Sunday 20 September 2009

Julian Cope - Paranormal In The West Country

This EP came out in 1994, but wasn't properly released. I used to receive regular postcards from Mr Cope, featuring a stone circle on the front and an amusing tale or two contained within. When this postcard popped through my letterbox, it contained instructions on how to acquire this EP - check it out here. So... you had to buy his Queen Elizabeth CD, peel a sticker off it, stick said sticker onto a used envelope and post used envelope to the record company. Within three weeks. No used envelope = no CD.

The tune's a great wee ditty from the Autogeddon album which was a stripped down 'Cope plus acoustic' on its original form. The first track here does the track proper justice with a full band, complete with string quartet.

There's then a version that's sung with a bunch of visitors to Avebury stones (stoners?), who sing along all hippy-dippy. I reckon there must have been kids present, as he changes the line "get away from the inbred Fuckingham palace scum" to "get away from our well-bred Buckingham Palace chums". No swearing in front of the kids!

Track three is an instrumental version with full-on analogue Kraut synths all over it which is a bit mental, then the album version completes the set.

A rare 'CD' single for Ripped In Glasgow - I must have been subliminally inspired, Derren Brown style, by Castles In Space's recent postings...



Julian Cope - Paranormal In The West Country
1 - Paranormal In The West Country (With The Leone Quartet)
2 - Paranormal In The West Country (Avebury)
3 - Paranormal In The West Country (Krankenhausmusik)
4 - Paranormal In The West Country (Original)

Buy Cope stuff here

2 comments:

atlanticjaxx said...

oooh thankyou.. nice post.. yet again

Onelove from the Westcountry

Novemberer said...

I've still got one of these somewhere. If I remember correctly, it was mailed out in just the sleeve (i.e. no envelope!). I wonder how many dodgy posties "aquired" a copy themselves as a result? Cope was brilliant at this point wasn't he?