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Goddammit I love this record so much. Alright...it's Saturday night, and I've already had three beers on a relatively empty stomach, so this might not be as coherent as my usual In Praise Of's, but I threw this on this afternoon and it provided such a buoyant kickstart to my evening that I cannot effectively articulate how much I love this record.
Released when the rest of the music-loving words seemed to be furtively fondling itself over stuff like Loveless by My Bloody Valentine and Screamadelica by Primal Scream (not that there's anything necessarily wrong with those records), Peggy Suicide came along as this sprawling, whip-smart, ambitious concept album that restored all faith in Julian Cope's wildly erratic solo career. Simply put, Peggy Suicide has fucking EVERYTHING, from balls-out rockers ("Hanging Out & Hung Up on the Line") and blissful pop ("Beautiful Love") to loping "baggy" funk ("East Easy Rider") and bizarrely ambient stretches ("Western Front 1992 CE"), it's a remarkably diverse record that has no business sounding as coherent and cohesive as it does (almost lending legitimacy once again to the maligned notion of 'concept albums'). Cope hadn't yet re-chashed in his chips and was still focussed (before the rot set back in with Autogeddon) and comes across as furious and rocking as he is enlightened and conscious.
The guitar-spiralling, yowling climax of "Double Vegetation" alone renders this vast album an absolute classic. And GAWDALMIGHTY don't I love. Even if Copey said all sorts of nasty stuff about Jaz Coleman in "Head-On," I'd spare his life for bestowing this prize on the undeserving, cursed globe.
If you don't own it, go fetch it at once, earth-hater!!!
Tell me I'm wrong, go ahead. I'm too blissed out to care.
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 9 November 2003 00:22 (twenty years ago) link
That sbould've read "music-loving world...". Sorry.
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 9 November 2003 00:24 (twenty years ago) link
― Sean (Sean), Sunday, 9 November 2003 01:06 (twenty years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 9 November 2003 01:10 (twenty years ago) link
― sucka (sucka), Sunday, 9 November 2003 02:37 (twenty years ago) link
(I don't get the "all hippie" comment. Is sucka talking about the lyrical content or sound???)
― peepee (peepee), Sunday, 9 November 2003 14:22 (twenty years ago) link
(Haha, I think all that Jazz Coal Man business in Head On was about the final nail in the Being Able To Take Killing Joke Seriously coffin for me).
― Ferg (Ferg), Sunday, 9 November 2003 14:43 (twenty years ago) link
haven't heard much Cope i'm afraid (i think i thought "20 Mothers" was pretty lousy), but thumbs up for that compilation!
― tod (tod), Sunday, 9 November 2003 15:32 (twenty years ago) link
I found Interpretter virtually unlistenable. The Brain Donor stuff bores me, and the one Audience with the Cope compilation I bothered to seek out is no great shakes either. Has he lost it?
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 9 November 2003 16:24 (twenty years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 9 November 2003 16:29 (twenty years ago) link
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 9 November 2003 16:45 (twenty years ago) link
I recommend avoiding Cope live, unless you enjoy hearing at least as much "I'm mad, me" wibbling as music.
― DV (dirtyvicar), Sunday, 9 November 2003 17:41 (twenty years ago) link
And Cope live was entirely entertaining both times I saw him.
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 9 November 2003 19:49 (twenty years ago) link
"JULIAN COPE... YOU'RE INSANE!".
I busted a gut everytime i heard it because the concept of an artist saying that about himself in a song was just a gutbusting proposition in general.
― donut bitch (donut), Sunday, 9 November 2003 20:17 (twenty years ago) link
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 9 November 2003 20:21 (twenty years ago) link
― spittle (JesseFox), Sunday, 9 November 2003 21:30 (twenty years ago) link
― anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Monday, 10 November 2003 00:24 (twenty years ago) link
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 10 November 2003 00:25 (twenty years ago) link
C'mon split my head wide open, scoop out a little of my BRAIN! Need some identification? JULIAN COPE....the very SANE!"
Trust me.
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 10 November 2003 00:27 (twenty years ago) link
― anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Monday, 10 November 2003 00:29 (twenty years ago) link
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 10 November 2003 00:29 (twenty years ago) link
I've seen the man many times live too... On the "St Julian", "Jehovahkill" and "20 Mothers" tours, plus "An evening with..." in '97 and - bizzarely - the opening of the Cardiff Virgin Megastore in 1991, where he played a set of "Peggy Suicide" songs in the main shopping centre auditorium - managing to include the names of the surrounding shops into an improvisation around "Leperskin", then did a record signing, during which he signed my copy of "PS" with "To Rob, Rock on, dude! love Julian". It's a very very cherished item.
