Camera Camera

Version One - Zoo Records CAGE 003 - recorded 1st December 1978, released 4th February 1979

Julian Cope -.vocals, bass

Paul Simpson - organ

Mick Finkler - guitar

Gary Dwyer - drums

Version two - "What's On" - Granada TV, 15th February 1979. Released on "Zoology" CD, 2004, which credits the performance with a date later in the year. 

Julian Cope -.vocals, bass

Paul Simpson - organ

Mick Finkler - guitar

Gary Dwyer - drums

Written by The Teardrop Explodes (credit on Zoo single), Cope / Finkler (credit on "Zoology")

If there is one song and recording which encapsulates the early magic of The Teardrop Explodes it is "Camera Camera". It makes sense that this song would appear on their debut EP, would be the first song they play on television and become an early set closer.

Everything in "Camera Camera" works in cycles. Mick Finkler starts with a four note guitar figure, then Paul Simpson adds his five note organ figure, before Gary Dwyer and Julian Cope dive in on drums and bass respectively. Cope has an adjacent bass figure, similar to Simpson's organ figure but not quite the same in its descending figure. The song pulses and throbs before it reaches what could be called a chorus - an atonal blast of thumping drums, octave bass jumps, a harsh guitar chord and organ chords raising in volume. Then it returns to its cyclic state again. It's almost inevitable, everything returns to the same state.

Meanwhile Cope sings mainly around two notes, and what an intriguing lyric it is too. Coloured cars move around, people take photos of the cars, friends come over and party, and somehow the bars on the windows go... It's a slightly suburban nightmare scenario, a pebbledashed white house, strange things happen, it doesn't really make much sense. But everyone ends up at Rodney Street for a wild time, screaming through the bars on the windows... So is it a jail? Or an asylum? Or is it Simpson's flat on Rodney Street?

If this all sounds a bit vague well it is. It's not really telling a tale, it's looking at a version of the band's life - parties, having fun, the ennui of the dole / student life in late 70s Liverpool. And if the idea of this strange Liverpudlian hang out sounds appealing, or even familiar, well maybe Ian McCulloch was listening and writing his own version of the semi detached suburban nightmare in "Villiers Terrace". 

"Camera Camera" was written before the Teardrops' first gig in November 78 as Cope mentions it in "Head on" in a prospective debut gig setlist. When it came to being recorded in December it sounds more confident than "Sleeping Gas", it's hypnotic pulse meant the entire group quickly got into a good groove. The song would also mark their debut appearance on TV a week or so after the single's release. 

The story goes that Tony Wilson had heard the "Sleeping Gas" single and asked them to play on "What's On", a Thursday night weekly show on Granada TV (the local region covering the North West of England, broadcasting from Manchester). Wilson was of course one of the founders of Factory Records, but also a well known presenter on Granada, not just for "What's on" but also "Granada Reports" and his music show "So it goes". (I'd imagine Wilson needs no introduction to 99.9% of the readers of this blog but you never know). It was quite a coup for the Liverpool band to be asked onto the show, and they were duly excited and yhey were invited to play on 15th February*

They spent the day looking around the set of "Coronation Street", worshipped at the feet of Eddie Yates and write rude messages on testcards before setting up and waiting to perform "Camera Camera", chosen because it didn't need reverb. After all the show was broadcast live and late at night. It's a fascinating document of a new band halfway between nervousness and confidence. Finkler keeps his head down playing his four note riff**, Simpson does the same at the back of the stage, somehow Dwyer is given most prominence at the front of the stage, looking straight ahead, his quiff bouncing in time with his drums, while Cope is behind him, singing down in his microphone, looking like Berlin era Bowie. Cope makes a few pertinent lyrical changes too. There's no longer "friends" at his white house in the second verse, just "certain persons" who then "bitch about my white house". I wonder who Cope means here. Also in the final verse it's no longer "We'll all go back to Rodney Street" but "We'll all go back to Liverpool" - this was a big moment for the budding Liverpool scene, after all. The Teardrops were the first of their generation to make a record, Big In Japan didn't really count. The Mancunian domination of the North West post punk scene was being usurped by the Liverpool kids***, and this inter-city battle via bands and labels would carry on for some time.

But that's all in the future. In early 1979, the Teardrop Explodes had played less gigs than fingers on your left hand, released their debut single and appeared on television to promote it - all within a few months of forming. Remarkable progress, and they would keep progressing over time. 

* I spent a few hours digging into old scans of TV Times magazines and gig listings for Eric's to work out this date. One of the "What's On" presenters says the band are playing with Wire a week Saturday at Eric's, then I had to find what day of the week What's On was shown... I felt quite proud of this archive digging until the Manic Pop Thrills Twitter account pointed out that the "Camera Camera" clip had been recently broadcast on Sky Arts' "From the archive" music show, and yes it gave the broadcast date. Still, they edited out a whole verse to avoid showing the "What's On" credits. 

** I'd not realised until I saw this clip that every Teardrop Explodes guitarist used Fender Telecasters - Finkler uses a sunburst Tele with white scratchplate, Alan Gill used a dark red Tele with black scratchplate and Troy Tate played a black Tele, except when he borrowed Cope's red Gibson 335-12 for one Top Of The Pops performance.

*** As a side note on the influence on other Liverpool bands, Andy McCluskey of OMD has said that after seeing this performance, he and Paul Humphreys played with the melody of "Camera Camera" which became "Almost", the b side of their debut single on Factory Records later in 1979. Certainly the influence is detectable once you know it's there