''Saint Julian'' is the third solo album by Julian Cope. It has a very strong pop sound, compared to other Cope releases, and spawned several of his best known tracks (including "World Shut Your Mouth" and "Trampolene", which were both hit singles).

Background

''Saint Julian'' was the first album recorded under a new Cope deal with Island Records, following two poorly selling albums on the Mercury/Polygram label. Encouraged by his new manager Cally Callomon, Cope cleaned up and changed his image: cutting his hair, wearing rocker's leathers and embracing a "Rock God" perspective, as well as investing in a bizarre climbable microphone stand with integral steps. To record and tour the album, Cope put together a new backing group, informally known as the "Two-Car Garage Band". This featured lead guitarist

Donald Ross Skinner Donald Skinner is a guitarist, songwriter and producer primarily known for his work with Julian Cope. Skinner is commonly known by the name Donald Ross Skinner with the addition of the middle name of ''Ross'' attributed to him by Cope after Gle ...

and former

Waterboys The Waterboys are a folk rock band formed in Edinburgh in 1983 by Scottish musician Mike Scott. The band's membership, past and present, has been composed mainly of musicians from Scotland, Ireland, Wales and England. Mike Scott has remained ...

drummer Chris Whitten (both of whom had played on Cope's previous album '' Fried''), plus bass player James Eller (who'd played alongside Cope on the second Teardrop Explodes album, '' Wilder'') and Cope himself on vocals and rhythm guitar. Also credited on the album was keyboardist Double DeHarrison; promotional material of the era (which gave some background detail on each band member) indicated that DeHarrison was from Oregon, and had previously scored several "art sex" films and played in the late 1970s German group Tin Haus. In fact, Double DeHarrison was an alias for Cope himself, and "Tin Haus" (and the films DeHarrison was said to have scored) were entirely fictitious. Cope also used the De Harrison pseudonym for the "Oregon guitar" playing on "A Crack in the Clouds" (the slow fingerpicked continuo) and would go on to use it again on subsequent solo albums. For live shows of the era, Richard Frost joined the band on keyboards, "replacing" DeHarrison. Several songs on the album originated from much earlier than the others. "Screaming Secrets" had been a Teardrop Explodes song which never made it to album, while "Spacehopper" may date back to late 1970s writing sessions with Ian McCulloch (although only Cope was credited as songwriter). The album's new songs abandoned the collapsing psychedelic styles of '' Fried'' in favour of a crisp, punchier and more structured sound, drawing partially on Cope's professed love for

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

heavy rock acts such as early

Alice Cooper Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier, February 4, 1948) is an American rock singer whose career spans over five decades. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusions, including pyrotechnics, guillot ...

. Early sessions were supervised by Ramones producer

Ed Stasium Ed Stasium is an American record producer and audio engineer, who has worked on albums by the Ramones, Talking Heads, Motörhead, the Smithereens and Living Colour. History Stasium began his recording career in 1970 fronting the band Brandywine. ...

and delivered the song "World Shut Your Mouth" (which became Cope's biggest solo hit, reaching #19 in the UK in 1986), "Pulsar" and "Spacehopper". The remaining album sessions were produced by Warne Livesey. The parent album was well received and generated two more singles, "Trampolene" and "Eve’s Volcano", but the fresh momentum did not last. Cope fell out with Callomon, and the Two-Car Garage band disintegrated as James Eller joined

The The () are an English post-punk band. They have been active in various forms since 1979, with singer-songwriter Matt Johnson being the only constant band member. achieved critical acclaim and commercial success in the UK, with 15 chart singles ...

and Chris Whitten left for

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

’s band. Cope played a red Gibson ES-335 12-string guitar strung with 9 strings (a single course of E, A and D strings, with the G, B and high E strings doubled) to get a fuller sound. The distinctive electronic peal which punctuates "World Shut Your Mouth" is the start-up tone of Cope's main keyboard Cope has subsequently described ''Saint Julian'' as not being one of his favourite albums, although he acknowledges that "it has its moments."

Track listing

The above is the original UK track listing. For the US release, "World Shut Your Mouth" was placed at the beginning of the album, and "Spacehopper" moved to the slot between "Saint Julian" and "Pulsar".

2013 expanded edition

The first disc of the expanded edition contains the ten tracks from the original album. The tracks on the second disc were previously released as

b-sides The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...

and extended remixes on

7-inch In music, a single is a type of release, typically a song recording of fewer tracks than an LP record or an album. One can be released for sale to the public in a variety of formats. In most cases, a single is a song that is released separat ...

and

12-inch single The twelve-inch single (often written as 12-inch or 12″) is a type of vinyl ( polyvinyl chloride or PVC) gramophone record that has wider groove spacing and shorter playing time with a 'single' or a few related sound tracks on each surfac ...

s from ''Saint Julian''. Note "I've Got Levitation" was originally recorded by

The 13th Floor Elevators The 13th Floor Elevators was an American rock band from Austin, Texas, United States, formed by guitarist and vocalist Roky Erickson, electric jug player Tommy Hall, and guitarist Stacy Sutherland. The band was together from 1965 to 1969, an ...

and "Non-Alignment Pact" by

Pere Ubu Pere Ubu is an American rock group formed in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1975. The band had a variety of long-term and recurring band members, with singer David Thomas being the only member staying throughout the band's lifetime. They released their ...

