Kilimanjaro

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I must say I don't like Dave. He gets a pretty dubious character sometimes. He just plays a good role in the band that's all, but we often fight, and I mean physically. I usually win because he's a bit of a wimp... not that I'm a fighting person though. Dave is just one of the most extreme characters I've ever met. Sometimes he gets me so knotted up inside .. but then again that's good because it keeps me pushing; you know, right there…I usually do the interviews because I’m the only one with anything to say really. Like Alan just spends most of his time thinking, and Gary never says anything. I can usually speak for them better. Dave would just start pissing you off ... it sounds like a really horrible band, doesn't it?"

Michael Finkler – guitar on "Second Head", "Brave Boys Keep Their Promises", "Bouncing Babies", "Ha Ha I'm Drowning", "Sleeping Gas", "Treason", "Went Crazy" and "Thief of Baghdad" [11] Various: Manchester North Of England - A Story Of Independent Music Greater Manchester 1977 - 1993 (1)

6CD and 7LP box sets with scores of unreleased tracks

At the end of 1981 (and with Ronnie François now added on bass guitar) the band took up a lengthy residence at the Pyramid Club in Liverpool, where they set up "Club Zoo", playing twice a day as a five-piece. The band then undertook an extensive tour of Europe, the US and Australia, hiring trumpeter Ted Emmett (ex- 64 Spoons) for the live band.

He just couldn't cope, says Steve Sutherland as he counts out the 'aha's and listens to the recent 180g reissue of the Liverpool band's post-punk debut LP Despite Dave Balfe being traditionally cast as Cope’s main creative sparring partner, the influence of the mystic Alan Gill really stands out as a vital influence in retrospect. It’s instructive to listen to the Cargo sessions and what became the final version of Kilimanjaro. Or contrast the YMCA gig from 1980 and the 1979 gigs. Would we be talking of The Teardrop Explodes’ music in the same way without him, especially when we consider his “gift” of their most famous song, ‘Reward’? I think not. Cranna, Ian (26 November – 9 December 1981). "The Teardrop Explodes: Wilder". Smash Hits. Vol.3, no.24. p.25. Butchers Tale – Air Studios Rough Mixes – Wilder Sessions, credited on the original Wilder inners but not included. Cover from the Zombies Odyssey and OracaleButchers Tale – Air Studios Rough Mixes, summer 1981; credited on the original Wilder inners but not included on the LP. Cover from the Zombies Odyssey and Oracle The Teardrop Explodes throw away songs as good as ‘Soft Enough For You’ on B-sides. They come up with a glacially beautiful synth ballad, then call it ‘Flipped Out On LSD’. Alexis Petridis

Michael Finkler – guitar on "Brave Boys Keep Their Promises", Ha Ha I'm Drowning", "Went Crazy", "Chance", "The Thief of Baghdad", "When I Dream" and "Poppies in the Field" Staunton, Terry (August 2010). "The Teardrop Explodes – Kilimanjaro". Record Collector. No.378 . Retrieved 3 January 2017. Westwood, Chris (4 October 1980). "Pauline Murray & the Invisible Girls / The Teardrop Explodes: Kilimanjaro". Record Mirror. p.17. The TE centered around proto-loony Julian Cope, who actually seems to have ruined this band at times. Although capable of occasional brilliance, many of his song lyrics are inane and forcibly bizarre, which distracts you from the overall tightness and skill of the band. But overall, the sound is very accessible, keyboard-heavy, mildly trippy but nearly pop-friendly music. Horns are added here and there for additional hook power. This debut, recorded in 1979, featured one of the leading Liverpool neo-psychedelia bands (the other being Echo & The Bunnymen). And the song "Read It In Books" appears on both debut albums.

Tracklist

I know what you're thinking, but you'd be wrong. The good folks at Hi-Fi News don't pay me by the word. I'm listing all these 'ha's and 'aha's firstly in the pursuit of accuracy, and secondly to try to illustrate the utter, imbecilic, out of control mental state Cope and his band were in, when they attempted to put down on tape what was apparently a prolonged episode of what we might charitably call 'mind expansion'. Plus a rampant clash of personalities. Plus a festering bout of musical differences of epic, civil war proportions. And, thankfully, what also just happened to be a bloody fine record.

Graham, Ben (1 February 2017). "Embrace The Contradictions: The Strange World Of... The KLF". The Quietus . Retrieved 10 March 2020.

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A little while after The Teardrops finished recording, Julian Cope suddenly realised he shared his initials with Jesus Christ. This was not entirely a good thing. The band did manage to make a second album in 1981 before it all went brains and belly up. Appropriately it was called Wilder and that one involved shotguns! By March 1982, the Teardrops' internal situation was as fraught as ever following assorted disagreements and individual meltdowns. The increasingly alienated Cope retreated to his hometown of Tamworth. At this point the band decided to strip down to a three-piece, losing Tate, Francois and Emmett. [5] [6] Staunton, Terry (July 2013). "The Teardrop Explodes – Wilder". Record Collector. No.416 . Retrieved 18 December 2020. Wilder was recorded following a turbulent period in the band's career involving the success of their debut album Kilimanjaro, several line-up changes and a fraught, drug-fuelled American tour. For Wilder, the group's leader and principal songwriter Julian Cope developed his songwriting by using many experimental approaches.