Julian Cope - Black Sheep

Julian Cope - Black Sheep

Disc 1 : Return Of The Native

1 Come The Revolution
2 It's Too Late To Turn Back Now
3 These Things I Know
4 Psychedelic Odin
5 Blood Sacrifice
6 The Shipwreck Of St. Paul

Disc 2 : Return Of The Alternative

1 All The Blowing-Themselves-Up Motherfuckers (Will Realise The Minute They Die That They Were Suckers)
2 Feed My Rock 'n' Roll
3 Dhimmi Is Blue
4 The Black Sheep's Song
5 I Can Remember This Song

When I saw Cope perform live in 2000 he was on top form, presenting both his ideas and music in an entertaining style. Easily one of my top gigs ever. However Cope's recent offerings have not been very friendly. For someone who really wants to get his message across and educate the masses (back in 2000 he was aping Blair's "Education Education Education" soundbite), presenting it dosed in dense heavy rock and using lo-fi recordings of a rather ugly vocal style was hardly going to win any new converts.

However closer examination of 2005's Citizen Cain'd and follow up album Heavy Orgasm showed that Cope's ability to craft a pop hook was still intact, albeit hard to spot amidst the swirling mass of noise. Last year's You Gotta Problem With Me showed a move towards more accessible material and now we have Black Sheep, an album bursting with pop hooks, folky chants and generally less scary music. It sounds a bit like a stripped down 20 Mothers, with nods to Peggy Suicide and Fried thrown in. The gloom and anger of previous albums has been replaced with an almost joyous uplifting energy, Cope is back to entertaining and educating at the same time.

Like its predecessors the album is well packaged with a booklet stuffed with Cope's writing and poems with several photos of the leather clad Cope and co. looking like some 80s heavy metal band on holiday. The album is again split over 2 disks (just over half an hour each), just to give you that "get up to change the record over" feeling of yesteryear and a pee break. Or is Cope trying to give us all more exercise ?

It starts rather densely, perhaps showing a link back to the prior albums, and the ugly straining vocals are still in place. However under the rather sombre sound Come The Revolution is similar to 1990s Cope and slowly builds into a chanting singalong. A good start if somewhat average-Copewise. It's Too Late To Turn Back Now rocks a tad more, still with an over excited vocal style and still offering rather middling Cope excitement. Thing pick up with the next tracks. After a fake synth-pop start These Things I Know becomes a more folky sing-along similar to the excellent Woden from You Gotta Problem With Me and Psychedelic Odin is a great 5 minute song albeit with a 2 minute spoken coda with a damp squib of an ending. The first 5 minutes are still one of the highlights of the album however. Blood Sacrifice is one of those odd songs that Cope does so well, and The Shipwreck Of St. Paul sounds like Cope did his vocals while out on one of his travels, but the low-fi slightly distorted vocal suits the mood perfectly.

So far so good.

The second disk gets off to a cracking start. All The Blowing-Themselves-Up Motherfuckers (Will Realise The Minute They Die That They Were Suckers) with its long baiting title is basically a great little pop song. OK, it is a Cope pop song and won't ever see any radio play, but it is darn catchy, even if that chorus is hard to get your gob around. Feed My Rock 'n' Roll starts off like a Misty's Big Adventure song before slowly cranking up the energy into ear-splitting territory. It's both hypnotic and fantastic! Dhimmi Is Blue is a slow number of remarkably simple construction, sounding like it escaped from Fried. Despite its 8 minute length it is rather gripping, almost moving in parts, and proves that Cope's material doesn't need layers of noise to work. The Black Sheep's Song is another odd song and rather charming, although it had to work hard to appeal to me over many listens. Things are finally wrapped up with the mellotron drenched I Can Remember This Song, sounding a bit like it escaped from the final section of 20 Mothers.

I have to admit it does take a few listens to get into this material, but it is a damn good Cope album, and currently my most played even with the CD juggling that entails.

