Isn't the "end" to make Julian Cope's rock n roll fizz that little bit more in the market place than the next quinquagenarian in leather trousers? Otherwise why bother? There are other art forms and less tainted media conduits where the same social/political ends could be purused more effectively in the 21st century.

Rock n roll? Who really cares about rock n roll any more? Every piece of rock imagery worth it's weight in newsprint has been co-opted by the mainstream to sell other crappy consumerist ephemera. When it comes to the cultural packaging of discontent what I want, what I expect, is Albert Ayler meets John Heartfield via "Y" and Penderecki. Just try co-opting Albert Ayler or Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima.

The only reason I care about this record and feel obliged to engage in the debate is because I like reading this forum and the existence of the various Cope releases presumably subsidises our ability to meet here. To come here and ignore a Cope release would be impolite (buying them is like paying an HH toll) but this record demands a bit of discussion because I think that it has much to say to us about how denuded of relevance rock n roll is in 2012. It's a museum music and the people who still care about it (myself included) and the people who play it (myself included) are rearranging the deckchairs on the ghost ship of a dead art form. I think the gun on the cover speaks to that in a major way but not to much else.