Cain'd, Fried & Alive, '95-'05, Volume 1: 1995

Just over a week ago, I had the sobering revelation that it was twenty years since I saw Julian Cope at The Fleece (then The Fleece & Firkin) in Bristol on 20th January 2005.

This came with the equally shocking realisation that it was thirty years to the day since I saw Julian perform a benefit gig for the Big Issue at the Bierkeller in Bristol on 29th January 1995.

 

The balance between the years passed since a gig and the age I was when attending said gig is increasingly and unwantingly shifting in favour of the former. Or, roughly translated, how did I get so old so fast?!

By way of compensation/denial (delete as applicable), I'm revisiting these two gigs in a couple of posts via the medium of the Dubhed selection. Yes, in time honoured and slipshod fashion, you dear reader get to listen to the songs that were played that night in a way that bears no resemblance to Julian's actual live performance.

And yet...there's always something in (re)creathing these setlists that highlights how unusual - and great - these shows were, and 29th January 1995 is a great example.

This was a one-off gig, ahead of a longer UK tour (and return to Bristol, this time to the University's Anson Rooms) in autumn the same year, to promote twelfth album 20 Mothers. And yes, I was at both Bristol shows.

20 Mothers was released in August 1995, the Bierkeller gig served as a preview of the album to come, with five songs performed that evening including Try, Try, Try, six months before it came out as the sole single, providing Julian with his first UK Top 30 hit since World Shut Your Mouth in 1986.

The show was also a delight. not only in it's selection of deep cuts - Poet Is Priest from Jehovahkill (1992), Las Vegas Basement from Peggy Suicide (1991) and Jellypop Perky Jean from Droolian (1990) - but also it's size, 24 performances and well over two hours. Though, that's nothing compared to the Anson Rooms, which tipped three hours...

 

My memory of specifics on the night is hazy and this is one night that the usually dependable Setlist site couldn't help with. Thanks therefore to Steve Doughty, who has amassed a formidable collection of Julian Cope live recordings spanning 1979 to 2012, all available to trade, and including both 1995 gigs.

 

In recreating 29th January 1995, I have taken the usual step of trying to include live bootlegs, demos, radio sessions and rare alternative versions of songs, editing and splicing them together, sometimes ruthlessly, to create an immersive listening experience. 

 

So, you get a 2:43 edit of Try, Try, Try preceded by over seven minutes of Poet Is Priest, the third section of the full length 21+ minute version. There's the latter half of Upwards At 45 Degrees, demo'd for the 1992 tour, and a Teardrop Explodes-era demo of World Shut Your Mouth, as well as an alternative version of Jellypop Perky Jean from 1993, considered as a potential single release.

 

There are a few omissions, which are in italics in the track list below. Socrates Mine Enemy and 'Sting Poem' were spoken word performances. I have no recollection of whether Driving On The Fast Side Of Slow was the same, but as it's the first line of Archdrude's Roadtrip from 1994's Autogeddon, I've included the song. This was followed on the night by Open Up & Bleed, which is a song by The Stooges, but again I have no memory of this and I couldn't find any bootlegs on You Tube.

 

8th February will mark five years since the last time I saw Julian, at the Barbican in London and shortly before the UK went into lockdown. To date, it was the last time he's toured the UK but I'm hoping not the last. As he so eloquently puts it in Las Vegas Basement, Julian was born to entertain and it would be wonderful to see him on stage again.

 

In the meantime, enjoy this trip back in time. I'll be revisiting the 2005 gig soon.

 

1) Julian H. Cope (Live @ Barrowland, Glasgow, 30th September 1995) 

2) Paranormal In The West Country (Part 1) (Album Version) (1994)  

3) Poet Is Priest ... (Full Length Version) (Part 3) (1992)

4) Try, Try, Try (Edit) (1995)

5) Stone Circles 'n' You (Album Version) (1995)

6) I'm Your Daddy (Live @ The Fleece, Bristol, 9th February 2020)

7) Pristeen (Album Version) (1991) 

8) The Great Dominions (Mike Read Session, 27th October 1980): The Teardrop Explodes

9) Wheelbarrow Man (Album Version) (1995)

10) Socrates Mine Enemy / Sting Poem 

11) The Greatness And Perfection Of Love (Radio Trent 301) (1982)

12) Upwards At 45 Degrees (Live Stage Tour Demo Version) (Edit) (1992)

13) Double Vegetation (Live @ Barrowland, Glasgow, 30th September 1995) 

14) Las Vegas Basement (Live @ Wilde Theatre, South Hill Park, Bracknell, 25th October 2011)

15) Sunspots (Live @ The Ritz, New York, 28th January 1987) 

16) World Shut Your Mouth (Instrumental Demo #1, Porta Studio, Liverpool, February 1981)

17) Love L.U.V. (Beautiful Love Version By Hugo Nicholson) (1991)

18) Jellypop Perky Jean (Alternative Version) (1993)

19) Land Of Fear (Single Version) (1984) 

20) Driving On The Fast Side Of Slow (aka Archdrude's Roadtrip) (1994)

21) Open Up & Bleed (Cover of The Stooges)

22) Soul Desert (Live @ The Fleece, Bristol, 9th February 2020) 

23) Robert Mitchum (Live @ Wilde Theatre, South Hill Park, Bracknell, 25th October 2011) 

24) Passionate Friend (Live @ Guildford Civic Hall, Guildford, 18 June 1981): The Teardrop Explodes

Volume 1: 1995 (1:23:36) (KF) (Mega)