Buy it now from Head Heritage.

If you haven't heard Julian Cope before then buy Peggy Suicide.

More Pink Penguins Please!

A quick round up of my search stats,
or "what are people expecting to find when they visit here",
or "let's make even more people come here looking for those thing and leave disappointed"

19% are looking for something to do with the album "Wee Tam and The Big Huge" by The Incredible String Band. I'm going to have to dig out my copy and review it properly. Trouble is I don't have a turntable to hand, I don't want to pay for two CDs at the moment, and a quick file sharing download just to hear it could result in a nasty letter. Bah.

16% Still lots of Kate Bush Aerial searches. And people looking for that "Pi Code" (haven't you cracked it yet?) Still the odd "pink penguin" as well. Did you know that Kate Bush's brothers used to listen to the Incredible String Band while painting the penguins pink?

9% Foritensum test results. No I'm not giving anything away. No I haven't finished it. There are clues in the Kate Bush track 'Pi' found on her album 'Aerial'.

5% bic crystal ballpoint pen. Especially in pink it seems. Whether the pen is pink or the ink is pink I'm not sure. Perhaps this has something to do with those pink penguins.

5% of people still can't work out why Genesis "Calling All Stations" is so bad. It does sound better with a pink bic crystal ballpoint pen in each ear. Or even a pink crystal penguin in each ear.

And I still get the important question "how many hamsters does it take to power a car?". The answer is contained in the Kate Bush track 'Pi' found on her album 'Aerial'.

Also inquiries asking after the "strange shoe shop downham market". I assume they mean the one reinforced externally with thousands of multi-coloured crocs (or so it seems.) And yes, that does include pink crocs.

Sorry

Once more I've confused Bill Bailey and Mitch Benn. Mitch Benn, I apologise for calling you Bill Bailey. Bill Bailey I apologise for accusing you of plagiarism. I must also apologise to Jeremy Clarkson for not crediting him with calling the Ka a 'teapot' and to the band 'Gong' for using their album title "flying teapot".

(Speaking of Jeremy Clarkson, Top Gear is one of the funniest programs on the TV. It's a shame they spoil the show with the odd dull bit about cars and their fuel injected camshafts with turbo brake horse powered manifolds.)




Apologies also for all those people who have come to this blog searching for the Incredible String Band's album title "Wee Tam and The Big Huge" and not finding anything about said album ('cos I used the title in an earlier posting). Personally I love "The Big Huge" half for its general weirdness.Wee Tam is pretty good, but not up to the high standards of the first three ISB albums. So there.

And apologies in advance to all those coming to this post in the future expecting to find something about a sitcom featuring the huge star Ronnie Corbett. Sorry.

Apologies to the fish I ate last night, but you were rather tasty. Yum.

Apologies to all those who made and worked on the new X-Files movie for my next sentence. It wasn't very good. You've taken what would have been a run-of-the-mill TV episode, made it twice as long, added several holes in the plot and got rid of the "will they/won't they" excitement between the leading characters. Bah!

I must also apologise for my bus like tendencies in not posting for ages,then sending two at once.

Sorry.


Answers to spot the difference.

Part 1. Bill Bailey has a moustache, Mitch Benn has a beard.

Part 2. That is not my car in the top picture. My pointy hat isn't green.

Music, Hamless, teapots

Catching up ... and failing.

A quick thumbs up for Earth Monkey Productions, or "interesting music for free". Try the recent 50:50 compilation.

Tried to get tickets for Hamlet, and failed. Like everyone else. Nothing to do with "who" was in it of course. We just like Hamlet. No really.

My old car (Ford Ka = teapot) failed. Couldn't find a replacement second hand teapot for ages and nearly bought a grannymobile, but found a bargain second hand flying teapot (SportKa). Oddly it uses less fuel despite going like poo from a spade when provoked. Hopefully by the time I need another car the "eco-friendly" modern cars will be cheap and second hand.

