Julian Cope
Fried

Sssstos! Pac! Occasionally, I put them back on, the old vinyl records. Back in the day, I wore this one out, then recently I saw the CD reissue. Should I get it or not... For the old cassette recordings, there's no doubt, but for the LPs... Hmm! The saga of "Reynard The Fox" opens the first side, and it's immediately pure psychedelia on solid POP MELODY. The drums are all on the left channel, while the sad story of the fox (it's English, they're hunting it) is told to us in verses and sounds, up to the final explosion. Ptoof! Bill Drummond - a guy who if I remember correctly was with good Julian in the teardrop that explodes - Said something. Not sure what, but the track is "Sixties Pop In The Eighties". Perfect, then "Laughing Boy" re-explodes with Barrett-like flashes, and for "Me Singing" it's a return to what's said for the second track. The side closes with another gem, "Sunspots", very sixties in trajectory with final orchestration.

Pssst! Ttoc! Flip the record - dang! with the CD I don't move ... - . "The Bloody Assizes", with a reel type jig that at any moment you believe that the seven brothers for the seven sisters will materialize in your living room.... What to say, JC was (is) really blitzed! "Search Party" akin to "Laughing Boy". Then the king of chaos plays the piano sideways. "Holy Love" is a gentle melody on articulate arrangements but never cloying, and the jewel ends on the ecclesiastical organ of "Torpedo", with a ppssssicholothink rendered by our boy. Other worlds. Music with the Gothic M, still today as in '84 when not even twenty I hypnotized myself with these mind waves - forget drugs! No Contest: fivefifths!

PS: the year after, a double EP came out with a remix of "Sunspots", the electric nursery rhyme "Mik Mak Mok", the trip of "I Went On A Chourney" - and you can feel it, JC! - and the first version of "Land Of Fear", with extra drums compared to the version that ended up on "20 Mothers". Another treasure chest of valuables, added as a bonus to the CD. Just one word: grab it!