Kilimanjaro (The Teardrop Explodes album)

Kilimanjaro is the debut album by the neo-psychedelic Liverpool band The Teardrop Explodes, released on 10 October 1980. It contains versions of the band's early singles "Sleeping Gas", "Bouncing Babies", "Treason" and "When I Dream"; reissues of the album also include their biggest hit, "Reward". The album also includes the song "Books", originally a song by Julian Cope's previous band, The Crucial Three; it was also recorded by Echo & the Bunnymen (as "Read It in Books", released on the B-side of their debut single, and featured on some versions of Crocodiles). In 2000, Q magazine placed Kilimanjaro at number 95 in its list of the "100 Greatest British Albums Ever".

The original working title for Kilimanjaro was Everyone Wants to Shag the Teardrop Explodes; this title was later used for the CD release of demos for the band's never-finished third album. When originally released, the album featured a shadowy photograph of the band on the sleeve; when the album was reissued in 1981, the album artwork was changed to a photo of zebras in front of Tanzania's Mount Kilimanjaro, the mountain after which the record was named. Subsequent CD reissues feature either album covers.

In 2000, Cope gave his blessings to re-release Kilimanjaro with a selection of bonus tracks (mainly single B-sides), original artwork, a remastered sound, and full lyrics and essays. A deluxe 3-disc edition followed in 2010, including original singles, B-sides and radio session recordings.

Track listing
The original release did not include "Reward", which was added to later pressings after it became a hit single early in 1981. The reverse of the LP album sleeve had a running order different from that of the record itself.

The album was reissued with a new sleeve (known as the "Zebra" or "Mountain" sleeve), with "Reward" added as an extra track following "Second Head" in the running order. This reissue of the album was also remixed – most noticeably on "Went Crazy" and a longer version of "When I Dream".

This version of the album dropped "Second Head" and "Bouncing Babies" from the UK track line-up, but included "Suffocate" and "Reward" - the latter featuring a 12-second instrumental intro not included on the various UK releases of the song. This U.S. version of the album was reissued in the early 1990s on CD, LP and cassette by the New Jersey-based independent label Skyclad (LUCKY 7), but featuring the "Zebra" sleeve.

2010 deluxe edition reissue
On 12 July 2010, the album was re-released as a remastered 3-disc deluxe edition with the "zebra" cover artwork.


 * Disc 2: tracks 1 & 10 from "Reward" single; tracks 2 to 4 from original "Sleeping Gas" single; tracks 5 & 6 from original "Bouncing Babies" single; tracks 7 & 8 from original "Treason" single"; track 9 was the B-side to "When I Dream" single; tracks 11 & 12 from "Treason" single reissue


 * Disc 3: tracks 1 to 4 recorded 2 October 1979; tracks 5 to 7 recorded 16 April 1980; tracks 8 to 11 recorded 16 October 1980

The contents of disc 1 and most of disc 2 were previously released on other issues of Kilimanjaro: the remainder of disc 2 is taken from the compilation Piano. Disc 3 is mostly taken from The Peel Sessions release, "Suffocate" is a bonus track on the 2000 release of the band's second album Wilder and the other tracks were previously unissued. However, not all tracks from the parent releases are found on this release.

Julian Cope, despite authorising the release of the deluxe edition, later wrote on his website that he felt that the release had a low sound quality and forced fans to buy a vast majority of tracks which they already had while only offering a few newly released rare ones.

Original album release

 * The Teardrop Explodes
 * Julian Cope – vocals, bass guitar
 * David Balfe – piano, organ, synthesizer
 * Gary Dwyer – drums
 * Alan Gill – guitar on "Reward" (second edition of album only), "Poppies in the Field", "Ha Ha I'm Drowning", "Books" and "When I Dream"

with:


 * Michael Finkler – guitar on "Second Head", "Brave Boys Keep Their Promises", "Bouncing Babies", "Ha Ha I'm Drowning", "Sleeping Gas", "Treason", "Went Crazy" and "Thief of Baghdad"
 * Hurricane Smith, Ray Martinez – trumpets on "Ha Ha I'm Drowning", "Sleeping Gas" and "Went Crazy"
 * Technical
 * Hugh Jones – engineer
 * Brian Griffin – photography

2010 deluxe edition release
Disc 1 (Kilimanjaro)

(same credits as for original album release, but remove "Reward" from track listing)

Disc 2 (Bates Motel)


 * Julian Cope – vocals, bass guitar, violin on "Strange House in the Snow"
 * Gary Dwyer – drums
 * Paul Simpson – organ on "Sleeping Gas" (single version), "Camera Camera" and "Kirby Workers Dream Fades"
 * Michael Finkler – guitar on "Sleeping Gas" (single version), "Camera Camera", "Kirby Workers Dream Fades", "Bouncing Babies" (single version), "All I Am is Loving You', "Treason" (Zoo single version), "Read It in Books", "Use Me" and "Traison (C'est Juste Une Histoire)"
 * David Balfe – keyboards on "Reward", "Treason" (Zoo single version), "Read It in Books", "Kilimanjaro", "Reward", "Strange House in the Snow", "Use Me", "Traison (C'est Juste Une Histoire" and "Sleeping Gas" (live version)
 * Alan Gill – guitar on "Reward", "Kilimanjaro" and "Strange House in the Snow"
 * Troy Tate – guitar on "Sleeping Gas" (live version) (uncredited)
 * Ronnie François – bass guitar on "Sleeping Gas" (live version) (uncredited)

Disc 3 (BBC Sessions)


 * Julian Cope – vocals, bass guitar
 * Gary Dwyer – drums
 * Michael Finkler – guitar on "Brave Boys Keep Their Promises", Ha Ha I'm Drowning", "Went Crazy", "Chance", "The Thief of Baghdad", "When I Dream" and "Poppies in the Field"
 * Ged Quinn – keyboards on "Brave Boys Keep Their Promises", Ha Ha I'm Drowning", "Went Crazy" and "Chance"
 * David Balfe – keyboards on "The Thief of Baghdad", "When I Dream" and "Poppies in the Field"
 * "The Emotional Jungle" – guitar on "Reward", "Suffocate", "For Years" and "The Great Dominions"
 * "The Evil Wasp" – keyboards on "Reward", "Suffocate", "For Years" and "The Great Dominions"
 * "The Legendary" Eric Batchelor – trumpet