― Rob M (Rob M), Monday, 10 November 2003 09:13 (twenty years ago) link
― Robert Moore (treble), Monday, 10 November 2003 09:26 (twenty years ago) link
I found an Island promo cassette one day on a stall in Carnaby street, "Julian Cope Demos", and bought it.
Basically, most of the Peggy Suicide album, with one or two exceptions/differences..
"was down when it rains" same version except it's Julian singing...other stuff, different mixes atcet...Oh yeah, and the 'title track' for "Peggy Suicide". Called "Junk-Kie". Did this ever get released?
― mark grout (mark grout), Monday, 10 November 2003 10:35 (twenty years ago) link
(insert own punchline ...)
― mark grout (mark grout), Monday, 10 November 2003 11:00 (twenty years ago) link
Hmmmm....doesn't ring any bells for me. How is it?
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 10 November 2003 13:01 (twenty years ago) link
Still a great, great record, and if you don't own it, you're dead to me.
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 17 July 2005 16:42 (eighteen years ago) link
― van nostrum (Buck Van Smack), Sunday, 17 July 2005 17:01 (eighteen years ago) link
― keith m (keithmcl), Sunday, 17 July 2005 17:08 (eighteen years ago) link
― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Sunday, 17 July 2005 17:18 (eighteen years ago) link
Still gives me shivers when Cope's voice ascends for that first chorus of Double Vegetation.
― mzui (mzui), Sunday, 17 July 2005 18:21 (eighteen years ago) link
― mark grout (mark grout), Monday, 18 July 2005 07:16 (eighteen years ago) link
Beautifully worded.
Absolutely. Easily my favorite moment of the album.
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 18 July 2005 20:38 (eighteen years ago) link
The irony of course is that this album is fucking GREAT to drive to.
― doug watson (solid air), Monday, 18 July 2005 23:41 (eighteen years ago) link
― kyle (akmonday), Tuesday, 19 July 2005 00:55 (eighteen years ago) link
i remember driving home having just bought the import cd of peggy suicide... i couldn't listen to it because my car only had a tape deck, but just looking at it i knew it was going to be fucking fantastic. the b-sides, while not great, are highly entertaining. except the remixed head called heed: of penetration and the city-dweller which is great.
i think jehovahkill and autogeddon are just as good (if not better than) peggy suicide though. especially jehovahkill. a couple horrible songs, but i'll take "the tower" or "s.t.a.r.c.a.r." over "safesurfer" even though i love them all. 20 mothers and interpreter are much more iffy.
hi keith!
― fortunate hazel (f. hazel), Tuesday, 19 July 2005 01:23 (eighteen years ago) link
Picked this up last night and, after a couple full listens, I'm wondering where this album has been my whole life. Really strikes me as a parallel album to Sign 'o' the Times, a double album overflowing with ideas, not merely genre exercises but fully realized songs and ideas. In the sound I hear bits of Bowie, Nick Cave, Peter Murphy (all things I'm used to listening to, of course -- I'm sure there are influences I'm not picking up on) and also Bunnymen/McCulloch and of course the Teardrops and '60s psych-pop and on and on it goes. What an album!
― I just wish he hadn't adopted the "ilxor" moniker (ilxor), Wednesday, 15 July 2009 14:18 (fourteen years ago) link
super album but 'safesurfer' really is the highlight
think i might marginally prefer 'jehovahkill'
― thank you, flipper, for nickelback (country matters), Wednesday, 15 July 2009 14:20 (fourteen years ago) link
In the sound I hear bits of Bowie, Nick Cave, Peter Murphy (all things I'm used to listening to, of course -- I'm sure there are influences I'm not picking up on)
So there's this guy called Scott Walker...
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 15 July 2009 14:20 (fourteen years ago) link
good album,Fried is better though
― Zeno, Wednesday, 15 July 2009 14:31 (fourteen years ago) link
Fried is good, but Peggy Suicide is better. I think of it as Cope's first album, with everything before it being removed from history.
― The Real Dirty Vicar, Wednesday, 15 July 2009 14:33 (fourteen years ago) link
Sunspots, The Laughing Boy and Land Of Fear are pretty much the apex of Cope imo (Gimme Back My Flag and Safesurfer notwithstanding)
― thank you, flipper, for nickelback (country matters), Wednesday, 15 July 2009 14:39 (fourteen years ago) link
"Not Raving But Drowning" ftw. Side 4 a bit underwhelming like all proper double albums.
