Hoo boy. I copped it lucky and for just shy of $5 I got his "Peggy Suicide" album in an indie record store. This baby is out of print, sadly. I discovered this brilliant album in my local library but because it was so f--in scratched I couldn't burn a copy.

It's so good! Although I think I could only handle a little Julian Cope at a time, what else of his should I eventually get?

Jepthah, I used to be a big Julian Cope fan. I haven't listened to his albums in awhile so I don't know if we are talking about a really dated sound... but I LOVED the album "Saint Julian" from 1987. I think it's better than "Peggy Suicide", which happens to be the last CD I picked up from him. I've heard his music after "Peggy Suicide", but it's a bit too silly for me. He's really a nutcase. I would think that you could pick up his last couple of CD's very cheap on Ebay, but I don't know if they are out of print.

Anyway, I would highly recommend anything Cope did in the 80's.
"Saint Julian" "My Nation Underground" and "Julian Cope EP".
I just checked out the album reviews on allmusic.com and they seemed to really like his later albums. I just know I listened to "Jehovakill" and "Autogeddon" from the early 90's and completely lost interest in him (which saddened me).

Another cool CD is The Teardrop Exlpodes "hits" collection called "Floored Genious". Good stuff.

Thanks for the words! It never bothers me if music blatantly sounds like it's from another 'era.' I'm no sentimentalist, but that's sometimes precisely what makes it sound vital to me.

Just reading the liner notes of "Peggy" is heavy in and of itself...yeesh. He provides 'notes,' a kind of libretto for almost every track.

I'll keep my eye out for his older material. Like many musicians, I'm sure it's true that his earlier stuff is better/more 'accessible,' although the few JC fans there are might very well disagree with you.