The T3@rdrop Expl0des- Kilim@nj@ro (1980) Deluxe Edition (3 Discs) MP3 & FLAC

"You wandered into my dreams last night, and you stood them all up in a row. You trampled all over them with stones in your shoes, and you said, 'Oh yeah, I thought that you'd know.'"

Julian Cope on the transitory nature of The Teardrop Explodes: "The band was never built to last [....] it was like building a house on scaffolding on top of a tank moving at three miles an hour. The higher you build it, the further removed you are from the reality that it's actually moving and going to fall." Before forming The Teardrop Explodes, Cope had experienced several false starts in his effort to jump-start a music career in late-seventies Liverpool, including a band called A Shallow Madness, which also featured Ian McCulloch, who, after being ejected from the band due to ego clashes with Cope, would later become one of the pivotal figures of the Post-Punk movement as a member of Echo & The Bunnymen. After a few additional personnel changes, Cope renamed the band The Teardrop Explodes (inspired by a panel caption in a Marvel comic strip) and began to explore a sound that would, in many ways, run counter to the prevailing  trends embraced by the Post-Punk movement. By integrating neo-psychedelia into the band's sonic palette and indulging in his love of Kraut-Rock, Cope showed signs, very early on, of the eccentricity and iconoclastic nature that would later come to define his career. As the quote above suggests, The Teardrop Explodes seemed to function creatively through internal strife and dissension, which resulted in a very unstable lineup throughout the life of the band and Cope's growing reputation, thanks in part to McCulloch's constant personal attacks in the music press, as being something of a tyrant to work with. In truth, Cope was a workaholic who had little patience for what he perceived as a lack of motivation on the part of band-mates. After releasing a couple of singles, The Teardrop Explodes recorded their debut LP, Kilimanjaro, which was, true to the band's nature, a process riddled with conflict and change. A prime example was the sacking of the band's lead guitarist for "complacency" and replacing him with Alan Gill, who soon introduced Cope to the use of psychotropic drugs, something that quickly became a heavy influence on his work. Musically, Kilimanjaro was one of the most distinctive albums to emerge from the early Post-Punk movement, as it clearly demonstrates the moody neo-psych sound that characterized the Liverpool scene of that time but also exhibits then-unconventional tendencies such as poppy melodies and some very un-Post-Punk song arrangements that occasionally include trumpets reminiscent of the brass flourishes employed by late-sixties psych bands such as Love and The Doors. And then there's Cope's distinctive voice, which, on songs such as the opener, "Ha Ha I'm Drowning," traverses the same emotive territory as that of his arch-rival McCulloch, except that Cope's voice has a sweet resonance that recalls Scott Walker at times. Vocals aside, Kilimanjaro is also full of quirky melodic twists and turns that lend it its singular sound. A perfect example is "When I Dream," an impossibly catchy song built around Cope's tongue-twisting chorus, while musically, the keyboard washes and percussion that characterize the song recall middle-period Japan with their vague World-Beat references married to a New-Wave aesthetic; however, the results are far more pop-oriented than Japan's mannered experimentalism. Julian Cope during his tenure in The Teardrop Explodes: "I think we're very poppy. To me pop is something you hum. What I'm trying to do is strike a balance between triteness and greatness." In the case of Kilimanjaro, it would seem Cope & co. erred on the side of greatness.

Kilimanjaro 

(Mercury ~ 2010/1980 ~ Deluxe Remastered 3-Disc Edition)

Disc I: Kilimanjaro (2010 Remaster)

Tracklist-

 1. Ha Ha I'm Drowning  (2:55)

 2. Sleeping Gas  (3:45)

 3. Treason  (2:56)

 4. Second Head  (3:10)

 5. Poppies  (2:41)

 6. Went Crazy  (5:05)

 7. Brave Boys Keep Their Promises  (2:40)

 8. Bouncing Babies  (2:30)

 9. Books  (2:36)

10. Thief of Baghdad  (3:09)

11. When I Dream  (5:36)

MU: Lossy (MP3@320)

MU: Lossless (FLAC)

Disc II: Bates Motel

Tracklist-

 1. Reward  (2:44)

 2. Sleeping Gas (Single Version)  (4:38)

 3. Camera Camera (Goddamn Camera)  (2:38)

 4. Kirby Workers Dream Fades  (1:53)

 5. Bouncing Babies (Single Version)  (2:45)

 6. All I Am Is Loving You  (4:26)

 7. Treason (Zoo Single Version)  (3:05)

 8. Read It in Books  (2:16)

 9. Kilimanjaro  (4:31)

10. Strange House in the Snow  (4:44)

11. Use Me  (5:49)

12. Traison (C'est Juste Une Histoire)  (2:54)

13. Sleeping Gas (Live Version)  (9:27)

MU: Lossy (MP3@320)

MU: Lossless (FLAC)

Disc III: BBC Sessions

Tracklist-

 1. Brave Boys Keep Their Promises (John Peel Session- Oct. 15, 1979)  (2:22)

 2. Ha Ha I'm Drowning (John Peel Session- Oct. 15, 1979)  (3:42)

 3. Went Crazy (John Peel Session- Oct. 15, 1979)  (2:52)

 4. Chance (John Peel Session- Oct. 15, 1979)  (3:02)

 5. Thief of Baghdad (John Peel Session- April 24, 1980)  (3:12)

 6. When I Dream (John Peel Session- April 24, 1980)  (4:20)

 7. Poppies in the Field (John Peel Session- April 24, 1980)  (4:45)

 8. Reward (Mike Read Session- Oct. 27, 1980)  (3:01)

 9. Suffocate (Mike Read Session- Oct. 27, 1980)  (3:54)

10. For Years (Mike Read Session- Oct. 27, 1980)  (4:15)

11. The Great Dominions (Mike Read Session- Oct. 27, 1980)  (3:40)

MU: Lossy (MP3@320)

MU: Lossless (FLAC)

Also visit the Julian Cope Archive Page