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Post by Shrink Proof on Oct 23, 2015 15:51:06 GMT
For those of a certain age, who remember those colourful daze, this is a Class A rock memoir. The story of The Teardrop Explodes and other members of the post-punk, neo-psychedelic scene in Liverpool in the late 70s and early 80s. Told in Cope's unique style, his tales of lunacy, battles both within the band and with such as Bill Drummond and Echo & The Bunnymen, and the life of an (almost) pop star are gripping stuff. At one point the band invented a game they called "Sock", in which whoever was "it" had to crawl out of a car window, over the roof and in the other side while the others attempted to knock him off. At 50 mph. On LSD. Any band that can do this has something unique to say.
Sadly, it all fell apart during the recording of the third album, "Everybody Wants to Shag The Teardrop Explodes" and the tension between Cope and the keyboard player David Balfe erupted after acid-drenched sessions of lobbing bricks at each other. As Cope relates - "'You're ****ing dead, Balfe,' I screamed. I ran to the cupboard under the stairs and grabbed the shotgun..."
A great read and definite proof that not all the rock & roll madness happened in the 60s.
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Post by dem bones on Oct 23, 2015 16:45:16 GMT
A few years back, desperate for space, I reluctantly purged majority of rock mags & books accumulated almost by accident over the years. Says much for Head-On that it survived the cull. Edition I have (Thorsons, 1994) is an Omnibus, in that it contains follow up Repossessed, continuing Cope's adventures in the immediate aftermath of the Teardrops implosion. Fair to say, he was in bad shape mentally, and the results make for a harrowing read. |
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Post by Shrink Proof on Oct 23, 2015 18:12:57 GMT
Fair to say, he was in bad shape mentally, and the results make for a harrowing read. Indeed. Which is why he titled his second solo album "Fried", after the state of his brains at that point. But just a few short years earlier, those of us who saw The Teardrop Explodes live were part of something wondrous* *Wondrous is as much a Cope word as eldritch is a Lovecraft one.... |
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Post by mcannon on Oct 24, 2015 12:16:51 GMT
A few years back, desperate for space, I reluctantly purged majority of rock mags & books accumulated almost by accident over the years. Says much for Head-On that it survived the cull. Edition I have (Thorsons, 1994) is an Omnibus, in that it contains follow up Repossessed, continuing Cope's adventures in the immediate aftermath of the Teardrops implosion. Fair to say, he was in bad shape mentally, and the results make for a harrowing read. I suspect it would have been even more harrowing for him if he'd spent that period in my ancestral home town of Tamworth, _Australia_, as it's widely regarded and promoted as our very own "Country Music Capital"! Not really a place for one of Mr Cope's musical sensibilities........ Mark |
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Post by Dr Strange on Oct 27, 2015 15:50:25 GMT
I am currently about a third of the way through The KLF: Chaos, Magic & The Band Who Burned A Million Pounds by John Higgs. I have no particular interest in their music, but this has to be one of the most interesting and entertaining books I've read for a long while. So far there's been discussions of Jung's theory of synchronicity, Robert Anton Wilson and the Illuminatus! books, Discordianism, the assassination of JFK, Alan Moore, and the 80s neopsychedelic music scene in Liverpool (and I am only on page 93). When I say "discussions", I don't mean dry, academic "discussions" - I mean the kind of entertaining, laugh-out-loud "discussions" you might have with some of your more well-read mates after having a few. Higgs has also just published a book called The 20th Century: An Alternative History, which I am going to have to read immediately after I've finished this one.
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