new introductory bit here.

This is a reviews page based on my own collection, which just keeps growing despite itself. If it isn't listed here, it's because I don't own it yet, or I haven't gotten around to it yet.

Also, bother your local "new rock" radio station and make sure they are playing "new rock" and not "Rock the Casbah," which is not new.

note: entries in red text indicate my pick for the artist's best available album. A gold numeral indicates the POPocalypse winner of the year's best album; second- and third-place winners are in blue. Green lettering indicates an obviously exploitative record company compilation without apparent artist input.

Called "the greatest living Englishman" by some of his fans, Cope started his career in the late 70s as a member of a Liverpool band called the Crucial Three alongside Ian McCulloch and Pete Wylie. When they decided they'd rather hate each other than play together, Cope formed The Teardrop Explodes, an act who maintained a successful three-year run with a pair of top 20 singles. This band also disintegrated, thanks in no small part to everyone's massive LSD intake.

Cope started a solo career with two albums in 1984. The first charted decently; the second, Fried, was made when Cope had more LSD than blood in his veins and bombed. Cope moved into quiet suburban life in Tamworth and critics sighed that it was Syd Barret all over again.

Surprisingly, Cope returned in 1986 as a leather-clad short-haired frontman signed to Island Records and was suddenly charting again, even denting Billboard with pop anthems like "World Shut Your Mouth" and "5 O'Clock World." He was successful, but he wasn't happy.

Proving himself one of rock's great chameleons, Cope entered an extremist "Mother Earth" phase of ultra-political, pagan philosophy and very loud music. He grew his hair long, began protesting nuclear power and the poll tax, often in the company of a nine-foot tall robed "alien" called Squbbsy, and delivered the results in an 80-minute attack on Thatcher's Britain called Peggy Suicide. Rambling, powerful and thought-provoking, this 1991 effort really defines what's meant by "heavy" music. I disagree with Cope's religious views, but he takes great inspiration from them and he expresses them very powerfully and convincingly, both hallmarks of great artists.

Taking little time off, Cope was soon back with Jehovahkill, where the cannons were aimed squarely at Christianity and my religion doesn't come off well. He was also regularly mocking his far more successful Island labelmates U2 and Guns n' Roses and, despite his regular top 30 placings, it surprised nobody when Island dropped him.

He was happier on indie labels anyway, but Autogeddon, sadly, is the sound of someone losing the plot. This 1994 effort is very loud, with metal guitars, angry and rambling. It never gives a quarter to the audience, and infuriatingly names John Lennon's assassin in one number. More focussed energy on creating listenable songs would guarantee this more spins. The overall theme is Cope's fear of "autogeddon," the destruction -- by automobile -- of our environment. It's a focussed and intriguing theme, but the performances add up to the worst effort of his career.

Back on track a year later, 20 Mothers is like a follow-up to Peggy Suicide, much closer to the sound we associate with Cope. It's a mix of thinking man's pop, dense soundscapes and diatribes against politicians and for Mother Earth. I dislike the rambling "By the Light of the Silbury Moon," but you can't argue with the very catchy "Wheelbarrow Man," "Don't Take Roots" and "Try Try Try," and the synthesizers of "Just Like Pooh Bear" are perfect. This confident, intelligent pop groove continued in 1996's Interpreter, where Cope expertly bounces mystical iconography off catchy tunes for a well-regarded minor hit, including a smart pair of UK top 40. It's packaged in an enviro-friendly but impossible to file box, and came out on a small indie in the US a year later.

Since '96, Cope has focussed on his other career as an author, writing three volumes of memoirs and music industry dissections, and a highly-regarded history of Britain's ancient mystical sites. He has continued to tour and released limited-edition albums online.

We like the Cope. The Cope smokes dope.

JULIAN COPE: Floored Genius: The Best of Julian Cope and the Teardrop Explodes, 1979-91 (1992, UK #22, ****)
20 tracks, divided into four phases of Cope's career. Good packaging and photos, and containing two rare songs from two of his scarce "pseudonym" albums. His cacaphonous "epics" like "Safesurfer" and "Reynard the Fox" sound a little bloated next to the intelligent, shorter rock around them.

JULIAN COPE: Floored Genius 2 -- Best of the BBC Sessions 1983-91 (1993, **)
Many of the 17 songs from this BBC/Dutch East India collection are performed by Julian solo with a beat box. Only one of them was a single, and most of them are so loopy that the very idea of radio sessions is an odd one. The CD includes session credits and an essay.