Julian Cope - Glasgow, QMU (Saturday 25th February 2006)
| This was the first time I'd seen JHC live with a band in aeons - I think the last time was the 'Jehovahkill' tour at the Barras. A lot has changed in that time and the emphasis was very different from previous gigs. Julian's current live approach of course was flagged up by his recent recordings but whilst I liked the Brain Donor LP (a lot actually) I am not so keen on 'Citizen Cain'd. So I approached this with some degree of trepidation, although the promise of plenty of back catalogue did raise expectations. | |
| In the end my
fears were only partially realised. The power trio approach just didn't cut it
for me on too many songs - far too often songs (and tunes) were lost
under a blizzard of very proficient but wanky guitar pyrotechnics. 'Books'
was probably the best example of this. In theory a hard rock version sounded
intriguing. In practice we ended up with a classic song buried somewhere
underneath some very flashy guitar work. Others suffered to a lesser extent
'Double Vegetation' was one whilst the likes of 'Sunspots' and 'WSYM'
sounded a little too muscular. Add in the clutch of songs from recent albums
and this was just a bit too much in yer face. The 'Stop this Guns'n'Roses
shite' heckler had something of a point. It could have been worse. After the opening barrage of 3 tracks from 'Dark Orgasm' then 'Books' and 'Double Vegetation' I was seriously concerned that guitarist Doggen was going to ruin the whole evening. Fortunately there was a hell of a lot more restraint in evidence after that and some of the songs even benefitted from the heavy approach, particularly 'Hanging Out and Hung Up On The Line' . The loud guitars also produced some highlights such as 'Get Off Your Pretty face' which was a reminder that the Brain Donor LP is actually a better record than 'Citizen Cain'd' (IMHO). Not surprisingly given the format the 'Saint Julian' album got some exposure but my feeling about that record is that (the singles apart) there's more bluster than substance on there and a particularly dire closing 'Spacehopper' lent plenty of credence to that theory. Enough of the negative. 'Highway to the Sun' was stellar (although in keeping with the excess of the evening, the finale probably dragged on a bit too long) whilst 'World War Pigs' sounded much better here than on the CC LP. I've still to get 'Dark Orgasm' but set opener 'Nothing To Lose' has a decent tune. The short solo set may have been incongruous in this context but it was a welcome respite from the rest of the set with a singalong 'Out of My Mind ...' probably the highlight, although everything in this brief segment was great. (and who'd have thought I'd have favoured a solo set over a band set?) Having seen both Cope and the Bunnymen recently I can't help feeling that they both could take something from each other. Mac could certainly do with some loosening up whilst, once in a while, Julian could perhaps show, erm, a little more class! So something of a mixed bag. |
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