Then comes the "Credit Crunch" and Bill Bailey steals my joke about it sounding like a breakfast cereal. Bastard.

The Latest 5 Albums Passing My Way

One More Grain : Isle Of Grain



You walk into a party and everyone in the room has a herring on their heads, except you. You feel out of place for a while, but because everyone is friendly and having a good time, the lack of fishy headwear is soon forgotten. That is a bit what listening to this album is like. It just doesn't sound right to begin with, the musical part of your brain is confused listening to this Krautrock-like music played by a jazz fusion band lead by a Mark E Smith-esque Lancastrian. However by the time the second track is under way, you are busy searching the web for piscean milliners.

Mmmmh, nice.

In some ways this album just shouldn't work and in one way it doesn't. It doesn't throw up catchy tunes or amazing slabs of sound and there isn't that much variation within any one track, so it could be said to be somewhat ignorable. Which doesn't explain why it is rather stuck in my CD player at the moment. Each track becomes its own little world in handy capsule form. The lyrics, delivered more as monologues rather than songs, are somewhat oddball with an interesting use of words and seem to float on the rich musical backing. The music is rather hard to place. I've already mentioned Krautrock and jazz, but folk and funk come to mind as well. If you want something along the lines of The Fall in ambient free-fall jazzy swirly joy then it does the trick.


Espers : Espers II



There is a problem with albums that start so well. The first two tracks on this album (Dead Queen, Widow's Weed) make the following ones seem rather under par, even though those tracks considered on their own are perfectly decent songs. There are a couple of tracks towards the end of the album (Mansfield And Cyclops, Dead King) that lift you back up to the same heights again, but the overall effect is still a dip in the middle. Shame, as it is a rather splendid album, if you like early 70s goth-folk-rock with nice female vocals (a bit Sandy Denny) with a bit of modern post-rock thrown in (like I do). Loads of different instruments create a dense sound, though some may find it too dirge-like to enjoy. The track titles are enough to get you down! But it is often the gloomiest music that makes you feel human and alive.

HTRK : Nostalgia



If you lurk around eBay or Amazon, you can snap up CDs cheaply. So having stuck this on my Amazon wish-list over a year ago, I was pleased to see it pop up cheaply on eBay. Plop! Snaffled it. I had no idea why I stuck it on the wish-list, I must have read something that made me go "wanna wanna". Anyway, this is apparently not an album, but a 7 track "let's release something to show we exist while we get around to releasing a album" type thingy. But hey, 7 tracks and over 36 minutes makes it pretty much an album by vinyl standards. Recorded live and crudely it sounds very raw and somewhat akin My Bloody Valentine or Garland era Cocteau Twins. Now if you want your vocals to sound like they are being sung by a female who has just been dragged out of bed with a mother of all hangovers and dumped in a cave then this is definitely for you.
Forget about any lyrics, the vocals are just another noise in the mix, along with the thump and grind of parent/neighbour/granny/partner/dog annoying music. It is almost unpleasant at times, but just about sneaks the right side of that knife-edge of fascination that makes you want to plunge deeper into the grime. I did find the relentless gloom rather hard to swallow the first time I heard it, and the sound pallette rather limited, but further listens have revealed an inventiveness making each track stand on its own. Whether they can expand on this on their first album proper remains to be heard.

Ashra : New Age Of Earth



After Ash Ra Temple collapsed, guitarist Manuel Gottsching tried his hand at Berlin School electronics, probably inspired by former band member Klaus Schulze. This album released in 1977 under a solo name of Ashra has warm synthesizers and occasional guitar creating the typical hypnotic grooves and ambient soundscapes that you'd expect from this era. It is a more tuneful and relaxing affair compared to similar releases by Tangerine Dream or Klaus Schulze, however I don't find it as interesting a listen as either of those two artists at their peak. If you find 70s Schulze too dark or slow and 70s T.Dream too experimental, then this may be the synth album for you. The two shorter but bouncier tracks Sunrain and Deep Distance sound to me like the sort of music that dolphins would happily dance to and Ocean of Tenderness could be the sort of thing that dolphins would listen to having knackered themselves dancing. The lengthy final track Nightdust starts out exploring similar territory to Klaus Schulze, i.e. a lengthy slow unfurling 10 minute intro, before ticking over into that knackered dolphin sound again.

