I’ve written about my fandom for the great Julian Cope here a few times (notably here, here and most recently here). An unparalleled songwriter with a knack for seamless pop perfection and drooling rock abandon, Cope cannily straddled both worlds before ripping up the rule book and following his own eclectic muse. Ever since, his musical outpourings have been more erratic and prone to wild tangents of arguably esoteric experimentation. But while his stuff may not always be for everyone, he is assuredly never dull.
The only reason I’m bringing him up again today is because someone just recently uploaded his documentary from 2000, “The Modern Antiquarian.” Based on his sprawling tome of the same name that was published in 1998, this film finds Julian driving around his native Great Britain to explore and expound upon sacred sites of prehistoric significance. While that might sound impenetrably heady, Julian does it all with his signature brand of insouciant cool. As excited by megalithic minutia as he is by a galvanizing record by The MC5, Julian makes the subject come alive. It’s both highly illuminating and frequently hilarious.
Enjoy while you can. Go buy as many Julian Cope albums as can be had.
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