Exploding The Teardrops

Version one - BBC Session for John Peel, recorded 2nd October 1979, available on "Peel Sessions Plus" and "Kilimanjaro" deluxe edition Julian Cope - bass, vocals Ged Quinn - organ Mick Finkler - guitar Gary Dwyer - drums Version two - "Kilimanjaro" album, recorded Spring 1980, released October 1980 Julian Cope -.vocals, bass David Balfe - organ, piano Mick Finkler - guitar Alan Gill - guitar Gary Dwyer - drums Hurricane Smith, Ray Martinez - Trumpets Version three - single on Mercury Records TEAR 4 / TEAR 44, recorded Spring 1980, released June 1981. (Available on "The Greatest Hit" compilation) Julian Cope -.vocals, bass David Balfe - organ, piano Mick Finkler - guitar Alan Gill - guitar Gary Dwyer - drums Hurricane Smith, Ray Martinez - Trumpets Written by Cope / Dwyer / Finkler "Ha ha I'm drowning" is a song which made a lot of progress in a year from radio session to debut album opener - but then the band made quite a lot of pro

During the early stages of their existence almost every band creates a catalogue of songs which they would draw on for a time then drop from their live sets. Sometimes ideas would be merged into other songs, sometimes they'd just get discarded and sometimes they'd be treasured as early hints of greatness. After listening to early live shows and other recordings I've identified a number of songs by the Teardrop Explodes from their early career which the band would never record but are worth hearing, even if only once.  From Five Miles Up The sleeve notes on the "Zoology" are notoriously wrong in many ways. Already in this blog the notes have assigned a live "Sleeping Gas" to the wrong bootleg from the wrong year, and given a different date for the Granada broadcast of "Camera Camera". So should we take the notes on "From five miles up" with a pinch of salt? Maybe. Cope states this instrumental was recorded at MVCU in December 1978 then

Zoo Records CAGE 005 - recorded 14th May 1979 released June 1979 Julian Cope -.vocals, bass, Mick Finkler - guitar, organ, piano Gary Dwyer - drums, organ, piano Written by Finkler / Dwyer / Cope / Simpson As their career progressed, the Teardrop Explodes gained a reputation for having great b sides. There's even a blog post by Bob Stanley about it  here Of course that particular song which Bob mentions is a long way in the future of this blog but the point remains - once they were up and running, the Teardrops made great b-sides. Except for this one. "All I am is loving you" was inspired by the "Nite Flights" album by the Walker Brothers, released in 1978. This was their third and last album made during their reunion, which had started so well with "No regrets" a few years earlier. Now the Walkers had been told their label was folding and to record whatever they wanted, so the three "brothers" wrote some songs, recorded them and got the LP i