Susan Matthews : Hope-Bound



It is always nice to have a little bit of connection with the artist when you purchase one of their albums. Whether buying a Jane Siberry album and finding in the package that she's written a postcard thanking you for supporting her, or buying a Julian Cope album and getting his wife calling you because that CD is out of stock, it all kind of makes the whole experience a bit more personal. Susan Matthews cuts her own CD-Rs, prints out her own artwork and then goes to the post office to send it to you herself, and that's enough to make me feel happy about it. (Yes I am quite easily pleased.) And it is only £3.98, including postage, so being cashless as I am, this seemed like a good buy. Oh, and the fact that musically it sounded like my cup of tea did come into the equation somewhere.

The more experimental type of music can often disappoint: for every album that sounds amazing, there is usually another that is tedious or annoyingly inpenitrable. Thankfully Susan stays the right side of the big sign saying "Failed - please try again". On the odd occasion during this album when I think that the stretchy monster is off to visit Mr. Point, the track ends and another begins. Horrah! Overall the music sort of lurks between Laurie Anderson and Nurse With Wound without actually treading on either of their toes. It is an odd mixture of the uplifting and harsh. Take A Decoy Performance with a dialogue suggesting domestic violence juxtaposed with audience cheering and what sounds like a conversation between grandfather clocks. Or the rather lovely near ambient Missing with a gloopy blobby backdrop of noise trying to bring chaos into beauty. The whole album remains fascinating right up to the lengthy Suffusion with its Nurse With Wound like sound loops collapsing into deep internal organ threatening drones, somewhat akin to Sunn o))). Susan's almost wordless vocals compliment most of the tracks like sweet kisses from that slightly weird Aunt that most of the family shun.

This is definately my favourite album of the moment, so I'm off to spend another £3.98, and so should you.

Wee Tam and The Big Huge

Having re-arranged several of our rooms around in the house, my music collection is a bit homeless at the moment and is hanging around leaning against a wall (vinyl), lurking in a cupboard (cassettes) and generally milling around trying to trip me up in the middle of the bedroom (CDs). As such I've taken the opportunity to update my list of music. Of course this is just for insurance purposes, not because I'm a bloke who likes to make lists.

Oh, who am I kidding. Lists rule! Here are some of the things that I have found in my collection :

Ten Longest Album Titles

Incredible String Band - The 5000 Spirits Or The Layers Of The Onion
A great collection of psychedelic tinged tunes, just before they started to go seriously oddball. Contains the best song about a hedgehog ever!

Spiritualized - Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space
Sometimes moving, sometimes exciting and occasionally downright noisy, this album showed Jason Pierce at his best. Who needs drugs with albums like this.

The Teardrop Explodes - Everybody Wants To Shag The Teardrop Explodes
The Teardrop Explodes were pretty shagged by the point they tried to put together their third album, and this posthumous release mainly showed Balfe's attempt to go synthy, but still contains some Cope eccentricity like Strange House In The Snow.

Godspeed You Black Emperor! - Lift Yr. Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven
Brilliant post-rock. This combines powerful music with sampled sounds in an album akin to classical music.

Belle & Sebastian - Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant
If you are after a bit of whimsical pop, then this isn't one of their best. Check out The Boy With The Arab Strap or When You're Feeling Sinister instead.

Esmarine - If Only A Sweet Surrender To The Nights To Come Be True
A Godspeed You Black Emperor! offshoot. More string orientated, less power. Interesting, but not vital.

