purposes. Next, please. Number of albums left to review: 327 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 301 Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 163 Albums from the list I won't include in mine (including this one, many other records are more important to me): 218
It's fine, kinda weird, but I like some of it, a couple of glimmers of hope.
Pristeen // Safesurfer // 1.5/5
Long!
A bit strange but not 1 star bad. Some songs remind me slightly stoopid. His vocals aren’t horrible.
Hippien metkuja. En minä näistä kosmisista shamaaneista niin välitä. 2/5
Nope
It was okay
songwriting is boring
Agradou sem deixar muitas reminiscências.
😐
M’eh
Feels like the writers were grasping at straws to fill the book and asked random people on the street what the final albums should be and one of those people happened to be Julian Cope. 3/10
Impossible d'être heureux
Just did nothing for me. One and done.
HL: “East Easy Rider”, “Safesurfer”, “Beautiful Love”, “Las Vegas Basement” The sound collage in ”Western Front”, the Beatles energy in “Beautiful Love”, the furious sax in “You”, and the marimba of “Drowning” all imply an album I should be interested in. SHOULD. But it’s not doing it for me today (or yesterday either, since I kinda broke it into two halves). “Leperskin” and “Pristeen” are some examples of songs I was bored with on the 1st listen. Maybe I goofed by playing a Teardrop Explodes song before the album to prime myself on this unknown-to-me chapter of British post-punk. The difference in enjoyment between that single and the first couple tracks of Peggy Suicide was stark November 2nd, 2023
I just don't know. It seems like an AI generated early 90s rock album. Nothing here is catchy or memorable enough to stick with me.
Wow
What?: I don't really understand what the point in this album was. I didn't come away with anything other than 'that wasn't very good'. There just isn't much to say other than, bad. It felt uninspiring and just could've been so much more. I think Cope needs to go work on this some more.
This one sounded a bit like The Doors to me, but like a cheap knock off with some 80s elements mixed in. Kinda psych, but more on the drone side. Not very impressed. Couldn't get into the dude's voice.
i hate double albums. just make two better albums with more of a throughline.
Its yom Kippur and I have listened to half this tripe and already I feel like I've atoned for my sins. Just total wannabe eccentric trash.
Nothing at all special about this. Dull and forgettable. The fact that so many music critics gush over it just proves how pretentious and worthless most music critics are.
Long and dull.
Pretty crap. I stopped listening hard and was weirdly enjoying it by the time it got to the extended edition remixes, which made me want to go back and listen to the originals again, and then they were still crap. There's something in it, but it does sound a lot like a talented, burnt out, crusty going on and fucking on.
Jaysus Jules, two and a half hours?! I struggled to get through both sides of the album. There were some good songs, but I spent most of it wondering what the feck is going on? 2.5
interesting, I liked Safesurfer
Weird, not always in a good way. Absolutely no need for this to be on the list, I can only guess the editor is a friend of, a fan of, or actually is Mr Cope.
Je crois que Robert nous provoque, là. Fais très attention Robert.
Mais qu'est ce que c'est que cette merde encore Robert, t'as pas bientôt fini de te payer notre tête ?!
I didn’t listen to the album in it’s entirety but it reminded me of Nick Cave or Iggy Pop and I’m not great fans of either. Perhaps I would have enjoyed it better if I felt better? Anyway, 2*
Feels like a totally random selection of mediocre songs that go on and on and on. How'd this make the list? Or am I just completely missing what he's doing here? Either way, I didn't have a good time.
