The Hooded Antiquarian

Not content with the surprise drop of a new album, Robin Hood, in July, Julian Cope released the fifth in the excellent Cope's Notes series in October, a few days before his 66th birthday (which I celebrated here).

Subtitled "How I Wrote The Modern Antiquarian...And Why", this issue is another celebration, this time marking 25 years since the release of the titular tome in 1998. 

 

At the time, the book was something of a departure of Cope, if a characteristic one. Disappointed with the quality of the guidebooks on offer during a visit to Avebury Stone Circle, Julian decided to write his own. The Modern Antiquarian was the result of what eventually became an eight year mission, collating and condensing his journey across and around Great Britain to 300 significant sites. 

In the mid-2000s, Julian also featured in an hour-long documentary, also called The Modern Antiquarian. I missed it at the time of broadcast but thanks to YouTube, it's been available to a wider, tardier audience. It's well worth watching, if you haven't seen it before. Cope's passion is palpable and makes me wish he'd been commissioned to do more documentaries for TV.

 

I didn't buy The Modern Antiquarian in 1998 - or since - and it's never been reprinted. (Hopefully dog-eared and well-thumbed) copies are now going for silly money online so I possibly never will. Therefore, the Cope's Notes edition is even more welcome to someone like me, who is pretty much ignorant of the source book.

 

For £15.00 plus postage, you'll get another lavishly produced 48-page booklet containing notes, song lyrics, site photos and snapshots of his meticulously recorded notebooks, as well as a memoir, The Story Of The Modern Antiquarian, which racks up over 6,000 words. It's a fascinating read.

As if that is not enough, each Cope's Notes comes with a cover mounted CD. Whilst previous editions have contained contemporary musings and musical outtakes, The Modern Antiquarian contains a dozen brand new songs "inspired by megalithic culture". A combination of spoken word "theatre pieces" with some out-and-out (Kraut)rockers, it's every bit as enjoyable as Robin Hood, which I enthused about in July and again in October.

For a brief time, here's a 10-track selection, five from each album, to whet your appetite; Needless to say, I strongly recommend that you get yourself over to Julian Cope's Head Heritage site and buy both Robin Hood and Cope's Notes without hesitation. As the Arch Drude observes on the cover of the latter, "Surely such a comprehensive overview of the ancient world [can] only benefit our collective mind?"

 

1) An Inventory Of Megaliths

2) The Death Of Death

3) How Chor Gwar Became Stonehenge

4) Four Mohammeds And A Funeral

5) A Trial At Stenness And Brodgar

6) Ballad Of Fat Paul

7) Raised From The Inundation At Seahenge: Arminghall

8) Julius Geezer

9) Windmill Hill Culture

10) I Was A Punk Before You Was A Hippie

The Hooded Antiquarian (29:25) (KF) (Mega)