The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-la-la Band with Choir - "This Is Our Punk-Rock," Thee Rusted Satellites Gather + Sing
Another Godspeed offshoot who like long album titles and also long band names! Efrim's vocals are perhaps too untrained and raw for some, but this is their best 'song' orientated album. Also check out Born Into Trouble As The Sparks Fly Upward for great music rivaling Godspeed at their best.

Shivaree - I Oughtta Give You A Shot In The Head For Making Me Live In This Dump
An American alternative rock band with a nice laid back approach. I haven't seen this for a few years but I remember that Arlington Girl is a highlight.

A Silver Mt. Zion - He Has Left Us Alone But Shafts Of Light Sometimes Grace The Corner Of Our Rooms
Yep, it's them again, although with their debut release they had a shorter band name. This is a bit like a cutdown version of Godspeed's sound. Decent enough, but they got better.

And winning the longest album title in my collection by a long way . . .

Fiona Apple - When the Pawn Hits the Conflicts He Thinks like a King What He Knows Throws the Blows When He Goes to the Fight and He'll Win the Whole Thing Fore He Enters the Ring There's No Body to Batter When Your Mind Is Your Might So When You Go Solo, You Hold Your Own Hand and Remember That Depth Is the Greatest of Heights and If You Know Where You Stand, Then You'll Know Where to Land and If You Fall It Won't Matter, Cuz You Know That You're Right.
It was the longest album title (according to the Guinness Book of Records) but has recently been beaten by Soulwax. My favourite of her three albums (so far). A great voice set to excellent music.

And The Ten Shortest

Indigo Girls - 4.5
A compilation. To be honest, I had forgotten that I had this and can't remember much about it. I do find the odd album occasionally which I had no idea I even possessed.

Peter Gabriel - So
Peter Gabriel - Us
Peter Gabriel - Up
After imaginatively calling all of his first four albums "Peter Gabriel", he then went for teeny tiny titles. His big seller So is a bit bland, it sounds too polished at times. Us is great, although some tracks are starting to grow a tad too long, which is where Up suffers. Less is more Peter! Despite my niggles, they are all worthy albums. The best Peter Gabriel album is Peter Gabriel. Oh sorry, I mean his fourth from 1982, the one with Shock The Monkey on it.

Joanna Newsom - Ys
A slight disappointment after the lovely The Milk Eyed Mender. The addition of an orchestra fills the sound up, but after the first two lengthy tracks which have many good moments, the album starts to lose its way.

Blur - 13
Their best album. No really. I know no-one agrees with me, but you are all wrong. Even the between track filler is rather yummy.

Sigur Rós - ()
Their rather cold & slow but still emotive album. The preceding Ágætis Byrjun and the following Takk are better albums, but this has the best ending. It has a sort of see through cover as well, but I guess the transparent CD is impossible. (Compare with Faust's first album.)

Steve Hillage - L
I could say this is one 'L' of an album, but you might hit me. Former Gong guitarist goes ultra-hippy and creates this album of kaftan wearing tracks designed to uplift. Nifty guitar work.

Incredible String Band - U
More hippy nonsense as the Incredibles go for a double album. Has a rather varied quality however. Best go for Hangman's Beautiful Daughter if you want them at their best.

Klaus Schulze - X
Schulze gets to his 10th album and probably best. Six lengthy tracks based on good old Berlin School electronics and Schulze's own weird templates. When the small string orchestra couldn't cope with one part, Schulze created a 20 meter long tape loop of their playing which stretched out of the studio.

to be continued...

hibernate

1. To pass the winter in a dormant or torpid state.
2. To be in an inactive or dormant state or period.

2008 seems to be becomming a bit of an annus horribilis. Nothing particularly bad on its own, but a lot of problems overlapping and going on and on which have made me keep my head down. As such, fiddling around on the 'pooter has been low priority. However with it being chuffing cold, snow lurking in the sky and Dr. Who back on the tele', I note it is now Spring. Horrah! Time to start to bud afresh, clear out the cobwebs in my head and catch up with a few hundred emails.