-this first song isn’t really giving anything -never heard of this guy before, like the album cover -double vegetation is kinda crazy -pop off with those cries king -OH THIS ONE SOUNDS COOL -i do really like the guitar in all these songs but sadly thats the only part i Really like -these lyrics sure are interesting! -this album was definitely weird but in a fascinating way
Highlights: If You Love Me At All, Hanging Out And Hung Up On The Line Leave Em's: Anyway At All, Straw Dogs Overall Thoughts: Another album with less then notable vocal performances and harsh production balance between abrasive instruments and softer features. The only songs I enjoyed I will credit to shear volume on this album. The old saying "even a blind squirrel finds a nut occasionally" holds true to my belief about the songs here. This album felt like a waste of time, especially with some of the nine or more minute songs that just go on and on and on. I wouldn't consider there to be anything remarkable about this album but it wasn't the worst thing that I have heard throughout this project. Score Breakdown: 2.590 & 1 -> 1.795
I think with enough time this album could grow on me, but the album is a little long for what it is. There are interesting bits here and there. American Lite was probably the stand out, but I can't see myself thinking about this album at any time in the future. Mid 2
The problem with any album that runs for 2.5 hours is that it's going to get old no matter how good it is. I don't care who you are, that's too much. When it's 2.5 hours of Julian Cope, it got old LONG before the halfway mark. That's not to say that it doesn't have its moments of greatness. The problem is that not a one of those moments lasts a whole song. I thought "Safesurfer" was going to be that song but then Julian wrecked it by repeating the line "You don't have to be afraid, love / 'Cause I'm a safesurfer, darlin'" ad infinitum and throwing some atonal solos over top of what was, up until that point, some REALLY tasty guitar work. And that's really the whole 2.5-hour experience in a nutshell. Flashes of genius drowning in a sea of pretentious nonsense. Shame. Those few moments were brilliant and I would have loved more of that.
Not likely to listen to again
Sounded like a 90’s album by the who were their way out of their prime and trying to do new shit that just doesn’t work. I was hoping forked from this one cuz the description was saying it was the teardrop explodes frontman maturing as a songwriter but it just sounded like him slowing down. Like literally, the songs were all mid tempo and didn’t have the charm of the tight sounding new wave music from his past band. Some of the instrumentals were good but his singing sucked so bad on this album
D+ Pristeen - 1 Double Vegetation - 2 East Easy Rider - 1 Promised Land - 2 Hanging Out and Hung Up On the Line - 2 Safesurfer - 3 If You Loved Me At All - 2 Drive, She Said - 2 Soldier Blue - 2 You… - 2 Not Raving But Drowning - 2 Head - 2 Leperskin - 2 Beautiful Love - 2 Western Front 1992 C.E. - 2 Hung Up and Hanging Out to Dry - 2 The American Lite - 2 Las Vegas Basement - 2 I seriously don't understand how some of these albums make it on to here. 1001 albums isn't that many in the grand scheme of things. There are so many albums more deserving. This wasn't bad, but it was just boring, much like most of these albums.
AJ: musically, very British pop punk rock with a twang of Syd Barret era Pink Floyd. His voice annoys me and his Wikipedia makes me think we wouldn’t be friends. Mr Smartest Guy in the World. Mr I am not a musician I’m an artist. Some cool musical moments, though.
Meh.
There were no songs that I recognized. It was alright, I guess, at points and at others, eccentric. No desire to revisit. Better than a 2 but not really a 3. I will round down
2.3 - Possibly the dorkiest record I’ve ever heard. Cope croons with the sex appeal of a middle-aged dad who’s proudly displaying a scalp full of fresh hair plugs. Every track contains some senseless declaration (“you don’t have to be afraid, love/‘cause I’m a safesurfer, darling”) and/or some unsubtle and ill-conceived sound experiment. A colossal waste of time though at times it does toe into the realm of “so-bad-it’s-good.”
Bad niel young
I don’t think this guy’s very talented. 2/5
2 not the worst shit
Listened Before? N Not sure what to say about this one. It was okay. I don't know who the guy is but apparently he is/was big stuff in England back in the 90s. ( Maybe even currently?) The music was fine, just not enough to get me super interested. Added to Library? N Songs added to playlist: Pristeen
Saai... Het begint als een soort wannabe-Jim Morrisson, snuift wat aan het oeuvre van David Bowie, en blijft daarna in jaren tachtig-gejengel hangen, en dat dan heel lang. In 1991 was de muziekwereld al verder dan dit. Enkel het citeren uit oude films is al (heel erg) nineties.
