Julian Cope

Julian Cope's second album of 1984, 'Fried' is one of Julian Cope's boldest.

It made many think that after a while teetering on the edge, Julian Cope had finally tipped over into an artistic madness, amplified by his wearing a turtle shell and staring at a toy van on a landscaped spoil tip in Warwickshire on the album's sleeve. Opening track, 'Reynard The Fox', added to it all, a six-minute psychedelic garage rock tour-de-force, breaking down to a Cope monologue where he gravely intones English folk tales from his vantage point, referring also to an onstage stomach-slashing incident from 1983. 'Sunspots', the sole single taken from the album, is one of his greatest recordings in a career that spans over 40 years.