Julian Cope

Drunken Songs

The Archdrude unearths his inner sot.

Once an enthusiastic advocate for LSD’s psychic exploration as opposed to the bovine mainstream pursuit of booze, Julian Cope first talked of dipping his tongue in fermented waters circa 2004, after coming through the early years of parenting. Typically, he’s since turned into an enthusiast, here celebrating beer as an expression of Anglo-Saxon primitivism (say no to Southern European wine!), via half-adozen thigh-slappin’ ditties which hark back, ironically, to the humoristic ‘acid-campfire’ songcraft of 1990’s Skellington. Regardless of drug preferences, Cope-watchers have marvelled at their hero’s recent reacquisition of his melodic touch, beloved from his Teardrop Explodes/early solo era, but largely shunned on jam-heavy noughties albums. Highlights on this pubby outing include Drink Me Under The Table (Wilder-era Teardrops, with the synths replaced by Cope’s trusty Day-Glo Mellotron M400), and Liver Big As Hartlepool, which takes an amusingly oddball (and Pete Wylietrouncing) strum through memories of post-punk Liverpool. Bottoms up, sir! Andrew Perry