Muzikaal is dit lekker gevarieerd. Maar dit album draait om de zang. Nou ja, zang? Soms wel, maar op andere momenten loopt Julian soms half-zingend-half-sprekend de kantjes er vanaf. Enerzijds is het bij lange na niet zo verschrikkelijk als Dylan en wil ik dat in sterren tot uiting laten komen. Anderzijds weet ik vrij zeker dat ik dit album nooit meer zal opzetten. Conclusie: Ik heb Dylan met twee sterren veel te hoog ingeschaald.
I really tried with this album, gave it about 3 full listens. I like some elements of it, but overall I think it's a bit of a mess. Way too long, annoying vocals, and I find it very hard to decipher what each song is about. It's a shame because it seems like it would be up my alley, but something just isn't clicking!
This is literally just The Doors on more heroin
Hat teils gute Ansätze aber iwie weiß ich net, wo die damit hin wollen
En tajua miksi pitää tehdä näin pitkiä levyjä, menee yksitoikkoiseksi väistämättä vaikka kuinka yrittäis tunkea variaatiota. Tää kuulostaa vitsiltä, mutta ei taida olla kuin osin vähän ironista
Listening to the first half of this, I was wondering how this guy even got a record deal. It sounded like so much noise accompanied by not-very-interesting instrumental sounds (not gonna call it music). It got better during the second half of the album but I can't imagine bringing myself to like this. I'll give it a 2 and I feel that's being generous.
Way too long. But I didn’t hate any of the songs individually 2.5
Not a fan of this one. Wayyy too long, just an hour and a half of rambling dad rock
A little all over the place, a little too much Velvet Underground worship, a little too much too serious.
there's some stuff in here that was really enjoyable but it was kind of all over the map. Eventually I got tired of it and wanted it to be done
This had some bold and experimental points, and I dig the psychedelic feel of some of the songs. A little low-key for me, but still nice.
This one really wore me out. Maybe take out all the half-assed instrumental interludes and there's something cohesive and listenable. Then again, those interludes were a welcome break from the tiresome vocal delivery.
Feeling pretty neutral about that experience. Personally I felt like no songs were gratingly bad, but none were head-bobbingly good either. It’s an album that I’ve already begun to forget, but I’d give it a point for its creative diversity of sound, even if it’s not my cup of tea. 🍵
Typically I don’t look at the group’s reviews before listening or writing my own, but this time I accidentally saw the dismally low rating yall gave this album before I listened. tbh I was pleasantly surprised. Some poorly written lyrics but I didn’t hate the sound. However the deluxe edition went on for an extra hour so by the end I was begging for it to be over so we end up with a low rating after all. 2/5
hmm I don't think I like this that much. explores a lot which is fun but also gets a little too much the run time is more than what I like. best tracks: east easy rider, promised land, double vegetation
One does wonder what goes through the heads of this website’s curators when they pick their albums. I suspect it’s illegal (and if it’s not, then it clearly should be).
This album felt like it was 4 hours of the same song
Meh
More UK crap I've never heard of getting a priority slot over stuff that's way better. *eyeroll*
This album failed to capture my interests. That is all.
Fine but not much to latch in to
I'm bored of it but it's not BAD
This was a head scratcher.
Lyssna på dethär 2 gånger för jag somnade ungefär 3/4 genom albumet första gången och ingenting fastnade, helt för långt också
Eeeh
Strange as a compilation but a couple good songs. Never listened to him.
kinda like a more mainstream version of Leonard Cohen 2.5
после одного раза особо ничего не поняла, но не показалось что мой жанр (как обычно)
Peggy Suicide is derivative but not terrible, has some decent bops, but ultimately boring and far too long. 2/5.
There are moments in this when I think that it's about to be something that is really really good, but it never quite makes it there. He's clearly having a bit of fun making it, trying out all sorts of different styles, but the overall effect is a bit of a mish-mash that never nails even one of the genres that he's playing to. Also, it's so long, Disc 1 of the deluxe edition (which I imagine is the original release) is well over an hour. Not for me, Clive, 2/5.
