Teardrop Explodes – Record-facts…

by Record Facts

The Teardrop Explodes were an English post-punk/neo-psychedelic band formed in Liverpool in 1978. Best known for their Top Ten UK single “Reward” (which is still a staple of 1980s alternative pop compilations), the group originated as a key band in the emerging Liverpool post-punk scene of the late 1970s, the group also launched the career of group frontman Julian Cope as well as that of keyboard player and co-manager David Balfe (later a record producer, A&R man and founder of Food Records). Other members included early Smiths producer Troy Tate.

Along with other contemporary Liverpudlian groups, The Teardrop Explodes played a role in returning psychedelic elements to mainstream British rock and pop, initially favouring a modernised version of lightly psychedelic late 60s-influenced beat-group sound (sometimes described as “bubblegum trance”) and later exploring more experimental areas. In addition to their musical reputation, the band (and Cope in particular) had a reputation for eccentric pronouncements and behaviour, sometimes verging on the self-destructive. These featured strongly in contemporary press accounts and were later expanded on in Cope’s 1993 memoir Head On.

Wilder is the second album by neo-psychedelic Liverpool band The Teardrop Explodes, and the final completed album released by the group.

In 2000 former Teardrop Explodes leader Julian Cope gave his blessings to re-release Wilder with a selection of bonus tracks, mainly single b-sides, plus original artwork, a remastered sound, and full lyrics and essays.

Despite the flux they were going through, the Teardrops somehow got it together to record the heavily-hyped Wilder, which unlike its predecessor did nothing in terms of sales or smash singles, outside of the semi-successful shimmering keyboard/crunch of “Passionate Friend.” This isn’t for lack of talent on the band’s part, and the trademark kicky arrangements and horns appear throughout. However, unlike the joyous outpourings of Kilimanjaro, Wilder sounds distanced. Cope doesn’t come across as the lead singer so much as he does someone singing with the music, ironic given that he wrote everything on this album. As a subtler pleasure, though, Wilder offers up some good stuff, with more cryptic compositions and performances throughout, while Clive Langer takes over full production after only doing a few on the first album. Strangely, some performances sound like where Sting eventually took the Police on Synchronicity, musically if not vocally, like the layered attempts at tribal drumming on “Seven Views of Jerusalem.” More measured, sometimes stiff songs like “Falling Down Around Me” make the overall mood more fragmented, while some of Balfe‘s keyboards sound like they’re only there just because. When it connects, though, Wilder rocks just fine. The concluding track, “The Great Dominions,” is one of Cope‘s all-time best, with a sweeping, epic sense of scope and sound. The angular funk of “The Culture Bunker” has both some fine guitar and a sharp lyric or two on Cope‘s part — the Crucial Three he refers to was his bedroom-only act with Ian McCulloch and Pete Wylie. Other high points include the moody synth shadings on “Tiny Children,” where Balfe‘s work comes through best of all, and Dwyer‘s generally sharp drumming throughout, keeping the beat well.

Tracklist

1. “Bent Out of Shape” – 3:27
2. “Colours Fly Away” – 2:54
3. “Seven Views of Jerusalem” – 3:47
4. “Pure Joy” – 1:42
5. “Falling Down Around Me” – 3:08
6. “The Culture Bunker” – 5:29
7. “Passionate Friend” – 3:29
8. “Tiny Children” – 3:50
9. “Like Leila Khaled Said” – -3:48
10. “…And The Fighting Takes Over” – 3:53
11. “The Great Dominions” – 4:26

All tracks written by Julian Cope.

CD Re-issue bonus tracks (2000)

12. “Window Shopping for a New Crown of Thorns” – 3:48
13. “East of the Equator” – 6:16
14. “Rachael Built a Steamboat” (Cope (Lyric), David Balfe (Music) – 4:15
15. “You Disappear from View” – 2:59
16. “Suffocate” (Cope, Balfe) – 3:43
17. “Ouch Monkeys” (Cope, Balfe) -5:15
18. “Soft Enough for You” (Cope, Balfe) – 3:55
19. “The In-Psychlopedia” (Cope, Balfe, Gary Dwyer) – 4:04

All tracks written by Julian Cope; except where indicated.

The Teardrop Explodes