― tuch her body to get her in a good mod (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 15 July 2009 14:53 (fourteen years ago) link
Hey now, I'm a big fan. Obviously Scott's a big influence on Bowie/Murphy/Cave but I didn't pick up on that directly in Cope's work on this album. But if Ned says it is so, then it is obviously so.
Ned, what are your fav. Scott releases?
― I just wish he hadn't adopted the "ilxor" moniker (ilxor), Wednesday, 15 July 2009 15:05 (fourteen years ago) link
Cope talks about how he was a total Walker fiend for the early eighties, and he and Bill Drummond compiled an album of his songs for release on the Zoo label. So it's more a continuing influence than anything else.
As for my own favorites, I'm pretty canonical I guess -- the best Walker Brothers stuff, the first four albums, his Nite Flight tracks, the three solo albums from the eighties on, etc. etc.
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 15 July 2009 15:12 (fourteen years ago) link
Ah, interesting stuff. Thanks. I obviously need to check out more of Cope's solo work.
― I just wish he hadn't adopted the "ilxor" moniker (ilxor), Wednesday, 15 July 2009 15:13 (fourteen years ago) link
I remember liking Jehovahkill a little better than Peggy, but it's beeen a while
― Pinto Basin, Wednesday, 15 July 2009 16:47 (fourteen years ago) link
I actually sold off a pile of Julian Cope albums yesterday. I'm still a zealous fan, but let's be honest.... the man hasn't released anything worth listening to since 1995's Twenty Mothers (and even that was patchy).
Peggy Suicide, though, remains unimpeachable.
― Alex in NYC, Wednesday, 15 July 2009 17:15 (fourteen years ago) link
Actually, I quite liked last year's Black Sheep, an album not so far removed from Jehovakill.
Peggy Suicide should receive the deluxe 2CD treatment later this year, by the way.
― Marco Damiani, Thursday, 16 July 2009 07:24 (fourteen years ago) link
I thought it already had!
― Mark G, Thursday, 16 July 2009 07:32 (fourteen years ago) link
Apparently not. Still interested how much of my DemoCassette will be on it (see above)..
To make up, here's a story I just nicked off his latest communique off his site:
Ladies’n’gentlemen, I present my new interpretation of that hoary old story ‘The Princess & The Pea’, here re-visioned and re-named:The Princess & the Sixteenth: One day, a scallywag who lived in Liverpool 8 lost a sixteenth oz. of squidgy black hash but copped off with a beautiful woolyback. The woolly was blond and sexy with a great sense of humour, but she couldn’t sleep on the stack of mattresses that the scally offered her for the night. Nine of them she counted and removed one in the hope that it would make her rest easier. Eight of them now she counted, yet another did she remove, again in the hope that she would rest easier. And over & over she repeated this procedure, but over & over did she fidget as though something below were thrusting into her skin. And finally, in the wee hours of that sleepless night, did she remove the ninth and last mattress, only to discover - to the great delight of the scally - that very sixteenth of squidgy black recently gone missing had rolled under the mattresses. Why, only a princess could have such a sensitive disposition as to notice something so minor, thought the scally; and he skinned up a big one immediately after he’d shagged the ass off her.
The Princess & the Sixteenth: One day, a scallywag who lived in Liverpool 8 lost a sixteenth oz. of squidgy black hash but copped off with a beautiful woolyback. The woolly was blond and sexy with a great sense of humour, but she couldn’t sleep on the stack of mattresses that the scally offered her for the night. Nine of them she counted and removed one in the hope that it would make her rest easier. Eight of them now she counted, yet another did she remove, again in the hope that she would rest easier. And over & over she repeated this procedure, but over & over did she fidget as though something below were thrusting into her skin. And finally, in the wee hours of that sleepless night, did she remove the ninth and last mattress, only to discover - to the great delight of the scally - that very sixteenth of squidgy black recently gone missing had rolled under the mattresses. Why, only a princess could have such a sensitive disposition as to notice something so minor, thought the scally; and he skinned up a big one immediately after he’d shagged the ass off her.
― Mark G, Thursday, 16 July 2009 07:39 (fourteen years ago) link
I got a note where the Peggy Suicide deluxe version was listed for an early September release but who knows really.
― Marco Damiani, Thursday, 16 July 2009 10:15 (fourteen years ago) link
I read both his biographies recently, and was inspired to finally pick up a copy of Peggy Suicide. It didn't really sink in yet, will have to go back. I didn't think I would make it through both books, as there's only so many cliched rock 'n' roll stories one can take. However, Cope injects enough entertaining flights of fancy to balance out the typical romances and debauchery, that I hung in until the end. I got new insights into both his Teardrop Explodes songs and his solo work, although I learned my old high school favorite, Saint Julian is only available as a $50 Japanese import. Dang!
