This was originally posted on Julian Cope's Head Heritage website by the Arch Drude himself on 28 January 2019. Buried deep in the Unsung section of the Head To Head forum and available as a free download "for a full lunar month", it captures The Teardrop Explodes live at Trinity Hall in Bristol on Saturday 06 October 1979. It's a rough and ready recording of an energetic 40 minute show. I can't find much more information about the gig but a search on t'internet reveals that the Trinity's main hall had opened that same year.
As far as I'm aware, the line up is also somewhat special, as it features Ged Quinn, who succeeded founder member Paul Simpson on organ before being ousted by David Balfe. Prior to the release of the Peel Sessions Plus compilation in 2007, Quinn had only appeared on one official Teardrop Explodes recording, a version of Take A Chance which appeared on the seminal Zoo Records compilation, To The Shores Of Lake Placid.
This live recording is also special in that, as well as featuring Chance as the encore and an early version of Treason with alternative lyrics, it includes a hitherto unknown and unrecorded song called Beauty Comes Second. Lyrically, it's typically dark Cope fare, opening with "Somebody's sleeping in my attic room / Somebody's watching all that I do"; musically, it's an organ-driven number, slightly resembling a slowed down version of Second Head. The download is no longer available on Head Heritage, but a new link is available below and it was also posted on You Tube in 2020.
In the introduction with BBC Radio 1 DJ Richard Skinner, Cope mentions that "we've got a kid who does our sound who is a dub mixer" and the concert opens to the sounds of Prince Far I's Rain A Fall from the 1976 album, Under Heavy Manners.
1) Richard Skinner's Introduction
2) Poppies In The Field
3) Went Crazy
4) Bouncing Babies
5) Books
6) Brave Boys Keep Their Promises
7) Beauty Comes Second
8) Ha Ha I'm Drowning
9) Sleeping Gas
10) Second Head
11) Treason
12) Thief Of Baghdad
13) Chance
No comments:
Post a Comment