Hard to listen to the vocals.... Storytelling was good, music good with some deliberate offnotes. But if I wanted to listen to Dylan, I would listen to Bob.
Very uneven quality and very long. Some songs were outright unlistenable but some seemed to set a nice mood.
meh
Meh
I don't know Julian Cope. I think this album is ambitious and has a certain creative vision to it, but i wasn't impressed. Like most double albums, it felt overly long and not all that memorable. I am grateful that Cope was nice enough to slice the album up into four even parts in the age of the CD, but it did not feel distinct enough to justify calling them "phases". A few weird ideas on here, with some working better than others. I'm open to different stuff but this didn't vibe with me.
This sounded like even less interesting Nick Cave album. This type of music has to be really really good to appeal to me and this did not cut it. Spent most of my day listening to the Marshal Mathers LP some more.
An eclectic mix of songs form this pretty lengthy album. This album would have benefited by some solid editing skills because some of the songs did not mesh too well together. There are various styles in this album that show plenty of talent. It seemed to be to artistic and fell apart as it went on. Nothing to special overall but there are some okay songs. 4.5/10
Couple positive moments. But, it got old, and strange at points!
It's fine but too god damn long. Did this need to be 75 minutes? You could have easily cut 30 minutes and made this a really great album. Instead it feels bloated by the 50 minute mark. It's interesting music for sure, but a lot of it could have been left on the cutting room floor without really changing the message. 2.5/5
Not sure what this behemoth of an album is trying to be or what to make of it. It seems to be pulling a bunch of influences from the past, but doesn't do much to move the sound forward. There isn't much coherence or consistency, aside from Julian's lackluster vocals and instrumentation that can best be described as adequate. The end result is an OK album, nothing to be irritated about, but also nothing to get truly excited about. Never heard of Julian Cope prior to today, and I suspect will never hear of him henceforth.
Too long and too micb Q 104.3 vibes
A few 3/5 moments, a couple 1/5 moments. Overall I didn’t care for it. It is very reminiscent of Nick Cave
There was some nice stuff in here but there was also a lotttt that I didn't really care for. Appreciate the ambition though
This entire thing sounds like a fever dream, in a bad way. Still, the brilliance of "Hanging Out & Hung Up on the Line", "Safesurfer", and "If You Loved Me at All" saved this 70 minute whopper from a 1 star.
En jaksanut lähellekkään loppuun asti. Helvetin tylsä levy.
Jotenkin ristiriitaset fiilikset jätti. Välillä erittäin jees, mut huonot hetket peitti yleisfiiliksen. Ei lähteny ehkä sit kuitenkaan
Julian Cope is an interesting character, but is this album really memorable?
Pretty good in pieces, not so in others. Long album. 2 and a half stars
A laskluster album nothing specs about it and none of the songs are good enough for me to listen to again
Meh
Not sure where I land on this one, but tldr; a long album
One I may have to come back to to fully appreciate
sorry not sorry
Mwa, niet zo boeiend.
Ik werd hier geen moment blij van. Net zo'n soort stem als Neil Young - op het randje van vals.
I do not dig it
Had its moments, but won't be returning for more.
weird. Trancy. Not sure what the hype is about
Even oral sex references can't bmake me interested in the first track, Pristine. And I quite like Julian Cope (as a person. Other than World, Shut Your Mouth, I don't know that I know any of his songs before today). The fact this is 18 tracks long is already filling me with dread. No improvement yet. East Easy Rider is a a Stone Roses dirge (more so than the Stone Roses made). Five tracks in, some life appears with Hanging Out... which is a Suffragette City style driver. Safesurfer sounds like Nick Cave, but boring. Boring is the watchword for this album. An album this genre agnostic, with really interesting themes should not be this boring. For comparison, Fear of a Black Planet came out this year, and does angry and political over exciting, interesting music. I have tried to listen to every album in full from this list. But sweet Jesus I cannot be bothered with this. It's 18 tracks long, I'm none in and I'm losing the will to live. If you loved me at all felt a bit like Pavement for a minute. Then went on interminably. Okay. Stay of execution. You is a tune. It's almost like he has enough ideas for a 2 minute song but not enough for 4 minutes. He could have learned from this! More things that sound like Scott Walker fighting an army of bees! Beautiful Love is fun too, though a couple more dull as shit tracks made me consider turning it off again! Western Front is good too! The back half of this album would be a three star album. The first half is one star. You can probably work out where I'm going to end up. Definitely not one of the 1001 best albums of all time. Overlong, mostly dull, but saved by two or three flashes of excellence.
