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The Teardrop Explodes / Culture Bunker 1978-82

6CD and 7LP box sets with scores of unreleased tracks

By Paul Sinclair

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Massive new box sets dive deep into Julian Cope’s archive for detailed examination of The Teardrop Explodes recordings

Universal Music Recordings will release Culture Bunker 1978-82 in June a new The Teardrop Explodes box set available as a 6CD package or a 7LP vinyl offering.

The Teardrop Explodes originated as a critical band in the emerging Liverpool post-punk scene of the late 1970s, which included Echo & The Bunnymen, their former manager Bill Drummond of The JAMS/KLF, The Mighty WAH! and future pop stars Holly Johnson of Frankie Goes To Hollywood and The Lightning Seeds Ian Broudie, who would also produce many bands from the scene. The group also launched the career of group frontman Julian Cope and keyboard player David Balfe, who later founded Food Records and signed and mentored Blur.

The 6CD version of Culture Bunker comes with a 64-page hardcover book (click to enlarge)

Culture Bunker 1978-82 compiles all the band’s singles and B-sides as well as four CDs / five LPs of unreleased studio outtakes, a wealth of unheard live recordings and several tracks taken from ‘Zoology’, the Teardrop Explodes compilation that Cope released himself in 2004. Writer and long-time band publicist Mick Houghton has curated Culture Bunker and has gained exclusive access to Julian Cope’s archive. These early and later recordings show the evolution of one of the era’s most influential bands from their inception to their finale.

The 6CD set features a staggering 57 previously unreleased tracks and is packaged in a 10-inch slipcase with a 64-page hardcover book which features a 12,000 word essay from Mick Houghton (drawing from new, recent conversations with Julian Cope). That same story is told via the seven printed inner-sleeves on the 7LP vinyl box set which features 43 previously unreleased tracks (the CD box has 95 tracks in total, the vinyl box, which comes with a poster, has 82).

The audio for this new box set has been remastered by Andy Pearce wherever possible from original tapes and cassettes. 

Culture Bunker 1978-1982 is probably the last word on The Teardrop Explodes and both editions are described as “very limited” by the record label. These boxes are not available via normal retail channels are can only be ordered via Universal direct-to-consumer (D2C) sites. It is released on 2 June 2023, via Universal Music Recordings.

The 7LP vinyl box set of Culture Bunker (click image to enlarge)

