And Suddenly!

Side 2 of a cassette compilation of The Teardrop Explodes, recorded 30th August 1993.

Just in case long-time visitors to this blog were wondering if I'd gone off Julian Cope, rest assured, I was merely biding my time...

June was a pretty good month if you are a Julian Cope fan. Not only did the Arch Drude release #4 in his Cope's Notes series, an excellent booklet/CD combo focusing this time on 2008 album Black Sheep, but The Culture Bunker 1978-1982, the long-promised box set of treasures by The Teardrop Explodes finally emerged blinking into the daylight. 

 

I've generally not had the desire (or the cold hard cash) to get into box sets but this was a no-brainer. I went for the CD version, which is a bit easier on the bank balance but completists will be driven nuts by the fact that both formats offer slightly different 'exclusive' albums. Much as I'd love the vinyl-only album of the band's 1979 set from TV show Band On The Wall, I'll keep my fingers crossed for a standalone CD or digital release...

I'll come back to both of these releases separately but suffice to say, it's been a joy to not only hear familiar songs but also the unreleased outtakes, demo and live versions. Anyone who has read Julian Cope's autobiographies, Head On and Repossessed, will know that the accompanying commentary is something to savour. Cope's Notes offers up a 48-page insight into Black Sheep, The Culture Bunker provides a lavish 10" 64-page hardback book with a 12,000 word essay by Mick Houghton, based on conversations with Julian, and lavishly illustrated throughout.

But I digress. Listening to The Teardrop Explodes inevitably got me reaching back into the mixtape archive to dust off this much-loved compilation from 1993... Christ (Versus Warhol), was it really 30 years ago?!

I was in love with a girl and, apart from being an all-round great person, she had a poster (ripped from Select magazine, if I remember correctly) on her wall. At that point, she only really knew him from Beautiful Love and Peggy Suicide so of course it was my duty to share my love of his music, going all the way back to The Teardrop Explodes. 

At that time, I think I had Kilimanjaro and Wilder (both on reissued vinyl), the 12" of You Disappear From View, which I'd chanced on for pennies during a vinyl trawl at Plastic Wax Records in Bristol and, courtesy of my friend Stuart, a loaned 12" of Count To Ten And Run For Cover which provided the source material. "Lost" third album, Everybody Wants To Shag....The Teardrop Explodes had been released a couple of years previously but judging by the tracklisting here, I clearly hadn't got hold of a copy by August 1993.

 

I'm biased of course but listening to it again, it just feels like hit after hit after hit, even though The Teardrop Explodes didn't actually have that many hits. I bought Wilder before Kilimanjaro which slightly edges it in my affections though it's splitting such a fine hair when both are so, so good. The posthumous You Disappear From View 12" was a gem too and all of the tracks made their way onto the compilation.

 

In keeping with Julian Cope's approach to his own albums in the 1990s, I'll split the cassette sides into phases, which also conveniently come in at the approximate duration of a (generous) vinyl side. I've recreated the split here so that you can enjoy the selection in two bite-sized chunks.

 

When I Dream is taken from the 21st century CD reissue of Kilimanjaro, which reinstated the full length 7-minute version of the song with ridiculously extended outro. My vinyl reissue had the edited version, which faded the song around the five and a half minute mark. To preserve the original cassette running time, I've done the same here. Needless to say, it doesn't make the song any less brilliant.

Phase Three

1) You Disappear From View (Single Version By Clive Langer) (1981)

2) Ha Ha I'm Drowning (Album Version By The Chameleons aka Bill Drummond & David Balfe) (1980)

3) Falling Down Around Me (Album Version) (1981)

4) Soft Enough For You (Remixed By Chris Hughes & Ross Cullum) (1981)

5) Bent Out Of Shape (Album Version By Clive Langer) (1981)

6) Went Crazy (Album Version By The Chameleons aka Bill Drummond & David Balfe) (1980)

7) In-Psychlopaedia (Single Version By Hugh Jones) (1981)

Phase Four

8) Colours Fly Away (Album Version By Clive Langer) (1981)

9) The Culture Bunker (Album Version By Clive Langer) (1981)

10) Bouncing Babies (Album Version By The Chameleons aka Bill Drummond & David Balfe) (1980)

11) Tiny Children (Album Version By Clive Langer) (1981)

12) Second Head (Album Version) (1980)

13) When I Dream (Album Version By Mike Howlett) (Early Fade) (1980)

1980: Kilimanjaro: 2, 6, 10, 12, 13

1981: Wilder: 3, 5, 8, 9, 11

1983: You Disappear From View EP: 1, 4, 7

Phase Three (22:53) (KF) (Mega)

Phase Four (23:03) (KF) (Mega)