Julian Cope - John Balance Enters Valhalla (2019)

Across 5 mesmerizing rhythm-laden tracks, Julian Cope brings us his masterful upbeat tribute to John Balance. All of the tracks instrumental, save for the vocal opener ‘Sandoz’, these hefty grooves shimmer and shake as Cope guides us through the various stages of the artist’s journey into legendary Valhalla. The massive motorik groove of the 15-minute title track depicts John’s journey out of the Earthly Realm, its final musical moments enacting a conversation between two air-force pilots mistaking John’s Shamanic Spectral Body for a distant UFO. Next is ‘John Valour’, an emphatic piano-led Glam Rock beast that pushes ‘Virginia Plain’ and ‘This Town Ain’t Big Enough For The Both Of Us’ into true Lamonte Young/John Cale territory. Concluding this mighty devotional work is a musical end-piece full of roaring slide guitars and a long unwieldy German title. Its meaning? Something about how hungry John is after his long cosmic journey into the Underworld: time now for replenishment in Father Odin’s Valhalla kitchen. Play this album and experience the musical clamour of the Cosmos, the s-s-shaking of the World, and the Rending of the Firmament caused whenever great souls Transmigrate.