Tracklisting

Culture Bunker 1978-1982 The Teardrop Explodes /

    • CD 1: IT’S SO ETHEREAL – THE SINGLES
      1. Sleeping Gas – Zoo Single
      2. Camera Camera – Single B-Side
      3. Kirby Workers Dream Fades – Single B-Side
      4. Bouncing Babies – Zoo Single
      5. All I Am Is Loving You – Single B-Side
      6. Treason – Zoo Single
      7. Read It in Books – Single B-Side
      8. When I Dream – First Mercury Single
      9. Kilimanjaro – B-Side
      10. Reward – Single
      11. Strange House in the Snow – B-Side
      12. Treason (It’s Just a Story) (Remixed Version) – Single
      13. Use Me – B-Side
      14. Traison (C’est Juste Une Histoire) – B-Side
      15. Ha Ha I’m Drowning – Single
      16. Poppies In the Field – B-Side
    • CD 2: CHRIST VERSUS WARHOL – THE SINGLES
      1. Passionate Friend – Single
      2. Christ Versus Warhol – B-Side
      3. Colours Fly Away – Single
      4. East of the Equator – B-Side
      5. Window Shopping for a New Crown of Thorns – B-Side
      6. Tiny Children – Single
      7. Rachel Built a Steamboat – B-Side
      8. You Disappear from View – Single
      9. Suffocate – No Strings from US LP of version of Kilimanjaro
      10. Ouch Monkeys – B-Side
      11. Soft Enough for You – B-Side
      12. The In-Psychlopedia – B-Side
    • CD 3: FROM DRUG PURITAN TO ACID KING
      1.  Camera Camera – Granada TV, February 1979
      2. Band on The Wall – Live, Manchester, 05 March 1979
      3. Instro
      4. Sleeping Gas
      5. Seeing Through You
      6. Straight Rain
      7. All I Am is Loving You
      8. Read It In Books
      9. Jury Service
      10. Take A Chance
      11. The Tunnel
      12. Camera Camera
      13. Outstro
      14. Sleeping Gas (Encore)
      15. Beauty Come Second – Live Bristol 06 October 1979, unrecorded song
      16. Take A Chance – Cargo Demos / To the Shores of Lake Placid Version
      17. Poppies In the Field – Cargo Demos
      18. Brave Boys Keep Promises – Cargo Demos
      19. Bouncing Babies – Cargo Demos, all November 1979
      20. Ha Ha I’m Drowning – Live at Studio Y 30/05/1980
      21. Second Head – Live at Studio Y 30/05/1980
      22. Went Crazy – Live at Studio Y 30/05/1980
      23. Thief of Bagdad – Live at Studio Y 30/05/1980
      24. Save Me – Live Y Club – London 30/05/1980
      25. When I Dream – To the Shores of Lake Placid Version, Rockfield, 1980
    • CD 4: THE GREAT DOMINIONS
      1. Dialogue Between (Window Shopping for a New Crown of Thorns) – Rockfield, 1980
      2. For Years aka Nobody Knows This Is Everywhere – Zoology Version, 1980
      3. Suffocate (With Strings) – Baroque Version, Rockfield, Spring 1982
      4. Bent Out of Shape – Skinner Session – 17 August 1981
      5. Colours Fly Away – Club Zoo – 25 November 1981
      6. Pure Joy – Club Zoo – 25 November 1981
      7. Falling Down Around Me – Bearshank Lodge, April 1981
      8. Passionate Friend – also Bearshank Lodge
      9. Tiny Children – Zoology / Air Rough Mixes, Summer 1981
      10. …And The Fighting Takes Over – Zoology, 1981
      11. The Culture Bunker – Club Zoo – 25 November 1981
      12. The Great Dominions – Soundboard Tape Guildford June 1981
      13. Butchers Tale – Air Studios Rough Mixes, summer 1981; credited on the original Wilder inners but not included on the LP. Cover from the Zombies Odyssey and Oracle
      14. Screaming Secrets – from Copes Notes: TheTeardrtop Explodes , 1981
      15. Not My Only Friend – also Bearshank Lodge
      16. I’m Not the Loving Kind – Zoology Version, 1981, John Cale cover from Slow Dazzle
      17. World Shut Your Mouth – Instrumental Demo #1 – Liverpool Feb 1981 / Portastudio
    • CD 5: CLUB ZOO
      Club Zoo – December 22 1981
      1. Log Cabin
      2. Tiny Children
      3. Passionate Friend
      4. Bouncing Babies
      5. You Disappear from View
      6. Ha Ha I’m Drowning
      7. Reward
      8. Culture Bunker
      9. Sleeping Gas  – also b-side Tiny Children
      Bonus tracks from Club Zoo, 25 November 1981 
      1. Like Leila Khaled Said
      2. Treason
      3. Bouncing Babies
      4. Vox Clemantis in Deserto
      5. Sleeping Gas
    • CD 6: DEATH RATTLE
      1. Whopper Kwalo Koblinsky’s Lullaby – from To the Shores of Lake Placid, January 1981
      2. You Disappear from View – from Zoology. Demo, Producers Workshop, 1982
      3. Log Cabin – from Zoology, 1982
      4. Serious Danger – Julian Cope And Dave Balfe Cassette – demos, May 1982  (Take 2 of 3)
      5. Count To Ten and Run for Cover – JC And DB Cassette
      6. Ouch Monkeys – JC And DB Cassette
      7. Icarus #1 – JC And DB Cassette
      8. Terrorist – JC And DB Cassette
      9. Pussyface – Instrumental backing track, Spring 1982
      10. Flipped Out on LSD – Excerpt, 1982, featuring rare Dave Balfe vocal
      11. Your Big Lies – Julian Cope home demo, Tamworth May 1982
      12. Camera Camera – With World Shut Your Mouth producer Steve Lovell, 1984

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