Chart positions

Album cover

The album's cover was shot by English photographer

Peter Ashworth Peter Ashworth is an English photographer. Ashworth initially specialized in music photography, between 1979 and 2000. In the 1980s, he worked with many UK artists including The Smiths, Depeche Mode, Eurythmics, Soft Cell, Jimmy Page and The A ...

, who said of the shoot, "The pose for the album cover was standing with his arms outstretched, as if being crucified. It was freezing. One of the coldest nights of the year. It took many hours for me and Bruno Tilley, the art director, to light the entire space with heavy duty parcan lights running from a generator truck just out of sight."

Personnel

*Julian Cope – vocals, 9-string rhythm guitar; ''(also performs pseudonymously as "Double DeHarrison" playing organ and

Hohner Clavinet The Clavinet is an electrically amplified clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds by a rubber pad striking a point on a tension ...

on most tracks and 'Oregon' guitar on "A Crack in the Clouds")'' *

– electric & slide guitars, 'airhead' guitar & screams on "Spacehopper" *James Eller – bass guitar * Chris Whitten – drums *

Warne Livesey Warne Livesey (born 12 February 1959) is an English/Canadian music producer, mixing engineer, songwriter and musician. He has produced Midnight Oil, The The, Matthew Good Band and Deacon Blue. Life and career Warne Livesey started his career in ...

– synthesizer, strings on "A Crack in the Clouds" *Paul Crockford –

Ace Tone Ace Electronic Industries Inc., or Ace Tone was a manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, including electronic organs, analogue drum machines, and electronic drums, as well as amplifiers and effects pedals. Founded in 1960 by Ikutaro Kake ...

organ on "Planet Ride" *Richard Frost ''(credited as "Keith-Richard Frost")'' – string machine on "Saint Julian" *

Kate St. John Kate St John (born October 2, 1957) is an English composer, arranger, producer and multi-instrumentalist. Classically trained on oboe, she gained a music degree at City University London. Her first band was The Ravishing Beauties with Virginia A ...

– cor anglais on "Saint Julian" & "A Crack in the Clouds" *Dee Lewis,

Tessa Niles Tessa Margaret Niles ( ''née'' Webb; born 27 January 1961 in Ilford, Essex) is an English singer, best known as a backing singer for a wide variety of contemporary artists. She began her professional singing career in 1979. Early life and ca ...

– chorus vocals on "Eve's Volcano", chorus agreement vocals on "Planet Ride" Some sources say that future Marillion singer

Steve Hogarth Steve Hogarth (born Ronald Stephen Hoggarth, 14 May 1956 in Kendal, Westmorland) also known as "h", is an English singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Since 1989 he has been the lead singer of the British rock band Marillion, for which ...

sang backing vocals on the album, although he is uncredited on the inlay. ; Technical *

- production on "Trampolene", "Eve's Volcano", "Planet Ride", "Saint Julian", "Pulsar", "Screaming Secrets", "A Crack in the Clouds" *

- production on "Shot Down", "Spacehopper", "World Shut Your Mouth" * Felix Kendall - recorded by * George Schilling - recorded by * P. St. John Nettleton, Island Art - sleeve design *

- cover photography * Lawrence Watson - inner photography ; Expanded edition disc 2 Production credits adapted from the original 7-inch and 12-inch releases.Julian Cope discography on Discogs.com
* Julian Cope - production on "I've Got Levitation", "Umpteenth Unnatural Blues", "Warwick the Kingmaker", "Non-Alignment Pact", "Almost Beautiful Child (1 & 2)", "Transporting"; ''(credited pseudonymously as "Double De Harrison" on some tracks)'' * Julian Cope & Donald Ross Skinner - production on "Disaster", "Mock Turtle" * Tim Lewis and the group - production on "Pulsar Nx (Live)", "Shot Down (Live)" * Warne Livesey - remix on "Trampolene (Warne Out Mix)" * James Avery, Robert Reed - remix on "World Shut Your Mouth (Trouble Funk Mix)" *

Tom Lord-Alge Tom Lord-Alge (born January 17, 1963) is an American music engineer and mixer. He began his career at The Hit Factory in New York. Subsequently, he was the resident mixer at what used to be known as "South Beach Studios", located on the ground ...

- remix on "Eve's Volcano (Covered In Sin)/Vulcano Lungo (12" Remix)"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Julian (Album) 1987 albums Julian Cope albums Island Records albums Albums produced by Ed Stasium Albums produced by Warne Livesey