Starts off ok and just goes downhill.
Some interesting parts, a bit formulaic derivative blues rock in others. Vocals a little too front and centre for my taste.
Interesting album, liked a few tracks. It got better as it went on.
It's well-crafted, but leaves me a bit flat.
Not super for me. I don't care for the vocals. I think it's got a certain cool factor. but I don't find it super interesting. There is a lot of ideas on here though, and they are not all bad.
First time listener to this guy... The "artsy" feels a bit forced on this album. Why is this on that list?
Nothing grabbin’ me here.
This is just alright. Not really special, don't understand how some of these albums get on this 1001 list but then again it is 1001 so they've got to fill it with something. Also this is a deluxe album but the extra songs aren't any better. 4/10.
I found Julian Cope’s previous band, The Happy Monday’s, pretty boring. Same here. Stylistically all over the place, but still nothing caught my attention.
Psé.
This album is really long, especially the 2009 multi-disc version. The original stops at “Las Vegas Basement” so I’m counting it done at there. First few songs don't do much for me. "Hanging Out And Hung Up On The Line" is a good song, it has energy that the first few don't. Overall, I think this isn’t a coherent album. I like Cope’s musical style, though he tends to excess, and that’s my general problem with this album. He needed editing. When he’s good he’s great but a lot of it is mediocre. Also, maybe you have to be English for the lyrics to resonate but they just didn’t do anything for me. I agonized over what to rate this, and I guess I’m settling on 2 stars. I’d be willing to give another Cope album a shot because I like his musical style in general but this is not to me a great album.
A few decent songs on here. Some of the music has a good feel but vocal delivery and arrangements leave a lot to be desired
This album goes off the rails so quickly after a solid start with Pristine. I'm sensing this is a concept record, based off the length and the themes of the lyrics, but it overstays its welcome and becomes almost unlistenable. Julian Cope reminds me a little of Lou Reed, but he lacks the nuanced lyrics and the ability to pull off Reed's droning vocals.
This was an interesting deep dive into the world of an artist whose name I've heard, but never really engaged with before. It feels really effortless, eclectic, and yet cohesive in a way that can be alternately compelling and also long in the tooth (see "Hung Up and Hanging Out to Dry"). I really respect the inclination to experiment here, but it strikes me as a little less on the mark than Spiritiualized, who were working in the same kind of era/arena. Ultimately, as is the case for most double albums, this collection would have benefitted from some editing down into a killer 10 to 12 song collection. Unless you're just super into what Julian's laying down. 2.5/5. Favourite track: "Pristeen".
After a seemingly endless run of early 70’s, mid 60’s & 50’s folk/country albums generated for me recently I was a little excited to be drawn one from within the last 30yrs at least. Especially since I had not heard of the artist previously. Unfortunately the music did not live up to the level of my pre listening enthusiasm. Good vocals and enough variance from the norm to keep me interested, but that was about it. Nothing stood out to me on this album and it won’t be staying on my download list. 2 Stars
More 90s music that may mean something to somebody, but certainly not me.
I listened to about half and then got distracted but I don't remember it all so...
Apparently Cope suffers from Illeism, along with Jason Derulo. Unfortunately, this album is not so good that I'd go to the 29th track of the deluxe edition.
