Description

Personnel: Julian Cope (vocals, guitar, bass); Lulu Chivers, Camilla Mayer, Edwina Vernon (vocals); Donald Ross “Donn-eye” Skinner (guitar, keyboards, bass, drums); What’s Michael Moon-Eye (guitar); Dan Levett (cello); William Stukeley Quintet (strings); Wayland Smitty (reeds); Ronnie Ross (baritone saxophone); Aaf Verkade (trumpet); Ron Fair (piano); Tim Bran of Gwernsey (Hammond organ); G.S. Butterworth (Moog synthesizer); DeHarrison (synthesizer); Rooster Cosby (drums, percussion, congas); J.D. Hassinger (drums, tambourine, percussion); Mike Joyce (drums).
Producers: Julian Cope, Donald Ross Skinner.
Engineers include: Hugoth Nicolson, Ingmar Kiang, Tim Bran.
PEGGY SUICIDE is either Julian Cope’s fifth or seventh album, depending on how you count. After his fourth, MY NATION UNDERGROUND, he recorded two records, SKELLINGTON and DROOLIAN, that were intended mostly for release to his fan club–both are strange, drug-soaked sonic experiments that veer from folksy campfire songs to feedback freak-outs. PEGGY SUICIDE sees Cope reigning himself back in after those “excesses” and, though he delivers one of the most anti-commercial commercial records in the Island Records catalogue, it was also his most cohesive solo album up until that point.
Structured into four “phases,” the album is a loosely connected concept album about the human-engineered and accelerated decay of the mythic Mother Earth figure. The tracks address this concept from, for the most part, a strictly personal, rather than global, perspective. Standouts include “Safesurfer,” a freaky AIDS narrative with a not insignificant Krautrock influence; “Drive, She Said,” a singalong about automobile pollution; “You,” a short, charged rant against insincerity with a wicked, fuzzed-out bass line and snaky sax solo; and the staggering “Beautiful Love,” a pristine reflection on just how “in love” one can be–if you hear only one Julian Cope song, it ought to be this one.