NewsThe Teardrop Explodes / Culture Bunker 1978-82
6CD and 7LP box sets with scores of unreleased tracks
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.
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.
Tracklisting
Culture Bunker 1978-1982 The Teardrop Explodes /
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CD 1: IT’S SO ETHEREAL – THE SINGLES
- Sleeping Gas – Zoo Single
- Camera Camera – Single B-Side
- Kirby Workers Dream Fades – Single B-Side
- Bouncing Babies – Zoo Single
- All I Am Is Loving You – Single B-Side
- Treason – Zoo Single
- Read It in Books – Single B-Side
- When I Dream – First Mercury Single
- Kilimanjaro – B-Side
- Reward – Single
- Strange House in the Snow – B-Side
- Treason (It’s Just a Story) (Remixed Version) – Single
- Use Me – B-Side
- Traison (C’est Juste Une Histoire) – B-Side
- Ha Ha I’m Drowning – Single
- Poppies In the Field – B-Side
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CD 2: CHRIST VERSUS WARHOL – THE SINGLES
- Passionate Friend – Single
- Christ Versus Warhol – B-Side
- Colours Fly Away – Single
- East of the Equator – B-Side
- Window Shopping for a New Crown of Thorns – B-Side
- Tiny Children – Single
- Rachel Built a Steamboat – B-Side
- You Disappear from View – Single
- Suffocate – No Strings from US LP of version of Kilimanjaro
- Ouch Monkeys – B-Side
- Soft Enough for You – B-Side
- The In-Psychlopedia – B-Side
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CD 3: FROM DRUG PURITAN TO ACID KING
- Camera Camera – Granada TV, February 1979
- Band on The Wall – Live, Manchester, 05 March 1979
- Instro
- Sleeping Gas
- Seeing Through You
- Straight Rain
- All I Am is Loving You
- Read It In Books
- Jury Service
- Take A Chance
- The Tunnel
- Camera Camera
- Outstro
- Sleeping Gas (Encore)
- Beauty Come Second – Live Bristol 06 October 1979, unrecorded song
- Take A Chance – Cargo Demos / To the Shores of Lake Placid Version
- Poppies In the Field – Cargo Demos
- Brave Boys Keep Promises – Cargo Demos
- Bouncing Babies – Cargo Demos, all November 1979
- Ha Ha I’m Drowning – Live at Studio Y 30/05/1980
- Second Head – Live at Studio Y 30/05/1980
- Went Crazy – Live at Studio Y 30/05/1980
- Thief of Bagdad – Live at Studio Y 30/05/1980
- Save Me – Live Y Club – London 30/05/1980
- When I Dream – To the Shores of Lake Placid Version, Rockfield, 1980
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CD 4: THE GREAT DOMINIONS
- Dialogue Between (Window Shopping for a New Crown of Thorns) – Rockfield, 1980
- For Years aka Nobody Knows This Is Everywhere – Zoology Version, 1980
- Suffocate (With Strings) – Baroque Version, Rockfield, Spring 1982
- Bent Out of Shape – Skinner Session – 17 August 1981
- Colours Fly Away – Club Zoo – 25 November 1981
- Pure Joy – Club Zoo – 25 November 1981
- Falling Down Around Me – Bearshank Lodge, April 1981
- Passionate Friend – also Bearshank Lodge
- Tiny Children – Zoology / Air Rough Mixes, Summer 1981
- …And The Fighting Takes Over – Zoology, 1981
- The Culture Bunker – Club Zoo – 25 November 1981
- The Great Dominions – Soundboard Tape Guildford June 1981
- 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
- Screaming Secrets – from Copes Notes: TheTeardrtop Explodes , 1981
- Not My Only Friend – also Bearshank Lodge
- I’m Not the Loving Kind – Zoology Version, 1981, John Cale cover from Slow Dazzle
- World Shut Your Mouth – Instrumental Demo #1 – Liverpool Feb 1981 / Portastudio
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CD 5: CLUB ZOO
Club Zoo – December 22 1981
- Log Cabin
- Tiny Children
- Passionate Friend
- Bouncing Babies
- You Disappear from View
- Ha Ha I’m Drowning
- Reward
- Culture Bunker
- Sleeping Gas – also b-side Tiny Children
Bonus tracks from Club Zoo, 25 November 1981
- Like Leila Khaled Said
- Treason
- Bouncing Babies
- Vox Clemantis in Deserto
- Sleeping Gas
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CD 6: DEATH RATTLE
- Whopper Kwalo Koblinsky’s Lullaby – from To the Shores of Lake Placid, January 1981
- You Disappear from View – from Zoology. Demo, Producers Workshop, 1982
- Log Cabin – from Zoology, 1982
- Serious Danger – Julian Cope And Dave Balfe Cassette – demos, May 1982 (Take 2 of 3)
- Count To Ten and Run for Cover – JC And DB Cassette
- Ouch Monkeys – JC And DB Cassette
- Icarus #1 – JC And DB Cassette
- Terrorist – JC And DB Cassette
- Pussyface – Instrumental backing track, Spring 1982
- Flipped Out on LSD – Excerpt, 1982, featuring rare Dave Balfe vocal
- Your Big Lies – Julian Cope home demo, Tamworth May 1982
- Camera Camera – With World Shut Your Mouth producer Steve Lovell, 1984
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CD 1: IT’S SO ETHEREAL – THE SINGLES
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What is it about CDs manufactured in the Czech Republic where there are ripping issues towards the end of the CDs (for those that run over 70 minutes)? Oh and be careful as they didn’t apply my 10% discount (have no idea why). When I reached out to them to ask why and ask if they could apply it after the order was placed, they never responded. A bit better customers service would be appreciated.
