Post by ChrisB on Sept 30, 2015 16:22:02 GMT
Julian Cope - 'Peggy Suicide' (1991)
Background
Julian Cope is bonkers - many, many people, including him, have pretty well said as much. I enjoyed it being described as "Flirting with derangement", however, that doesn't stop this being great album and actually, it might have helped make a lot of his records better albums.
He made two and a half records with his previous band (before the The Teardrop Explodes exploded(!)). The first two were well received, sold well and spawned a few biggish singles.
'Peggy Suicide' was his fifth officially supported solo album. The first two ('World Shut Your Mouth' and 'Fried') had been so unsuccessful that his record company dropped him like a hot spud but are now seen rather differently. The next two ('Saint Julian' and 'My Nation Underground') despite yielding some minor singles success had proved unsatisfying to him. Two more records - 'Skellington' and 'Droolian' - were made lo-fi style and were not supported by his record company or managers. 'Skellington' rather cheekily made use of the studio over a 'weekend off' near the end of the recording of the 'My Nation Underground' album. He felt this was a more accurate statement of his work and fell out badly with the businessmen when he tried to persuade them to release it. They were both released independently and, later he was to continue to release work outside of, but parallel to, his deals with the major labels.
Peggy Suicide is the album that most people, who have an opinion on it, see as a turning point in Cope's career, where he became complete, if you like. He kissed and made up with Island Records and read a book called 'Guitar Army: Rock and Revolution with the MC5 and the White Panther Party' by poet and manager of the MC5, John Sinclair that contained ideas that were to form the framework of his recording style from that time onward.
The essence of this philosophy was:
1) One Take (Or Two At Most) Is Enough
2) Music Can Be A Tool Of Cultural Revolution
Concept
First of all, it's NOT a concept album! But the record is full of Cope's ideas on Ecology (the Peggy Suicide of the title being Mother Earth), organised religion, feminism, ecology, Thatcherism and the Poll Tax. On vinyl, it was a double in a fairly luxurious for the time gatefold package. The one take approach is confirmed in the sleeve notes, where he acknowledges two occasions where he fluffed the vocals and provides the correct words. He had assembled a band of multi instrumentalists who could cope with this approach to making music, the cornerstone being Donald Ross Skinner. I saw them perform and during one memorable gig in Glasgow, the band members switched instruments with each other several times mid-song without missing a single beat - including Cope taking over at the drum kit.
Success
The record reached number 23 in the UK album chart and there were four singles:
'Safesurfer' - didn't chart
'East Easy Rider' - No. 53 in the UK / 25 in US
'Beautiful Love' - 32 in UK / 4 in US
'Head' - 57 in UK
The Music
Playing this album today, it's rather telling that the discs were placed into some anti-static inner sleeves that were from the first pack of 25 that I ever bought (a type that I have never bought since because they were so expensive!) - an indication of how often I played them and how much I prized the album at the time.
The album starts off with 'Pristeen' which is a song about falling in love with your ideal woman, only to find out that she's not quite what you thought. However, it's intended as a metaphor for the relationship that the human race has with the planet.
Musically, my favourite track on the album is 'Double Vegetation', the subject matter of which is rather pertinent in 2015, given current affairs. It concerns itself with the trait of white liberal intellectuals peddling the politics of fear - firstly with communism and then with Islam.
Another high point for me is the guitar playing in 'Safesurfer', which has Cope duetting with Moon-Eye, who was future Spiritualized lead guitarist Michael Watts.
'Soldier Blue' concerns itself with the events that transpired during the anti poll tax demonstration that happened during the time of the recording sessions. Cope took part in the march, dressed in a costume that he called Sqwubbsy.
Being a double, it's a long album at about 80 minutes but it's varied enough and the tracks are superbly sequenced to hold your attention. The subject matter doesn't detract from the music one little bit - there was a contemporary review in Rolling Stone magazine by David Fricke, who summed it up rather nicely:
The Album
It's on Spotify, both in its original format, but also as an extended version with an extra CD full of unreleased material
This is the original:
For those without Spotify, here it is on You Tube:
More info:
Wikipedi: Peggy Suicide article
Rolling Stone magazine review by David Fricke: Review
As an extra item of interest/hilarity, here's a section of 'The Late Show' from 1991 which features an interview with Cope just before the album was released.
Suggested related listening:
Most fans lump this album in with the two that followed it as a kind of triptych work of protest songs. 'Jehovakill' focussed on organised religion while 'Autogeddon' deals with...well you can probably guess!
His first two solo albums ('World Shut Your Mouth' and 'Fried') are great, as are the first two Teardrops records ('Kilimanjaro' and 'Wilder'), though those two suffer a little nowadays in production terms from being products of their time. 'Saint Julian' is a good spin too and it contains one or two superb tracks.
