Product Description

Julian Cope's highly acclaimed autobiography and its long-awaited sequel in one extraordinary volume. Julian Cope shot to fame with eighties band 'Teardrop Explodes' during the Punk era. Hailed as a visionary by those people who recognise his genius and a madman by those who find him perplexing, he has become a cult figure in the music world. Head-On/Repossessed is written in Cope's own inimitable style and follows his journey through a time of incredible change within the music industry. Head-on is the highly acclaimed autobiography that The Observer viewed as "book of the year" when it was first released. Repossesed picks up in 1983 where Head On ends and continues up until 1989.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #182778 in Books
• Published on: 2005-04-04
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 580 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
It's a long time since Julian Cope had his 15 minutes of mainstream fame, fronting the Teardrop Explodes with their brassy, extravagant masterpiece Reward. But over the last two decades he has maintained an impressive cult following, largely due to his mesmerising live performances--and more to the point, maintained an undiminished sense of his own importance, which has led to two, bulky volumes of his autobiography. Head-On: Memoires of the Liverpool Punk Scene and the story of the Teardrop Explodes (1976-82) was published, acclaimed and lost to posterity in 1994; now thankfully it's been republished, back-to-back (literally--this is a book you can finish, turn upside down, and start again) with a sequel: Repossessed: Shamanic Depressions in Tamworth & London (1983-89), which leads us through his 1980s solo career.

As the grandiose subtitles indicate, Cope writes on an epic scale, but his terms of reference are unapologetically personal. Much of Repossessed deals, bizarrely, with Pete De Freitas (the Bunnymen's drummer) weaving his way across America, not chemically unaided--a story which is relayed via transatlantic phone to Cope ensconced in Tamworth, like some postmodern, virtual Kerouac. Non-Cope devotees might find some of this rather allusive, not to say elusive, but there's no doubting the man's power with the pen, and soon enough you'll be there in the front row, throwing your knickers onstage. Or the literary equivalent. --Alan Stewart

Review
'Hilarious, observant and deeply subversive.' I-D 'Considered and self-deprecating!Mighty.' TIME OUT 'Repossessed!is one of the best books about the 80s ever written and without doubt the best book about toy cars, hermiting, integrity and drug paranoia.' THE GUARDIAN 'Cope's passion and intelligence are well served by a vein of self-deprecating wit.' THE DAILY TELEGRAPH 'Wondrous memoirs of fleeting stardom and LSD-induced psychosis.' Q MAGAZINE [The 50 Best Music Books Ever, 2001] 'Cope's rocking writing at its most infectious, moving and hilarious.' NEW MUSICAL EXPRESS 'Compulsive reading!This man is truly a genius.' LOADED 'A wryly rendered masterpiece.' Q MAGAZINE

About the Author
Julian Cope shot to fame with 'Teardrop Explodes' during the Punk era. He has continued to make albums and produce other performers. He has written three books all of which have received ecstatic reviews --'The Modern Antiquarian' has established itself as a classic travel guide to ancient Britain and remained in the bestseller lists for many weeks.

Customer Reviews

If Shakespeare had been a krautrocker...
... he couldn't have written better books than these.

They not only tell an incredible story. They also contain some of the best writing you can ever read about rock music, dangerous car games, eating acid faster than Elvis got through burgers, love, hate - and courage in the face you extreme weirdness.

Julian Cope is often criticised for arrogance. When you read this, you'll understand. There's nothing inflated about his self-opinion. He's just a genius.

Went Crazy
This book confirmed everything i wanted rockstars to be, fallible, gullible and off their rockers with a healthy splash of genius thrown in. This book is (perhaps almost) on a parr with the late great HST's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Even the reviews are interesting. I just hope he gets around to writing the later parts of his insane tale now hes started touring again.
As an earlier reviewer suggested, you dont have to be a Cope fan to read this book, i leant it to all my friends who hated him but loved the book, two of whom nicked it from me... i have yet to buy a third copy.
Had Sleeping Gas never been the hit it was, we may have had the Bill Hicks of literature on our hands. Anyway, enjoy!

It All Makes Sense Now
I've always loved the album "Kilimanjaro". Of all that post-punk era stuff. That album never ages for me. This book will take you the reader on an incredible journey. It's mad, bad and sometimes sad. It even weirded me out at times. Whoa!