359) Julian Cope - Saint Julian

Passionate Friend, Treason and Reward had made Julian Cope a chart friendly star but after the Teardrops broke up the world was not ready for his solo albums with his first two records both selling poorly.

I knew the above singles but I was too young for the start of his solo career but thirty nine years ago (I looked it up 9/10/86 – frightening) I saw this very cool man all in leathers and shades climb up his microphone stand and perch himself above everyone as he belted out a song called World Shut Your Mouth.  All heavy hitting drums, a riff with a  hook and an incredibly catchy chorus. I had recently bought a biker’s leather jacket, so this appealed as soon as I saw him on TOTP’s but the mike stand and the fact that the song was excellent drew me in. I’ll not comment if I looked as cool as Mr Cope, you can guess.

Cope was reclaiming his pop star mantle after the commercial failure of his first two solo records and Saint Julian was released in 1987 and I bought it the day it came out, remember when things like that were important. When I re-started buying vinyl in recent years, I always had my eye out for this and have also managed to get Peggy Suicide I doubt I’ll ever be able to afford Jehovahill unless I re-mortgage.

Seemingly Julian is not too fond of it, and that’s quite rightly his prerogative, whereas I, then and now, find it an enormously enjoyable record. The other singles Trampolene and Eve’s Volcano should have also made the top twenty, both with a hook from the start, Trampolene never lets up whereas Eve’s Volcano slows us down but has wonderful recurring riff throughout (Cope called the band that backed him on this record Two Car Garage Band and they are excellent from the off).

Shot Down romps towards the chorus and the organ swirl is magic, Spacehopper he yelps and the band storm in an don’t let up and Dream Academy’s Kate St John enhances the title track with her playing of the cor anglais (of course I had to look that up).  Pulsar, Julian leads the band with confident vocals as they fall in behind him and Screaming Secrets for some reason makes me smile , the “don’t ever change your mind” part and contains a great solo.

After all this relentlessness Kate is back and we have running water and an eight-minute acoustic number with strings, A Crack in the Clouds, its lovely and shows us he has not lost his out their touch.

This was Mr Cope searching for the mainstream and he succeeded before slowly retreating. If you want an incredibly catchy album full of infectious tunes, ideal for when you need to blow the cobwebs away then reach for Saint Julian.

8/10

GIVE IT A STREAM: Eve’s Volcano