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World Shut Your Mouth (album)

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World Shut Your Mouth
Studio album by
Julian Cope
Released17 February 1984
StudioThe Point Studio, Victoria, London
Genre
Length40:41
LabelMercury
ProducerSteve Lovell
Julian Cope chronology
World Shut Your Mouth
(1984) 		Fried
(1984)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[3]
The Great Rock Discography7/10[4]
MusicHound3/5[5]
Q[6]
Record Mirror[7]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[8]
Select5/5[9]

World Shut Your Mouth is the debut solo album by Julian Cope, released on 17 February 1984.

Background

World Shut Your Mouth was written during Cope's 1983 retreat to the village of Drayton Bassett (close to his childhood home of Tamworth), following the breakup of Cope's former band The Teardrop Explodes.[10] Two of the tracks, "Metranil Vavin" and "Pussyface", had in fact been originally intended for The Teardrop Explodes (and different versions of each appear on the belated 1990 release of the band's scrapped third album, Everybody Wants to Shag... The Teardrop Explodes).

Although World Shut Your Mouth generally retained the uptempo pop drive of The Teardrop Explodes, it was also an introspective and surreal work. Cope had spent a period in seclusion in which he recovered from the strain of the final year of the Teardrops and from his LSD excesses of the times. During this period, he had also amassed a huge collection of vintage toys.[10] His eccentric behaviour both during and post-Teardrops had led to him being labelled by the music media as an "acid casualty" in the vein of Syd Barrett and Roky Erikson, an image which would take him several years to shake off. Cope's contemporary vulnerability and childhood preoccupations informed the songs on the album, most notably on songs like "Head Hang Low" and "Sunshine Playroom". Most of the album's tracks featured former Teardrops drummer Gary Dwyer, and other contributors included lead guitarist/producer Steve Lovell (ex-Blitz Brothers), late-period Teardrops bass guitarist Ronnie François and the Dream Academy oboist Kate St. John. It was recorded at The Point Studio in Victoria, London, and engineered by Alex Burak.

World Shut Your Mouth was released on Mercury Records in March 1984, but was seen by critics as somewhat pastoral and out-of-step with the times. It gained poor reviews and sold indifferently. The album's first single "Sunshine Playroom" featured a macabre and disturbing video directed by David Bailey.[10] Both this and the up-tempo follow-up single, "Greatness and Perfection of Love" also flopped.

The album's title was later reused by Cope for another song, which became a hit single in 1986 (and was also taken for the title of a Dom Joly TV show).

Track listing

All tracks are written by Julian Cope

No.TitleLength
1."Bandy's First Jump"2:50
2."Metranil Vavin"3:00
3."Strasbourg"2:25
4."An Elegant Chaos"4:03
5."Quizmaster"2:56
6."Kolly Kibber's Birthday"5:14
7."Sunshine Playroom"2:55
8."Head Hang Low"5:04
9."Pussyface"4:11
10."Greatness and Perfection"3:16
11."Lunatic and Fire-Pistol"4:30
1996 reissue bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
12."Wreck My Car" (Single B-side)2:31
13."High Class Butcher" (Single B-side)3:56
14."Eat the Poor" (Single B-side)4:25

2015 expanded edition

The first disc of the expanded edition contains the eleven tracks from the original album.

Disc two
No.TitleLength
1."Wreck My Car"2:31
2."High Class Butcher"3:56
3."Eat the Poor"4:25
4."Greatness and Perfection" (Remixed version)3:26
5."24a Velocity Crescent" (Single B-side)3:48
6."Pussyface" (Single B-side)5:58
7."Head Hang Low" (John Peel session 05/02/1983)4:10
8."Lunatic and Fire-Pistol" (John Peel session 05/02/1983)4:25
9."High Class Butcher" (John Peel session 05/02/1983)4:06
10."Greatness and Perfection" (John Peel session 05/02/1983)3:23
11."Reynard the Fox" (David Jensen session 05/01/1984)3:27
12."O King of Chaos" (David Jensen session 05/01/1984)2:19
13."Laughing Boy" (David Jensen session 05/01/1984)5:28

Charts

Chart (1984) Peak
position
UK Albums Chart[11] 40

Personnel

Technical

References

  1. ^ Agarwal, Manish (2016). "Julian Cope - Peggy Suicide". In Dimery, Robert (ed.). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. London: Cassell Illustrated. p. 659.
  2. ^ Raggett, Ned. "World Shut Your Mouth". AllMusic. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
  3. ^ Larkin, Colin (2011). "Cope, Julian". Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Omnibus Press. ISBN 9780857125958 – via Google Books.
  4. ^ Strong, Martin C. (2004). "Julian Cope". The Great Rock Discography (7th ed.). Canongate Books. p. 335. ISBN 1-84195-615-5.
  5. ^ Graff, Gary; Durchholz, Daniel, eds. (1999). "Julian Cope/The Teardrop Explodes". MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. p. 271. ISBN 1-57859-061-2.
  6. ^ Columnist. "Fried". Q. October 1996. pg. 178, cited 6 October 2012
  7. ^ Strike, Andy (18 February 1984). "Cope fiend". Record Mirror. Vol. 31, no. 7. Retrieved 22 August 2024.
  8. ^ Considine, J. D. (1992). "Julian Cope". In DeCurtis, Anthony; Henke, James; George-Warren, Holly (eds.). The Rolling Stone Album Guide (3rd ed.). Random House. pp. 161. ISBN 0-679-73729-4.
  9. ^ Harrison, Ian (October 1996). "Julian Cope: World Shut Your Mouth / Fried". Select. No. 76. p. 112. Retrieved 22 August 2024.
  10. ^ a b c Cope, Julian (2000). Head-On/Repossessed. Thorsons Publishers. ISBN 0-7225-3882-0.
  11. ^ "Julian Cope - World Shut Your Mouth". officialcharts.com. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
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