In the 1960s rock 'n' roll music began crossing the Atlantic Ocean--with The Beatles and The Who leading the British Invasion of the United States--and the Pacific Ocean, as American and European rock slowly began to take hold in Japan. This insightful study from visionary rock musician Julian Cope explores what really happened when Western music met Eastern shores. The clash between traditional Japanese values and the wild renegades of 1960s and 1970s rock 'n' roll is examined, and the seminal artists in Japanese post-World War II culture are all covered. From itinerate art-house poets to violent refusenik bands with penchants for plane hijacking, this is the story of the Japanese youths and musicians who simultaneously revolutionized a musical genre and the culture of a nation.

Julian Cope's highly acclaimed autobiography and its long-awaited sequel in one extraordinary volume. Contents: * Julian Cope shot to fame with eighties band 'Teardrop Explodes' during the Punk era. Hailed as a visionary by those people who recognise his genius and a madman by those who find him perplexing, he has become a cult figure in the music world. * Head-On has previously only been available via 'Head Heritage' Julian's own company. Repossesed picks up in 1983 where Head On ends and continues up until 1989. Written in Cope's inimitable style it is set to provoke the same kind of media excitement. * When Julian Cope published 'Head On' in 1994 he received astounding reviews: Visceral, ballsy, bitchy, brutal, beautifully written. Book of the year. Made my heart burst. -- The Observer ...an enthralling saga of bitchiness, betrayal and unrepentent debauchery. -- The Sunday Times (Books of the Year) As a glimpse of the essentially pathetic but amusing whims and eccentricities that lie behind the screwed down hairdos of rock musicians, it's equally essential reading. And as a genital -warts-and -all diary of madmen, it is simply supreme entertainment. -- N.M.E Cope never portrays himself as anything less than a self-serving, childish, whinging half-assed failure. He's wrong, of course, but it makes for insanely funny reading. -- Select

Alex considered his circumstances. It seemed his only option was to disappear. If he didn't do so voluntarily, it appeared that there were powers that would make him do so involuntarily. So begins Soul searching. A tightly crafted, frighteningly plausible thriller about controversial science, medical phenomena, tough moral choices and spiritual integrity. Soul searching is very visual, wonderfully cinematic storytelling presented through the engaging interactions of a cast of unique and involving characters moving through both familiar and exotic landscapes. The philosopher's stone. The elixir of life. The quest for immortality. What if there was some degree of truth embedded in these concepts? What if this piece of fiction, like so many others, turns out to be less an exercise in imagination and more one of extrapolation? Alex is an intellectual man of faith, a devoted husband and an attentive father, struggling to balance his passions for his chosen field of study and his Lord. Caught in a relentless net of political controls and an expanding scientific moral vacuum, Alex discovers that some things are not as black and white as he might like, and that not everyone who is a friend today will be a friend tomorrow. Whilst this is a fictional account, the basic scientific principles and knowledge leading to the story's remarkable conclusion are all too real. Indeed, this last decade following the conception of the book has seen rapid advances in molecular biology, DNA sequencing, bio-terrorism and the study of near-death experiences, which only serve to increase the credibility of the underlying rationale. And if it puts your immortality outside of your own control, wouldn't you want to know? Wouldn't you want to retake control? If so, read on. If not-remember, you were warned.

Eschewing the usual criteria of chart success or acknowledged influence, the Copendium - a collection of album reviews and themed track samplers - takes energy, originality and heaviness as its bearings. The result is a feast of obscure and neglected masterworks that together form a surprising but entirely credible new tradition. Krautrock, motorik and post-punk, stoner and doom metal, occasionally even jazz, spoken word and hair metal: they are all represented in a wholly persuasive sequence. Cope is the perfect guide to this novel terrain: impeccably informed, passionate, insightful and deeply funny. The Copendium is his re-imagining of a useful canon of popular music, and it is set to become required reading.