Julian Cope has arguably had one of the strangest, most varied careers in rock’n’roll (and academia, as an expert in ancient history), and while his experimental output in recent years has been challenging at best, Friar Tuck finds the pendulum swinging back to not only listenable but really a lot of fun.
In the song titles alone there’s a gleeful sense of mischief, sarcastic wordplay and silly but vivid imagery: Too Freud To Rock’n’Roll, Too Jung To Die; You Gotta Keep Your Halfwits About You; Four Jehovahs In A Volvo Estate (think Kraftwerk taking to the M6 rather than the autobahn), for starters.
That he’s rediscovered the art of melody, albeit with a loveably brash home studio wonkiness to keep the quirk factor up, just adds to the appeal.
Friar Tuck is a humorous and bewildered look at the modern world from a man who has never quite seemed a part of it.
