Mark Stewart Is Learning To Cope With Cowardice
- Written by Marky Edison
Learning To Cope With Cowardice, the groundbreaking debut solo album by visionary post-punk iconoclast Mark Stewart, is to be given a definitive reissue alongside The Lost Tapes, a newly discovered cache of unreleased material. Learning To Cope With Cowardice will be released on Mute on double vinyl, double CD and as a limited edition double clear vinyl (with a percentage of the vinyl sales going to the Mercy Ships charity) on January 25.
Mark Stewart himself perceives The Lost Tapes as a document that now possesses a storied significance: “It was a real adventure discovering this forbidden history, a twisted tale of Muswell hillbillies, French pirates and a Dutch schizophrenic doctor doing psychic archaeology.”
Whilst Adrian Sherwood describes these works as characteristic of a distinct primitivism: “[The Lost Tapes represent] the early childhood of the songs before Mark and me conducted frenzied, scorched earth, slash-and-burn, twenty hour mental, manic editing sessions at Crass’ studios that led to birthing the finished album.”
Tracklist
LP 1 / Disc 1
1. Learning To Cope With Cowardice
2. Liberty City
3. Blessed Are Those Who Struggle
4. None Dare Call It Conspiracy
5. Don’t You Ever Lay Down Your Arms
6. The Paranoia of Power
7. To Have The Vision
8. Jerusalem
LP 2 / Disc 2
1. Intro
2. May I
3. Conspiracy
4. Jerusalem [prototype]
5. Paranoia
6. Liberty Dub
7. Vision
8. Cowardice Dub
9. High Ideals & Crazy Dub
10. The Weight