Julian Cope – Drunken Songs

ONCE AN ENTHUSIASTIC ADVOCATE for LSD’s psychic exploration as opposed to the bovine mainstream pursuit of booze, 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 a half-dozen 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 400), and Liver Big As Hartlepool, which takes an amusingly oddball (and Pete Wylie-trouncing) strum through memories of post-punk Liverpool. Bottoms up, sir!