Always a nutter, Julian Cope abandoned the mainstream circa 1997 to address his unrepentant love of revolutionaries, psychedelic riffing, and beautiful noise. He's since released albums under a variety of names—Brain Donor and Black Sheep among the most interesting—and continues to uncover obscure music on his Head Heritage website. 2012's Psychedelic Revolution strips back the Stooges-Hawkwind-Sonics punk-psychedelia stomp for a minstrel-in-the-peanut-gallery approach that puts his commanding vocals and controversial lyrics upfront, often next to a cozy Mellotron. The album is divided into two sides: one is Phase of Che Guevara, the other Phase of Leila Khaled. Subject matter aside, Cope creates a dramatic musical force with "Hooded & Benign," the nine-minute finale of the Che Guevara side. "Psychedelic Revolution," sung with Canadian chanteuse Lucy Brownhills, extols: "If you're a fat cat, you're going down." "X-Mass in the Woman's Shelter" is chilling. "As the Beer Flows Over Me" could be the soundtrack to a bawdy, rebellious wake.
Disc 1
Disc 2
Featured On
- Wire
- The The
- Roxy Music
- Patti Smith
- Neil Young & Crazy Horse
- David Bowie
- Robert Plant