I'm Not The Loving Kind

Recorded for BBC session, April 1981. Released on "Zoology" compilation, 2004 and "Wilder" reissue, 2013

Julian Cope - vocals, organ, celeste

Gary Dwyer - drums

Written by John Cale

John Cale needs no introduction to most readers of this blog. But just in case you've been hidden under a rock for most of your life, here's a brief resume of his career up to the point where it matters for the blog. 

Wales. Viola. New York. La Monte Young. Velvet Underground. Andy Warhol. "And Nico". "White light white heat". Solo. Terry Riley. "Paris 1919". Island Records. Eno. Manzanera. Don't mention Kevin Ayers. "Fear". "Slow Dazzle"...

"I'm not the loving kind" appears on Cale's 1975 album "Slow Dazzle", a strange melange of straight ahead rockers and more cerebral ballads. Here it's quite graceful, slow and slightly melancholy - Cale seems to be admitting he's not really the sort of person to be in love, maybe as a response to the breakup of his marriage to Miss Cindy of the GTOs (see Kevin Ayers, above). As such Cope must have thought it was a sympathetic song for himself in the Spring of 1981. After all his marriage to Kathy was falling apart while he was head over heels in love with Dorian who he had met at the start of the US tour in March. 

Now this is where the story - and the BBC session - gets interesting. It's weird how the songs on this session sound very "live", like recorded rehearsals. I've already mentioned this in relation to the previous two songs and it applies to the next song too. But this doesn't sound like the others, it's more of a studio sound. I wonder why.... 

Well the sleeve notes to "Zoology" might hold the answer. As we have seen already, Cope's sleeve notes and remembrances have a tendency to be not quite accurate, especially on "Zoology". But he claims that "I'm not the loving kind" was recorded solely by himself and Dwyer at the Producers Workshop studio in London. Cope is playing organ and celeste - adding a touch of "Sunday Morning" to the sound - while Dwyer adds a rolling drum beat towards the end of the song. The notes claim Cope wanted the song as a single, but was vetoed by every other band member who didn't appear on the recording. The Producers Workshop studio seems to have been cheap, easily available and had been the site for some great recordings (Linx, Modern English) and some not so great (Captain Beaky And His Band). Before those extremes it had been known as Milner Sound, a smaller 8 track studio where Julian Mendelsohn, Steve Lipson and Hugh Jones all cut their teeth. Indeed it may have been the Hugh Jones connection which landed the Teardrops there in 1981 - Jones had some production credits on the band's singles by this point and other demos were recorded there too, as we shall see in the future. 

So what is the truth about this session? Although it was broadcast on Radio One in April 1981, there are no credits for the session anywhere. Usually there will be a date for recording, naming the producer and engineer. On the 2013 "Wilder" reissue there is minimal information, ditto on "Zoology". The fact that there are almost identical recordings of "The Culture Bunker" from this BBC session and on a widely bootlegged Teardrops demo tape make me believe this whole session was recorded as a series of demos and passed to the BBC for broadcast. The sound on "I'm not the loving kind" is distinctly "not live" like the other songs, but does bear a resemblance to the sound (particularly the drums at the end) of songs like "East of the equator" and the unreleased and unfinished "Butchers tale". Most of the session certainly doesn't sound "professionally" recorded in either BBC studios or Rockfield, where the band rehearsed around the time. Cope mentions in "Head on" that they also did some woodshedding and recording at Bear Shank Lodge, and the session may have come from this time as well. Like I said, there's no information about this session so I'm guessing to be honest. I could be wrong, I could be right. 

All of which kind of detracts from "I'm not the loving kind" which is actually a lovely recording. Cale's original is in Eb but Cope raises the key up to F which makes it easier to play on a keyboard. The wordless and gorgeous chorus melody is sung in Cope's wasted choirboy voice and while there's little musical development, this isn't really important - the only real addition comes from Dwyer's tom toms beating the retreat during the second half of the song. The cover is not only a telling and relevant response to what is happening in Cope's life but a pointer for his new fans. Cope always wants to turn his fans on to his influences - from Scott Walker and Love then to Krautrock and stone circles onwards - he wants to pass it on, to share his enthusiasm, he's not saying "Look how hip I am" he's saying "Have you heard this artist? They're great, you should check them out". It's being inclusive instead of exclusive. It points towards "Fire escape in the sky" and "Krautrocksampler" and Head Heritage. 

The simple arrangement of "I'm not the loving kind" also points towards other songs in the future - the harmonium drone of "Window shopping for a new crown of thorns", the heartfelt loneliness of "Torpedo", the Mellotron assisted solo live take on "The Great Dominions". It's as if a lightbulb goes off in Cope's mind - "Well if I can do this with just keyboard and voice, what else can I do this simply?" And that's another road - through "Use me", "Tiny Children" and the BBC version of "You disappear from view" onto his solo career. So maybe this is the start of his solo career? After all, he's taken control of the band now, he's the sole pilot of the plane, the focus of the press and adulation from the new fans. Does he really need the Teardrop Explodes?

The answer for now is a definite "Yes". Because without the Teardrop Explodes in its many incarnations from 1981 onwards we wouldn't have the final song in the mysterious April 1981 BBC session, a masterpiece of band interaction and improvisation. That's for next time... See you there!