The music is the most interesting aspect of this, as i'm not a big fan of his delivery or lyrics; though they have a message, it isn't enough to hope my interest. Overstays its welcome and drags on.
Kinda strange
Long and boring. Can't get into it. DNF
Odd, but it has it moments.
Not realy my music.
The scope of this project is admirable but it runs into a jack-of-all-trades situation as a result. Any memorable riffs were too buried in the kitchen-sink mix to jump out at me.
Not much to say, I'm simply not a fan.
This album wasn't as bad as I was expecting. It sounded pretty funky at times but overall it seemed like standard folk/rock. The lyrics were pretty unremarkable to me and it was hard to understand the meanings sometimes.
I did not enjoy this, It just seemed too long and dragged on, not to mention the music did not appeal to me.
It’s okay
Long and pretentious, like most of what Julian Cope does. The thing is, for how pretentious he is you'd expect the music could measure up to such pretensions, right? Well, it doesn't. It's just some regular-ass rock music.
A great deal of variety through the 76 minutes of the album. Unfortunately, it’s all shit. Awful voice, awful songs, awful album
1/2
Pretentious dreck. Especially the latter half of the album, and by god was I tempted to not go that far. That's an hour and 16 minutes I'll never get back. And here I thought Morrissey was the most insufferable man in the British post-punk and indie scenes. Jesus Christ. For ever song that has a part I can bob my head to, for every song I think, "it's kinda growin' on me," there's a 'You...' or a 'Hung up and hanging out to dry,' by far the most irritating tracks here.
This album makes me want to be Peggy ⭐️ How many more shit albums in a row am I going to get? Ffs
avg as fuck 1/5
julian cope? with what? archeology? i don't hate it. but i'm confused. OH. i got it now. achtung baby if it was made by a manchild. would love an explanation on that negro line. 0.9-2.1. genuine struggle to get through it all. top review (hung up's the best {he finally shuts the Hell up} before it becomes gibberish Hoopla) as Fuck. alt: https://youtu.be/murk6bZszys
Okay
Wow...Off to a terrible start with that "song" Pristine. I have never felt more irritated in my life. The vocals on this album, especially the first few songs are just terrible. East Easy Rider, Safesurfer, If You Loved Me At All were OK at some parts. The rest of the album ranged from okay to straight up grating. It was kind of dull and boring at times and unlistenable at others. I zoned out during a lot of it and the only songs that stood out to me were the ones that were really really bad. I'm sure some people could find something on here that they enjoy and so maybeeee it deserves a 2 because it wasn't all bad. BUT I really did not enjoy this at all. So I will give it a 1 personally. 1/5 stars
Nope.
Haven't heard of him before. What kind of bullshit is this, this is not even good. The guy was in The Teardrop Explodes and I like their song Treason but his solo music sounds nothing like that. And the album is so damn long!!! For what goddamn reason. Spare me 1/5
Moody wannabe Jim Morrison.
Not for me. 1/5
The grungy postpunky aspects of this album weren't appealing enough for me. There's some interesting aspects, but i'm rather turned away by most of the production and recording of the album. Sounds very standard 90s alternative alternative, not enough to repeat.
Not the biggest fan of this
1.5
Pretty unenjoyable from start to end. Cope’s vocals are whiny and the music does little but serve are backing to this. The nearest there is to a highlight is ‘If You Loved Me At All’ Western front 1992 just sums this overlong experience up, when you’re album is already an hour long there is no need for crap like that (or the one immediately after it).
Just the biggest pile of wankery.
I really should get out of the habit of opening Amazon Music and instantly checking the length of the album. It means that when you instantly turn against a vocalist, you immediately get the double whammy of knowing there's going to be nearly 2 hours of this. I did not like this. Occasionally it musically sounded like a certain era of REM (see Leperskin as an example) and it just made me think about how great REM were. Beautiful Love reminded me of So You Wanna Be a Boxer from Bugsy Malone but with terrible sounding brass synths. One of the top reviews says "It feels aggressively artful." and I misread it as "aggressively awful" which is far more accurate. 1/5
Didn’t finish…
Was this a good album? No. But did Julian Cope put something cohesive together? Also no. But did he at least keep me interested? Well, no. But did the songs sound like straight Crash Bandicoot loading page music? Yes.
