A couple of days ago a friend of mine, who I'd got to know in my final year at university almost thirty five years ago, send me a great early Christmas Gift though I don't imagine it was intended as such. It was a link to the latest Julian Cope.album Friar Tuck. A recording that it seems is unlikely to be released on conventional.formats I imagine. Cope increasingly plays by his own dictates these days.
The arrival of these recodings is a cause of considerable celebration and moment I'd say. And not just for the likes of me for whom Cope played a considerable role of the development of my emotional and educational gestalt in my increasingly distant youth.
Cope had his most obvious moment in the sun in Pop terms in the early Eighties as leader of Psychedelic Pop warriors The Teardrop Explodes. I remember vividly getting up and preparing for school as an unkempt and spotty teenager with Reward, the Teardrops breakthrough slab of seven image blaring from my transistor.It felt like a discovery. It's still thrilling and remarkable that song,
The Teardrop Explodes burnt themselves out remarkably quickly. They were come and gone within five years. Bit Cope has survived endured and frankly thrived as one of the most fascinating and iconic figures on the British cultural landscape ever since. Not just as a musician, releasing fascinating records intermittently and touring them. But also as an acclaimed and respected pulished author on Neolithic culture and as a sage cultural and polirical commentator with few parallels I'd say.
The emotional, cultural and psychological undertow of Cope's work has aways been distinctive and fascinating. Friar Tuck is a fascinating and immediately excellent gift and one I look forward to unpacking processing fully in 2025. It's touched by genius as much of his work has been.. When people talk about National Treasures, personally I don't look much further than this guy,
* The record is on YouTube if you care to check it out for yoirself.
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