Out Now: Mike Cooper’s Life and Death in Paradise + Milan Live Acoustic 2018

It’s Rocket Summer, and the star sailors sing.
Rocket Summer, the changing hymn.

The Wire calls Life and Death in Paradise “a fascinating album,” and we agree, twofold, of these utterly unique records by ageless octogenarian genius Mike Cooper, in shops and streaming worldwide today. This project has been in the works for nearly a decade, and we are thrilled finally to present it. Read on for links, an unboxing video, and critical praise.

Cooper wrote Life and Death, his final songwriter record, a suite of gloaming glam-rock anthems performed with a spiritual jazz trio, while living on the Costa Tropical of Granada, Spain, an era when he was considering retiring from music altogether. A chance encounter and a last-ditch record deal convinced him to make one last album, which he recorded in 1974 at Pathway Studios in London, with “The Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the World,” featuring the inventive South African jazz rhythm section of Louis Moholo and Harry Miller with UK saxophonist Mike Osborne.

This first-ever reissue includes a bonus CD of Milan Live Acoustic 2018, a previously unreleased solo set that represents Cooper’s return, after forty-four years pursuing free improvisation and electronics, to a new, deconstructed approach to singing, steel guitar, and songcraft.

Buy the LP+CD and 2xCD

$11.00 – $27.00

FORMAT

Clear

Purchase from PoB above or support via

Bandcamp (LP+CD/2xCD/digital)
Other Options (physical/digital/int’l):
- Life and Death in Paradise
- Milan Live Acoustic 2018

“His commitment to starting afresh is underlined by the title track…Here Cooper basks in his newfound idyll, somewhere beneath the trees. As the song morphs into a lovely country-blues slide (“Beads On A String”), his contentment seems complete, the song’s passage eased by sunshine and sweet orange wine.” – Uncut

“Beautiful, fucked-up mid-70s rock that’s really not like anything else. A mélange of mersh/avant/blues/folk/rock/jazz shiteroo, Life and Death in Paradise is a most splendid anomaly with hints of everyone from Gram Parsons to Michael Hurley to the Welfare State … Allow it into your head, and it will blossom like the strange mushroom it is.” – Byron Coley

“Mike Cooper is spawned from a breed of truly original artists who have steadfastly followed their own path.” – Shindig!

“Life and Death In Paradise lands somewhere between Dylan, prime Van Morrison and early days Springsteen. But it’s the ingenious inclusion of the South African rhythm duo of enigmatic drummer Louis Moholo and bassist Harry Miller, plus free jazz saxophonist Mike Osborne, that really propels this record in a new direction and sets Cooper on the path to the next phase of his career.” – Shindig!

“Together [Mike Cooper, Henry Miller, Louis Moholo, and Mike Osborne] produced Life and Death in Paradise, a strange mélange of folk rock and post-John Coltrane jazz with some unexpected glam dalliances, as traces of early 70s Bowie turned up here and there.” – The Wire

“A fascinating album…” – The Wire

The first-ever reissue of Life and Death in Paradise, Mike Cooper’s final songwriter record, and the first release of Milan Live Acoustic 2018
Deluxe LP+CD edition features 140g black virgin vinyl; matte jacket with spot gloss details; and a six-panel foldout insert with additional artwork and an essay by the artist about both records
Deluxe 2xCD edition features a matte gatefold jacket with spot gloss details, and an eight-panel version of the same insert
Album page/details/acknowledgments
Artist page/tour dates/links/back catalog

Life and Death in Paradise

Drinking wine down here beneath the trees
singing songs down here down upon my knees
Hearing things that just set my
poor head reeling.

Glance up and I can see the sky
through the veil as it shades my eyes
from the sun as it is rising
on this morning.

Hearing noises coming in from the hill
just like a locust and its high whining trill
Wishing now that I was not ever leaving
So that I could glance up
and I could see the sky
Through the veil as it shades my eyes
from the sun as it is rising
on this morning.

Watching boats sailing out on the sea
that could bring you back close to me
Watching now as all the smoke is slowly rising.