Fried was released on 9 November 1984,[10] just six months after Cope's first solo album World Shut Your Mouth.

Cope retained the guitarist Steve Lovell and the guest oboe player Kate St. John from the previous album, but added his Drayton Bassett musical foil Donald Ross Skinner on rhythm and slide guitars, the former Waterboys drummer Chris Whitten and, on one track, the former Mighty Wah!

Notoriously, the sleeve showed a naked Cope crouched on top of the Alvecote Mound slag heap clad only in a large turtle shell.

Despite receiving better reviews than its ill-fated predecessor, Fried sold even more poorly at the time, as did the accompanying single, "Sunspots".

He subsequently found a new manager, the artist and musician-cum-prankster Cally Callomon, and signed a new deal with Island Records.