It's taken a while longer than I expected, but here - at last - is the promised second volume of recreated Julian Cope live sets.
Volume 1 revisited Julian at the Bierkeller in Bristol on 29th January 1995, thirty years after the fact. Today's post goes back twenty years to the Fleece & Firkin on Thursday 20th January 2005, when Mrs. K and I went to see "Julian Cope and his ear splitting rock band", as the tour promo proudly proclaimed.
The flyer went on to promise
"An evening of full-throttle, maximum darkness and
mythological rock 'n' roll
bringing psychedelia firmly into the 21st century."
And we were told to "Expect music from Cope's latest album Citizen Cain'd with old favourites.". All of which we got, and more.
Looking at the setlist, what immediately strikes me is how many "old favourites" that have since become gig staples were absent from this particular show. There's no sign of Soul Desert, The Greatness And Perfection Of Love, The Great Dominions or Treason (in fact, no Teardrop Explodes songs at all) and, unthinkable now, Sunspots.
Yet, this is a strength and fits with Julian's full-on commitment to "full-throttle [...] rock 'n' roll".
Sprinting from the starting line is Hanging Out & Hung Up On The Line from 1991's magnum opus Peggy Suicide. Sporadically performed over the years, this is the one and only time that I've experienced the song live in concert. As an opening statement of intent though, it was hard to beat, the band pummelling their instruments as Julian swaggered through the crowd to take his place on stage.
That's one persistent memory of the night: Julian was out there physically and well as mentally, frequently using the bar to the side as a personal catwalk, no doubt to the consternation of the drinkers and Fleece staff alike. But it was brilliant to behold.
The initial trio of tunes - if you can call them tunes - was rounded out with a couple of songs by Julian's "power trio", Brain Donor, fellow bandmates Tony 'Doggen' Foster (lead guitar) and Kevin 'Kevlar' Bales (drums) both present and correct on stage this evening.
Like A Motherfucker and My Pagan Ass more than deliver on the "maximum darkness and mythological" front, followed by the equally heavy Gimme Head, the first of four songs that night from the long-promised and finally delivered album, Citizen Cain'd.
By the time the rather more gentle intro of Highway To The Sun comes in, it's a brief respite although the song builds and grows in intensity before falling headfirst into it's crashing final passage. A song from 1995's 20 Mothers, it wasn't included in the Bierkeller gig that I saw the same year and again is the first and last time that I've seen Julian perform the song. A shame, as I think it would sit comfortably with his penchant/necessity for solo sets, were he to hit the road again.
Necropolis is another song that I'm not sure that Julian has played live outside of the 2005 tour. An instrumental from 1992's Peggy Suicide, it fits in well with the heavy rock of this show, but may have been slightly out of place in other sets, and frankly impossible to perform once Julian stopped touring with a full live band.
The next pair of songs - in their studio form, at least - are very long. I don't remember if either or both Feels Like A Crying Shame (from Citizen Cain'd) or s.t.a.r.c.a.r (from Autogeddon, 1994) replicated the 11+ minutes duration in a live setting, but they will at least have slowed the pace down considerably, allowing Julian and the band a breather and a long, groove compared to what had gone before.
From there a couple more kick-ass tunes from Citizen Cain'd, Hell Is Wicked and I Can't Hardly Stand It. The other thing to mention is that Mrs. K and I were also hearing these songs for the first time: I bought Citizen Cain'd, in it's slipcase housing a black shiny 2CD jewel case within, and Rite Now (2002) from the merch stall on the night.
It's fair to say that the studio versions, and the album's production in general, didn't quite live up to the electrifying, energetic live performances, but I can get past that and enjoy the quality of the songs.
Of course, being the consummate performer that he is, the night ended with a trio of proper "old favourites", Double Vegetation, Spacehopper and Reynard The Fox, which unsurprisingly got the strongest reaction from the crowd.
I guess that there will have been many that walking away that night, complaining that the show leaned heavily on new stuff and obscure crap at the expense of the greatest hits. Personally, I was thrilled, not least because Julian and the band were on red hot form, but also that this was the first Julian `Cope gig that I went to with Mrs. K, and she enjoyed it too.
We got to do it all again the following year, when Julian was touring the Dark Orgasm album, then it was nearly a decade and half later before I saw Julian with my friend Stuart for (to the date) the last time in London, 2020.
If you enjoy today's selection, you may be interested to know that in an unusual step, Julian has celebrated 20 years since the release of the Citizen Cain'd album with not one, not two but three separate CDs.
First is a reissue of the album itself as a single CD without losing any of the songs or running time of the original, with brand new artwork and sleeve notes. I'm a Cope obsessive but not a completist, so I've given this one a miss.
Second is a companion album, On The Road To Citizen Cain'd, collected ten songs intended for the album but due to the protracted development, evolution and release, got released elsewhere and didn't make the final cut. Whilst the CD is advertised as all previously released material, albeit long out of print, in fact several of these are different versions or edits so I'm glad I took a punt.
Lastly, is the latest in the Cope's Notes series of CD and booklet, inevitably focussing on Citizen Cain'd. Every single one of the Cope's Notes releases (this is #7) has been an essential purchase and this doesn't disappoint. The booklet contains Julian's reflections on the labour and birth of the album, with photos from the archives, whilst the CD contains nine unreleased songs and two demos of tracks from Citizen Cain'd.
Truly, the gift that keeps on giving, in respect of music, musings and memories.
1) Hanging Out & Hung Up On The Line (Album Version) (1991)
2) Like A Motherfucker (Live @ Lyric Hammersmith, London) (2003)
3) My Pagan Ass: Brain Donor (2003)
4) Gimme Head (2005)
5) Highway To The Sun (1995)
6) Necropolis (1992)
7) Feels Like A Crying Shame (2005)
8) s.t.a.r.c.a.r (Album Version) (1994)
9) Hell Is Wicked (2005)
10) I Can't Hardly Stand It (2005)
11) Double Vegetation (Richard Skinner Session) (1989)
12) Spacehopper (Album Version) (1987)
13) Reynard The Fox (Remixed By Hugo NIcholson) (1992)
Volume 2: 2005 (1:13:44) (KF) (Mega)