Pretty terrible overall, really starting to regret my choice to start this whole project
Did not finish; did not enjoy
I’m tired boss
No thanks
This album made me wanna shove glass in my eyes and jump off a building for the first several songs. I'd rather sit in a closet for 24 hours surrounded by buckets of vomit and diarrhea than listen to this garbage again. How can a musician get by with the same 4 measures over and over while repeating the same line? Trash.
Not for me
Not for me at all
Didn't really vibe with this album. Did not finish listening to the whole thing.
I couldn’t cope with this. Dude just isn’t very interesting, and some of the choruses being sung are so repetitive and dull that I started to get really aggravated. I went to see how long I’d have to put up with this, and upon seeing the album was over 1 hour and 15 minutes long, I just dipped out.
Who turned down the bass?
I made it to track 13. To quote Chunk from The Goonies, "That's all I can stand... and I can't stand no more!" This fucking SUCKED ⭐.5
hollyyyyyy shiiiiitttttt do not EVER ATTACK ME LIKE THIS. i didn't even continue to disc 2 sorry
That’s a lot of Cope.
Not really feeling this one. What are we trying to achive? The length is completely egregious and so for none of the tracks has been even close to good.
Meh, but thank you
Pretty hokey and dissonant - somewhat hard to listen to. I can appreciate why it’s important though.
1.5 I wonder how bad the first take of Pristeen was if they used the 2nd...
so, so bad
I tried to listen to this... 2h33m of tedious, pretentious, repetitive garbage. I tried to listen to at least half of each track, but when you get to disc 2, there's a bunch of tracks that are a ridiculous 8+ minutes.
My one star is merely to allow me to put this pile of shit in the past and move on to the next album. If I never hear any of these songs again, it’ll be too soon.
Not for me. The songwriting seems very amateurish and there are some songs where his voice does not fit the style
Idk bout all this
First two songs had very different vibes. The 8min song was good but a little too noisy for me in the end. I hate the cover. And the name.
Artiste inconnu. Absolument aucun intérêt. Génère un ennui profond qui m’a fait arrêter avant la fin (album beaucoup trop long). =>1/5
Gear: ZiiGaat x Hangout.Audio: Odyssey 2 Artwork: 😇🧜♀️🌊 Production: 🤔😣🤷 Music: 🔮🍄🙄 Rating: 🔱(🔱)/5
Shit.
I didn’t even make it through disc 1. This goes for 2 and a half hours and it just isn’t interesting enough to justify that length. Some decent little bits here and there and I’m sure there are more as it goes on but I just don’t care enough to find out.
Nope, not for me. I kept thinking a track would have potential until the weird echo/synth and the vocals would start.
2.5 hours of this? No thank you
Not quite sure what you call it, punk, rock,????
Horrible
A ridiculously long album of mostly pale attempts at art rock with a guy who can't sing and can only slightly write lyrics that are marginally better than his singing. The album cover is atrocious. I don't listen to music to hear the anyone's meditations on anything. I listen to music to have a momentary escape from silence. I don't want it filled with inane pretentious ramblings. OF the course the hipsters love this album... I really don't think anybody needs to worry about missing out on this album. To think there are great albums not on this list to make room for crap like this. Still feel like the best lyrical album by a male British artist in 1991 was THE SOUL CAGES by Sting. His TEN SUMMONER'S TALES also belongs on this list instead of this nonsense. But, you know, this listmaker has a grudge against actual great British musicians who albums actually mean anything to the masses.
There is an interesting album in here. This is not that.
Nope
Slow repetitive and bad lyrics. Good combination for a bad album.
Sound very generic 90s so i guess it was leading in that. Never heard before but the deluxe version was waaay too long and it sounded like he got more drunk at the end for some reason.
That Safesurfer song makes me want to rip off my ears.