Julian Cope "Floored Genius - The Best Of..." (1992)

Floored Genius - The Best Of... (compilation)

release date: Aug. 1992

format: digital

[album rate: 4 / 5]

producer: diverse

label: Island Records - nationality: England, UK

1st best of album by Julian Cope and the Teardrop Explodes with the full title: Floored Genius - The Best of Julian Cope and The Teardrop Explodes 1979-91 released on Island Records and issued two months before Cope's eigth studio album Jehovakill on the same label.

The album is finely structured in temporal phases starting with 'Phase 1' consisting of six tracks from the early period together with The Teardrop Explodes - a band who only managed to release the two full studio albums Kilimanjaro (1980) and Wilder (1981) before Cope initiated a solo career. The album is pushed to the limit in terms of running length for the CD format with a total of twenty compositions and a total running time exceeding 77 minutes. 'Phase 2' through to 'Phase 4' (tracks #7-20) are all Cope as soloist and listed chronologically up to and including three tracks from Peggy Suicide (1991).

This album could be a mighty fine place to start if you don't know much about Julian Cope, and it was also a release that garnered quite fine reviews, and which probably contributed to Cope gaining greater recognition - and which generally helped drawing a different and more positive image than that of an LSD-stricken megalomaniac, which some described him as. The album paved the way for a whole series of "Floored Genius" releases, including Floored Genius 2 - Best of the BBC Sessions 1983-91 (1993), Floored Genius 3 - Julian Cope's Oddicon of Lost Rarities & Versions 1978–98 (2000) , and Floored Genius 4 - The Best of Foreign Radio, Rare TV Appearances, Festival Songs & Miscellaneous Lost Classics 1983-2009 (sic) (2009), all followed with covers in the same style, although only the first best of album is released on Island Records.

Highly recommended.

The Teardrop Explodes "Wilder" (1981)

Wilder
release date: Nov. 1981
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,92]

producer: Clive Langer

label: Mercury Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Bent Out of Shape" (5 / 5) - 2. "Colours Fly Away" (4 / 5) - 3. "Seven Views of Jerusalem" (4 / 5) - 5. "Falling Down Around Me" (4 / 5) - 7. "Passionate Friend" (4 / 5) - 8. "Tiny Children" (5 / 5) - 11. "The Great Dominions" (4 / 5)

2nd and final real studio release by Teardrop Explodes. In less than a year the band has been through various changes of line-ups, but here they are back to a nucleus of undisputed leader and only songwriter Julian Cope on lead vocals, guitars, bass, piano and organ, new member Troy Tate on guitar, David Balfe on keyboards and with Gary Dwyer on drums. James Eller, who played bass in the band during concerts to free Cope to concentrate on vocal parts is credited as additional personnel.

This is just great. Like the debut, it's a rather huge fusion pot of styles and genres but here it's under control and direction, and the neo-psychedelia fits nicely with what else Mr. Cope did later on. This is a rare album of the early '80s insofar that I still enjoy it. The album has so many fine tracks on it that one could easily think of it as a compilation album. I've had various favourite tracks on this release. Back then it was probably "Falling Down Around Me" and "Passionate Friend". Today, I think "Tiny Children" is a masterpiece.

The album was, however, met by poor sales and luke-warm reviews. After yet another period of internal conflicts the band was reduced to a trio of Cope, Balfe and Dwyer, and without a guitar-player, and after unsuccesful attempts of recording a follow-up album in '82, the band was dissolved in '83 after which Cope initiated his solo career.

[ allmusic.com 3 / 5 stars ]

Alt. cover

The Teardrop Explodes

~ ~ ~

The Teardrop Explodes: English band formed Oct. 1978 in Liverpool, UK. The band was dissolved Oct. 15, 1982. Members: Julian Cope (vocals, bass), Paul Simpson (keyboards), Gary Dwyer (drums), Mick Finkler (guitar), David Balfe (keyboards), Alan Gill (guitar), Troy Tate (guitar), Jeff Hammer (keyboards), Alfie Agius (bass), Ron François (bass). The band was one of many not to last long that came out of the punk explosion. TE had its very own distinct style - a blend of new wave with psychedelic rock or neo-psychedelia. THE driving force behind both music and lyrics of the band was Julian Cope who went solo in the aftermath of TE, and he has continued the very style of the band in his many solo projects.

~ ~ ~

The Teardrop Explodes "Kilimanjaro" (1980)

Kilimanjaro [debut]
release date: Oct. 1980
format: digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,54]
producer: The Chameleons
label: Mercury Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Ha Ha I'm Drowning" - 2. "Sleeping Gas" - 3. "Treason" - 11. "When I Dream"

Studio debut album by British band The Teardrop Explodes, initially consisting of lead vocalist and bassist Julian Cope, guitarist Mick Finkler, keyboardist David Balfe and drummer Gary Dwyer. Up until the foundation of the band, Cope had shortly played in the trio Crucial Three together with Ian McCulloch and guitarist Peter Wylie, who should go on to establish the two successful bands Echo & The Bunnymen and The Mighty Wah!, respectively. During the recording sessions Finkler was sacked by the band (Cope) and substituted by Alan Gill, which means that Finkler is credited as guitarist on eight and Gill on three of the first issue's eleven songs. The album was issued in at least two original versions: the first with the UK cover (see below) and a second issue featuring the small hit song "Reward" and five songs featuring Gill and six with Finkler. Two songs are substituted with new compositions for the second issue, which has a rather different running order.

I only came across the album some four years after its release, and long after the great Wilder album. I don't think Kilimanjaro has the same greatness as the follow-up, but it still contains some fine compositions. The style is more new wave-shaped on this one, although horns are ever-present, and the general impression is a style that is too mixed up and pointing in all directions. For some reason the album is enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".

New guitarist Alan Gill left the band by the end of the year and was replaced by Troy Tate.

[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5 stars ]

UK cover