The good news is he's here on Citizen Cain'd, Cope's most coherent musical dispatch yet since vetoing the mainstream record industry in the late-'90s and retreating into his own cyber-haven of maximum creative freedom with all its attendant pitfalls of quality control. The bad news is that the first of the album's two, markedly different discs is very much a false start, tapping into the same regressive Stooges squeal of his latter LAMF/Brain Donor side-projects (opener "Hell Is Wicked" even takes the Iggy schtick as far as mimicking the stabbing, monotone piano of "I Wanna Be Your Dog"). Still, there's one good joke: "I'm Living In The Room They Found Saddam In". Reads like a Half Man Half Biscuit song. Plays like "Gimme Danger" from Raw Power with added Bontempi. You get the picture.
We don't really see the back of Iggy Cope until part two where, at last, the melodic Julian of old returns to haunt us. "Feels Like A Crying Shame" is pure stoner-stuck-in-a-soulful-groove, but the voice is unmistakably that of the man who induced goosebumps on Peggy Suicide‘s “Pristeen“ or, further back still, The Teardrops‘ "The Great Dominions". It gets better: "World War Pigs" overcomes such titular schoolboy politics in a brawny, rumbling acoustic mantra; "Stomping Dionysus" has all the sparkle of "Jellypop Perky Jean"; "Homeless Strangers" is a beautifully sung, grand ‘70s country-rock lament; and though it lurches into cod-cosmic babbling, the plodding "Edge Of Death" is worth sticking with for its barmy, melodramatic crescendo.
By the skin of its teeth, in extra time Citizen Cain'd manages to claim “best Cope album in a decade” (since 1995's 20 Mothers). But it’s a scrappy victory from an audibly flawed (not floored) genius.
By Simon Goddard
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WA
Like your reviewer I've been waiting since the mid-90s for the genius of Julian Cope to re-emerge. Cope has made mainly excellent albums, his 1st two solo albums are fantastci, and from the late 80s to the mid 90s he produced a string of great albums from Skellington to Interpreter, with 2 of them - Peggy Suicide & Jehovah Kill - being quite brilliant. Now this one lands in my letterbox from the UK. The best Cope since 20 Mothers? No, that would be 96's Interpreter. However, this one and 2003's Rome Wasn't Burned In A Day shows that Cope can still write great songs.
What this album lacks is a bit of variety, particularly on Disc 1. Disc 2 is more listenable as your reviewer points out, but the Living Dead is tuneless while Edge of Death gets boring- I walked out of my own living room while this song was playing, I suddenly had an urge to do the laundry.
The genius is coming out again perhaps. But it's almost as if Cope won't let it fully come out.
nj
Julian certainly needs to be humble and find a record company that will back him. The quality of sound, especially on the first disc makes my state of the art system sound like a 70's Hi Fi.
There are moments of brilliance, just like there should be, but most of this new project is pure dribble. Incoherent, rambling, distorted and just plain noisy.
And I love Julian, but I wont back this one. Save your money and wait for him to come in from the cold.