― Fastnbulbous, Thursday, 16 July 2009 14:45 (fourteen years ago) link
Wha? Is that true about St. Julian? I have a copy of it.
― Alex in NYC, Thursday, 16 July 2009 15:35 (fourteen years ago) link
I Think Fried is his only 80's solo album currently still in print.
― Marco Damiani, Thursday, 16 July 2009 15:58 (fourteen years ago) link
Here it is:
PEGGY SUICIDE 2CD Deluxe - European release date: September 4th
TRACKLIST: 1 Pristeen 2 Double Vegetation 3 East Easy Rider 4 Promised Land 5 Hanging Out and Hung Up On the Line 6 Safesurfer 7 If You Loved Me At All 8 Drive, She Said 9 Soldier Blue 10 You... 11 Not Raving But Drowning 12 Head 13 Leperskin 14 Beautiful Love 15 Uptight 16 Western Front 1992 C.E. 17 Hung Up and Hanging Out To Dry 18 The American Lite 19 Las Vegas Basement Unitno: 2 1 Easty Risin [East Easy Rider Remix] 2 Ravebury Stones 3 Love [L.U.V.] [Beautiful Love Remix] 4 Dragonfly 5 Heed: of Penetration and the City-Dweller [Head Remix] 6 Bring Cherhill Down [Vocal Version] 7 Safesurfer [1991 Tour Single] 8 If You Loved Me At All[1991 Tour Single] 9 Butterfly E 10 Straw Dogs 11 Anyway At All
― Marco Damiani, Thursday, 13 August 2009 08:32 (fourteen years ago) link
I have a bunch of JCope demos from this time, including a "title Track", and none of that's here.
― Mark G, Thursday, 13 August 2009 08:43 (fourteen years ago) link
Basically, cd 2 is just b-sides (while Uptight has been added to the original tracklist, it was previously available only on the lp version).
― Marco Damiani, Thursday, 13 August 2009 09:06 (fourteen years ago) link
"Uptight" was on the cassette originally as well. But yeah -- some stuff seems missing.
― Alex in NYC, Thursday, 13 August 2009 11:52 (fourteen years ago) link
Is it probable Cope isn't giving Virgin the rights to anything they didn't already release, thus we get promos and b-sides while demos and things Cope fans want stay in Julian's hands? Maybe he'll put out something through his own label covering the birth processes of Peggy Suicide.
Second question - is this thing only going to be a stupidly expensive import, or is it getting released Stateside? I'd love to have "Uptight" on something besides cassette, but c'mon.
― EZ Snappin, Thursday, 13 August 2009 12:46 (fourteen years ago) link
I'd imagine that if it was up to Cope, the re-release just wouldn't be happening, being that he is, after all, a self-styled "forward-looking mofo."
― Alex in NYC, Thursday, 13 August 2009 14:05 (fourteen years ago) link
Did he have any input or contribute in any way to the Jehovahkill deluxe version a few years back? I haven't seen or heard it (or even looked at a tracklist, come to think of it).
― EZ Snappin, Thursday, 13 August 2009 14:19 (fourteen years ago) link
Neither me.
― Alex in NYC, Thursday, 13 August 2009 14:19 (fourteen years ago) link
Thanks for the help Alex!
― EZ Snappin, Thursday, 13 August 2009 14:22 (fourteen years ago) link
This looks very nice but not sure if I'll shell out for a $25+ import.
― I just wish he hadn't adopted the "ilxor" moniker (ilxor), Thursday, 13 August 2009 14:40 (fourteen years ago) link
Well, he's always announced the re-releases on his site, so..
― Mark G, Thursday, 13 August 2009 14:40 (fourteen years ago) link
He's no Morrissey slamming his ex-labels, but it's a shame that the Peggy Suicide remaster is entirely previously released, esp. when people know other stuff is out there.