Background
Julian Cope is bonkers - many, many people, including him, have pretty well said as much. I enjoyed it being described as "Flirting with derangement", however, that doesn't stop this being great album and actually, it might have helped make a lot of his records better albums.
He made two and a half records with his previous band (before the The Teardrop Explodes exploded(!)). The first two were well received, sold well and spawned a few biggish singles.
'Peggy Suicide' was his fifth officially supported solo album. The first two ('World Shut Your Mouth' and 'Fried') had been so unsuccessful that his record company dropped him like a hot spud but are now seen rather differently. The next two ('Saint Julian' and 'My Nation Underground') despite yielding some minor singles success had proved unsatisfying to him. Two more records - 'Skellington' and 'Droolian' - were made lo-fi style and were not supported by his record company or managers. 'Skellington' rather cheekily made use of the studio over a 'weekend off' near the end of the recording of the 'My Nation Underground' album. He felt this was a more accurate statement of his work and fell out badly with the businessmen when he tried to persuade them to release it. They were both released independently and, later he was to continue to release work outside of, but parallel to, his deals with the major labels.
Peggy Suicide is the album that most people, who have an opinion on it, see as a turning point in Cope's career, where he became complete, if you like. He kissed and made up with Island Records and read a book called 'Guitar Army: Rock and Revolution with the MC5 and the White Panther Party' by poet and manager of the MC5, John Sinclair that contained ideas that were to form the framework of his recording style from that time onward.
The essence of this philosophy was:
1) One Take (Or Two At Most) Is Enough
2) Music Can Be A Tool Of Cultural Revolution
Concept
First of all, it's NOT a concept album! But the record is full of Cope's ideas on Ecology (the Peggy Suicide of the title being Mother Earth), organised religion, feminism, ecology, Thatcherism and the Poll Tax. On vinyl, it was a double in a fairly luxurious for the time gatefold package. The one take approach is confirmed in the sleeve notes, where he acknowledges two occasions where he fluffed the vocals and provides the correct words. He had assembled a band of multi instrumentalists who could cope with this approach to making music, the cornerstone being Donald Ross Skinner. I saw them perform and during one memorable gig in Glasgow, the band members switched instruments with each other several times mid-song without missing a single beat - including Cope taking over at the drum kit.
Success
The record reached number 23 in the UK album chart and there were four singles:
'Safesurfer' - didn't chart
'East Easy Rider' - No. 53 in the UK / 25 in US
'Beautiful Love' - 32 in UK / 4 in US
'Head' - 57 in UK
The Music
Playing this album today, it's rather telling that the discs were placed into some anti-static inner sleeves that were from the first pack of 25 that I ever bought (a type that I have never bought since because they were so expensive!) - an indication of how often I played them and how much I prized the album at the time.
The album starts off with 'Pristeen' which is a song about falling in love with your ideal woman, only to find out that she's not quite what you thought. However, it's intended as a metaphor for the relationship that the human race has with the planet.
Musically, my favourite track on the album is 'Double Vegetation', the subject matter of which is rather pertinent in 2015, given current affairs. It concerns itself with the trait of white liberal intellectuals peddling the politics of fear - firstly with communism and then with Islam.
Another high point for me is the guitar playing in 'Safesurfer', which has Cope duetting with Moon-Eye, who was future Spiritualized lead guitarist Michael Watts.
'Soldier Blue' concerns itself with the events that transpired during the anti poll tax demonstration that happened during the time of the recording sessions. Cope took part in the march, dressed in a costume that he called Sqwubbsy.
Being a double, it's a long album at about 80 minutes but it's varied enough and the tracks are superbly sequenced to hold your attention. The subject matter doesn't detract from the music one little bit - there was a contemporary review in Rolling Stone magazine by David Fricke, who summed it up rather nicely:
For a project of such missionary desperation, Peggy Suicide has a surprisingly homespun charm, a crackling chamber-garage sound that combines rhythmic precision and artful keyboard deployment with swelling guitar chaos and first-take vocal immediacy.
The Album
It's on Spotify, both in its original format, but also as an extended version with an extra CD full of unreleased material
This is the original:
For those without Spotify, here it is on You Tube:
More info:
Wikipedi: Peggy Suicide article
Rolling Stone magazine review by David Fricke: Review
As an extra item of interest/hilarity, here's a section of 'The Late Show' from 1991 which features an interview with Cope just before the album was released.
Suggested related listening:
Most fans lump this album in with the two that followed it as a kind of triptych work of protest songs. 'Jehovakill' focussed on organised religion while 'Autogeddon' deals with...well you can probably guess!
His first two solo albums ('World Shut Your Mouth' and 'Fried') are great, as are the first two Teardrops records ('Kilimanjaro' and 'Wilder'), though those two suffer a little nowadays in production terms from being products of their time. 'Saint Julian' is a good spin too and it contains one or two superb tracks.
. 
