Search - Julian Cope :: Floored Genius: The Best of 1979-1991

He comes from another planet, baby

Dotan Amir | Chicago, IL United States | 08/13/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I pity the poor kids these days, the music lovers of that generation! Tens of albums (yeah, yeah, cd's...) going out every day... every 18 years old got a music label in his parents' garage, making sounds that no one will ever hear. 10 years ago, when I bought my music (yeah, yeah, vinyl albums) there was limited access, so we got the good and the bad, but most important, we got the good! I checked out Julian Cope' Floored Genius, because I forgot the name of one of the songs... and I was amazed and ashamed to discover that it only has 1-2 reviews! So I'm doing it for the sake of my generation, telling you, asking you to check this one out. I know how hard is to go 10-20 years back in time and trace those marbles, but you can't afford to miss this one: I'll try to make a long story short: Julian Cope was born in England, where he still lives today, and in 1979, he formed a group name teardrop Explodes, the band did well in the post punk era in England at that time, and put out some of the best songs and records of that genre. If you want, the teardrop explodes were the important link between the Sex Pistols and the Smiths. Later on, Cope moved on and continued in a career of his own, producing unbelievable albums, one at the time. When I think of it, I can't really think of one album by the teardrop explodes, or as solo artist that doesn't contain at least 50% of great songs. The album "Floored Genius" is a very good collection of those years, as a group and as a solo artist. There are not enough words that I can use to tell you how good this collection is nor can I point its highlights, because it's all-good! For those of you who are interested in something more than Blink 182, who want to know where is it all comes from: Do yourself a favor, buy this one and change your life!"

An outstanding overview of a brilliant career

Dotan Amir | 10/10/1998

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I bought this on a whim several years after hearing & loving the fabulous "Charlotte Anne." At first I was a bit disappointed, since little of the record bears much resemblence to that song. After a few listens however I was hooked. Five years later, I'm still hooked.The music is very diverse, but consistently outstanding, and the chronological arrangement shows his evolution as an artist from the late 70s with The Teardrop Explodes to to the very early 90s. Highly recommended."

Never heard anything quite like this

G. Rao | san francisco | 07/30/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I first heard Julian Cope via his stoner-rock combo Brain Donor, and when I went to check out his solo stuff, I was expecting something along those lines. Boy, was I in for a surprise! The stuff on this album could probably be best described as glossy new-wave studio pop. You could even say that it is, to use the parlance of our times, kind of gay. Ironically enough, its the gayest song on the album, the ethereal "China Doll" that is probably my favorite. Ordinarily, such a description would be a deterrent to me, as I tend to go for harder stuff with a little bit of grungy edge to it.



Cope's music has a distinctly quirky, whimsical quality to it, slightly reminiscent of the Flaming Lips or perhaps Peter Gabriel. There is not much brooding anger on the surface, and you could even say that his better songs are propelled by a sort of naive innocence. He has quite a flair for singing in harmony, as well as for dense, layered arrangements that seem nonetheless to leave space between the many parts.



To be fair, I've only owned this album for a few weeks, so I still expect to have some of the material here grow on me in the future. Having said that, tracks 9-15 are some of the most sublime, gorgeous pop songs I've heard in recent years. "China Doll" is an especially great ballad. "Charlotte Anne" is a funky synth pop number with very subtle layering of sonic textures. The chorus of "World Shut Your Mouth" goes "put your head back in the clouds and shut your mouth...", and upon hearing it for the very first time I was struck by what a great line that is. "Trampolene" is head-bobbingly catchy, as is the boisterous "Spacehopper".



The rest of album hasn't really clicked with me yet, but my budding fascination with this guy seems to give me confidence that I will learn to love it one day yet."