Julian Cope - Jehovahkill (1992 Alternative Rock)

Moving into what he later described as the second part of a trilogy of albums, Jehovahkill sees Julian Cope's focus shift from environmental collapse to raging against the destructiveness of mainstream religion and an attendant celebration of earlier, heathen impulses. The artwork and design draw this out further, with Cope providing commentary on a number of ancient megalithic temples and sites, along with attendant poetry. As with Peggy Suicide, though, the music is what is first and foremost, and following that earlier album's success Cope was on a roll. With only Skinner and Cosby making up the core band this time out, plus a variety of guest performers and snippets (including cult musician/astronomer Dr. Fiorella Terenzi on the crazed Krautrock/funk of "Poet Is Priest..."), Cope turned in another 70-minute-long effort. If Jehovahkill isn't quite as perfectly balanced as Peggy Suicide, it comes darn close, definitely leaving the late-'80s trough behind. "Soul Desert," the opening number, actually almost picks up where Peggy Suicide left off, with "Las Vegas Basement," with the same low-key late-night vibe. Cope's voice is again at full strength, whether gently singing or just going all out; here he's able to do both as the song amps up further about halfway through. From there Jehovahkill move through three phases, much like Peggy Suicide was divided into four. The overall tone of the record is looser than Peggy, with Cope's various celebrations and condemnations often sounding like they were captured on a first-time run-through. He definitely sounds like he's more performing intense rituals instead of songs, as on the powerful, building intensity of "Up-Wards at 45 Degrees" and the awesome "The Tower." Combined with everything from the rural blues-goes-drone rock of "The Mystery Trend" and the combined Neu!/Stooges tribute "The Subtle Energies Commission" to the amusing "Julian H. Cope," it adds up to another fine Cope album.

AMG Review by Ned Raggett

Julian Cope - Peggy Suicide (Very Good Indie Rock 1991)

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

AMG Review by Ned Raggett

Julian Cope - Saint Julian (Alternative Rock 1987)

A switch to Island Records resulted in the best possible start — not merely a generally fine album but a simply fantastic hit U.K. single, "World Shut Your Mouth." Nothing to do with the record of the same name but definitely possessing much of the same energy, it's a great slice of modern rock, with a crisp arrangement and punchy performance from Cope and his band. Skinner and Fried drummer Chris Whitten reappear, while bassist James Eller and keyboardist Double DeHarrison fill out the lineup. Kate St. John once again adds cor anglais here and there, one of her best moments being the bright charge of the title track. Together they tackle a set of songs notably less insular than much of the Fried material, with full-on performances to match. One song shows that best of all — "Shot Down," which originally appeared on Fried and here becomes a swaggering, pounding rocker with keyboards adding to the impact. More than ever before in his solo career, Cope sounds like he's performing songs meant to be heard live, as the charging "Trampoline" and "Spacehopper" show. There's an almost finger-snapping, swinging vibe to a number of the performances that recall Teardrop Explodes days without trying to simply re-create that sound — he's not trying to revisit the past, there's no need. A few numbers sound a bit too cold and crisp to work entirely — "Planet Ride" is arena soul/rock that sounds like something Robert Palmer would have done around the same time, lyrics aside. A couple of other moments like that crop up, but with the balance skewed more to joys like Cope's in-your-face vocal on "Pulsar" and the lengthy final track "A Crack in the Clouds," Saint Julian is another winner.

AMG Review by Ned Raggett

Julian Cope - World Shut Your Mouth (1984 Alternative/Indie Rock)

Retreating from the collapse of the Teardrop Explodes to his hometown of Tamworth, Cope produced his first solo effort with help from producer Steve Lovell on guitar and fellow Teardrop Gary Dwyer on drums. The result is a surprisingly vibrant, rich album that shows Cope easily moving on from his group days while retaining his unique powerful and natural gifts for singing and songwriting. If there's something about the sound of World that suggests its early-'80s recording dates — Dwyer's drums sound like Steve Lillywhite's been after them at points! — Cope's own particular, heavily psych-into-pop-inspired goals aren't lost in it. Some of his songs are so inspired that one just has to wonder how in the world they didn't end up as hits somewhere. "An Elegant Chaos" is a great example, an at-once cryptic and fascinating lyric peppered with just enough knowing irony ("Here comes the part where I break down and cry") and a synth-string-touched crunch given a breezy pace. Top it off with Cope's singing and the result is simply genius. Two songs from the final Teardrops sessions, "Metranil Vavin," an homage to a Russian poet, and "Pussyface" get enthusiastic run-throughs here. "Metranil Vavin" in particular is a kick, shifting from garagey crunch and energy to a show tune chorus at the drop of a hat, while sitar from Lovell and concluding oboe from Kate St. John, who plays on many other cuts, add even more pastoral trippiness. Further strong cuts include "Kolly Kibber's Birthday," with a fast rhythm machine and keyboard drones leading the way; the quirky string/brass surge of "Sunshine Playroom"; and the upbeat "Greatness and Perfection." Throughout World, Cope demonstrates why he's one of the best, most unaffected singers in rock around, his vocals carrying sweep and passion without sounding like he's trying to impress himself or others.

AMG Review by Ned Raggett

Julian Cope - Fried (1984 Alternative/Indie Rock)

In contrast to the crisp, clean sound of World, Fried often sounds rougher, a bit more shut in. Combine that with Cope's generally successful attempts to project an image of barely stable sanity, helped in large part by the notorious wearing-nothing-but-a-turtle-shell cover photos, and the idea of Fried as his album of crazed musical collapse understandably is a strong one. However, World producer Steve Lovell once again handles things here, along with playing guitar, while even more importantly, key Cope collaborator Donald Ross Skinner, a young musician from Cope's hometown, makes his debut. Kate St. John again contributes cor anglais throughout, adding a haunting atmosphere on many cuts. If anything, the album shows that Cope may be completely musical tripping out as he chooses but he knows exactly what he's doing throughout. Certainly the first cut, "Reynard the Fox," shows him balancing inspiration and arrangement perfectly -- one of his strongest, catchiest choruses eventually bleeds into a freaked-out spoken word bit followed by a total rave-up. Other songs range from further on-the-edge efforts -- the frenetic "O King of Chaos" and more generally weird "Sunspots" -- to gentler, wistful numbers like "Laughing Boy" and "Search Party" that effectively capture a rural psych feeling akin to XTC's own work at the same time. In all, Fried shows Cope at his dramatic best -- he's not disintegrating by inches, but he knows how to project that impression with vigor and skill, all while sounding like himself most of all. He gets in a hilarious slam along the way -- "Bill Drummond Said" trashes, by means of an energetic enough folk/rock combination, his former manager from Teardrop Explodes days. Drummond got his revenge years later -- while most well-known for his work in the KLF, his solo album The Man featured a ditty called "Julian Cope Is Dead."

AMG Review by Ned Raggett