Author, antiquarian,
musicologist, cultural commentator and champion of the underground music scene,
you just gotta love Julian Cope. Thee Psychedelicatessen are massive fans ……we
have been digging Copey since the acid madness of the Teardrops and his early
records, through his more commercial St Julian and his “two car garage band”
phase in the mid-eighties, onto his artistic peak with the peerless Peggy
Suicide and Jahovahkill albums and since breaking free from the shackles of
music industry just before the turn of the millennium, his more idiosyncratic solo
work and collaborations…………..and what a long, strange trip it has been. Over
the years JC has kinda evolved into a folk singer of sorts (admittedly a very,
very weird one that dresses like a stormtrooper), a psychedelic troubadour and
agitator singing songs of reverence and revolution, exploring the themes that
first emerged on the Jahovahkill album……..the Neolithic Revolution and Pagan
beliefs, a shaman/seer railing against organised religion and society’s
“greedheads” while advocating a psychedelic revolution.
We love
Julian Cope dearly but we think that he has not made a truly great record for
quite a while. Although he is fizzing with ideas and enthusiasm his records can
be a little bit hit and miss, we have often thought that if you could cherry
pick the best moments from 1999 – 2014 what a brilliant album that would
be………well guess what kidz, that’s only what’s gone and happened. Trip Advizer
brings together the best 16 tracks from Julian Cope’s recent solo recordings
released on his own Head Heritage label, taking in tracks from his 2005 album
Citizen Cain’d through to Revolutionary Suicide from 2013 (plus a couple of
none album/previously unreleased tracks)….there is none of his more
experimental/ krautrock or “Pagan Stooges” hard rock outings included here.
This is a collection of the more melodic side of the Archdrude and fair few of
the songs here (‘I'm Living In The Room They Found Saddam In’, ‘They Were On
Hard Drugs’, ‘Psychedelic Revolution’ and ‘Cromwell In Ireland’) have been
regular concert favourites. The album includes the previously unreleased track,
‘Julian In The Underworld’, which is an account the psychic fallout from Copey
taking a massive dose of the hallucinogen Salvia for getting his head in the
right space for writing his One Three One
novel, which he claims reduced him to a “salad with attitude” for several months. This
really is an impressive set of tunes…..all killer, no filler…..which JC has
selected for this compilation and although there is really nothing much here
for the hardcore fan, if you have been wondering what the man has been up to
since the Interceptor album this is a fantastic way of catching up.
Available on
CD from the Head Heritage Merch Store and very groovy record shops, Trip Advizer
is a must buy not only for any lapsed JC fans who have not been closely following
his recent activities below the radar…….it’s time to reconnect People…….but
this is a great introduction for anyone who has maybe read his books but not
listened to his music or is simply unaware of this nation's finest psychedelic
polymath (then get yerself down to your local record store/Amazon/whatever and
get hold of a copy of the Archdrude’s magnum opus Jahovahkill………you won’t be
disappointed).
THEE
PSYCHEDELICATESSEN
No comments:
Post a Comment