― EZ Snappin, Thursday, 13 August 2009 15:01 (fourteen years ago) link
"Did he have any input or contribute in any way to the Jehovahkill deluxe version a few years back? I haven't seen or heard it (or even looked at a tracklist, come to think of it)"
Yes, he and Mick Houghton wrote the (quite funny) liner notes. The Jehovakill bonus cd (see tracklist below) was again based on b-sides and Ep's, but I never had that material so the deluxe version was pretty good for me (it also included a 20-minutes version of Poet Is Priest that I cant remember if it was previously released):
Titles on disc 21.: Nothing2.: I Have Always Been Here Before (13th Floor Elevators cover)3.: This Is My Kin4.: Michael Rother5.: Gogmagog6.: Gone7.: Vivien8.: You Gotta Show9.: Sqwubbsy The Olmec10.: Sizewell B11.: Paleface12.: Free13.: Poet Is Priest (full length)14.: Starry Eyes
― Marco Damiani, Thursday, 13 August 2009 15:48 (fourteen years ago) link
I found that version of "Poet Is Priest" on some blog - it had no attributions, so didn't know it was released on this. Very good song.
That Julian was involved bodes well for Peggy Suicide. But I really don't want to spend $30+ for an album I've already purchased in two configurations. Grr.
― EZ Snappin, Thursday, 13 August 2009 15:55 (fourteen years ago) link
I think I paid $1 for Peggy Suicide the last time I bought it.
― akm, Thursday, 13 August 2009 18:16 (fourteen years ago) link
^ from the titles there's a bunch of previously unreleased stuff on that Jehovahkill 2nd disc (at least, I don't recognise half of them)
As far as a supporting material compilation goes, the Peggy bonus disc is actually pretty good! Most people won't have any of that stuff, let's face it.
― more funny and original than, 'ow you say, a penis (sic), Friday, 14 August 2009 01:32 (fourteen years ago) link
The problem with the bonus disc of the Peggy Suicide deluxe edition is that while all that stuff was previously only available on vinyl, most of it kind of sucks. Heed, the Head remix, is pretty good, but the rest of it is meh.
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Friday, 14 August 2009 05:32 (fourteen years ago) link
Disagree! All the remixes are decent to ace, the two demos off the tour 7” are interesting, and half the b-sides are totally good*. The worst three tracks are stuck away at the end of the disc, too.
*FSVO “good” based on leftover-Peggy-Suicide-stylee wanky jam noodles
― more funny and original than, 'ow you say, a penis (sic), Friday, 14 August 2009 06:12 (fourteen years ago) link
Honestly, I like even weirder stuff like Straw Dogs and Anyway At All, and I'm just disappointed that they didn't find enough space to include a silly little song like Bagged-Out Ken.
ps the Jehovakill bonus disc is excellent and absolutely on par with the album: Neu-like jams, spooky acoustic sketches, off-kilter krautpunk...its very good.
― Marco Damiani, Friday, 14 August 2009 07:35 (fourteen years ago) link
I wasn't that taken with J-Kill, it would seem I'd enjoy the bonus disc more.
― Mark G, Friday, 14 August 2009 08:39 (fourteen years ago) link
What a mad album.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 12 October 2019 16:24 (four years ago) link
put it on while I did laundry this morning, still a fun rollercoaster ride through all sorts of stuff... Leperskin and Las Vegas Basement sounding especially nice.
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Saturday, 12 October 2019 18:26 (four years ago) link
I did mention a JC demo cassette upthread, I did eventually sell it to a super fan who sent me a complete analysis of each track, most of which I had thought were the same as eventually released with three or four exceptions. Turns out they were all different except for two or three exceptions.
It did get a write up in Record Collector a few years later. Still unheard by the genpub, not even on bootleg or download.
I still have my copyoff, obviously.
― Mark G, Saturday, 12 October 2019 22:49 (four years ago) link
share that shit with the rest of the class
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Saturday, 12 October 2019 22:56 (four years ago) link
was always annoyed they left "Uptight" off the deluxe CD edition
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Saturday, 12 October 2019 22:57 (four years ago) link
I loved this when it came out. Still feels to me like the pinnacle of his output
― akm, Sunday, 13 October 2019 03:39 (four years ago) link
They should have added "Jung kie" to the deluxe, but never mind.
― Mark G, Sunday, 13 October 2019 13:57 (four years ago) link
Never got why people praise this album over Jehovahkill and Autogeddon, both of which I greatly prefer, but I ought to give this another listen soon regardless
― imago, Sunday, 13 October 2019 14:00 (four years ago) link
I prefer Jehovahkill too, but still!
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 13 October 2019 14:13 (four years ago) link
The run from the China Doll EP through Interpreter is all pretty much top tier Julian Cope. I don't like 20 Mothers quite as much as the others but that's just me.
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Sunday, 13 October 2019 18:03 (four years ago) link
I hadn't notice until yesterday's drive that "Safesurfer" and Roxy's "If There is Something" share DNA.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 13 October 2019 21:16 (four years ago) link