JPC Germany: CD 69,99€ / Vinyl 139,99 € – great, great band!
I’m in the US, just got mine yesterday. It’s a thing of beauty!
Received mine yesterday in Canada
Anyone received a shipping notice yet? Particularly in the US?
I received notice today that mine has been despatched, however I’m in the U.K.
Thanks!
I remember seeing Julian in a local Virgin Megastore years ago and had a friend with me who was totally shocked as Cope was using the shop walls as percussion. A true maverick.
Saw them twice in Edinburgh in 1982, first as the main act at the Playhouse in February then supporting Queen at Ingliston in the June. Always liked them and Julian’s subsequent solo material. At the price, the vinyl box represents surprisingly welcome value for money in today’s marketplace.
This is what I love about SDE. I’m not really familiar with The Teardrop Explodes, it seems very English and didn’t get much recognition on mainland Europe. I looked it up on YouTube and I love it. Bought the cd box right away. Excellent box!
“Very limited” – this suggests maybe 2,000 maximum world wide based on other artists box sets I’ve seen in the last few years.
This is unrelated but I just found out about the passing of the legendary Japanese musician Ryuichi Sakamoto. Originally a member of Yellow Magic Orchestra he worked with many other musicians including David Sylvian and Thomas Dolby. Rest in peace.
I’m assuming the limited quantity of sets means that this will most likely turn up on Spotify, soon enough
There’s already 3 tracks on there, so I would imagine the rest will follow.
Bought. I have both Kilimanjaro and Wilder on vinyl and 2cd sets so this was a no brainer. Decent price too compared to some box sets nowadays.
The Teardrop Explodes – one of the most intriguing and fascinating bands of that era and now getting the box set status that is so deserved.
Disappointed that there are not more BBC sessions and the In Concert @ Guildford included. Saying that there is plenty to keep me entertained on the forthcoming balmy summer nights.
This morning at work, a little bit of “You Disappear From View” just sorta randomly started playing in my head. I have something like an internal jukebox, and it never stops playing, no matter what I’m doing. I honestly think it’s wonderful. Anyway, about two minutes later I was checking my phone during a spare moment, and of course I paid a visit to SDE, which I do at some point every morning. And I guess you know what I saw first. Nothing is coincidental, right?
I have an awful lot of TTE on 7″ and 12″ and all three original albums on LP. Actually, a lot of CDs. too. I even hunted down a CD copy of Kilimanjaro on Skyclad just to finally get the version of “Reward” with the full intro. It doesn’t seem to be available on CD anywhere else, but it was the first version of the song I ever heard, so it had bothered me for many years that the “instant-on” version shows up everywhere. I’m a little surprised, reading some comments, that it’s MIA on the box too. Of course, there’s a lot more to this band than the hits. I am so very much looking forward to the day my order arrives.
Thanks, Paul, for making us aware and for the link. Thanks to Kendo for the tip. I checked my email before completing the order. Every little bit helps!
Yes the continual jukebox in one’s head is rather lovely (although when I brake out in spontaneous singing my wife would disagree), anyway to the point-there is surely no coincidences in life, I was literally going though my sent emails yesterday and spotted one from a couple of months ago to ‘Record Collector’ magazine regarding entering a competition so I deleted it and literally 5 minutes later the postman came and I opened my post to discover that I had won said competition!
Umm. Wish my continual juke box was lovely. Left to it’s own devices it keeps coming up with Achy, Breaky Heart! OMD’s Dazzle Ships will be on later though, so that should confuse it!
Wow – CD version is CAD$196 from Universal Canada ($176 + shipping and 5% VAT) versus CAD$146 all in from Sound of Vinyl. I sure wasn’t going to pay $200 but even $150 seems a bit much. Going to have to think about for a day or two. I have a reserve fund for sought after purchases (Floored Genius 3 & 4 on CD are on the list) but expected this to be closer to the recent Blondie 8 CD box set at $110 from Universal (incl the 20% off coupon).
Looks great! Anybody has any news about the Cope Islands album box set? Read about it in some SDE comments long time ago but have not heard anything since
Love the “druid” Julian Cope and The Teardrop Explodes. Ordered the CD boxset! Buy before it runs out…
I’ve always wanted to listen more to Teardrop Explodes, as I only have Kilimanjaro and Wilder and this looks an excellent, if specialist set.
However, I despair at the naked cash grab techniques employed by the music industry this decade. The set is reasonably well priced for 2023, I expected 90-100, but this ‘limited’ volume nonsense drives me mad. Why would you want to limit any CD release, unless you are trying to scare everyone from hard-core fans to scalpers, to maximise day one sales?
If its presale, there is no need for limiting, you know what you’ve sold. I can only conclude it’s a base, blunt sales technique because the music industry is so concerned about sales immediately, rather than sales over a period of time. What happened to the concept of marketing to the educated consumer….
It’s not a demand based presale because these have already been manufactured.
Hello Paul
Any idea how many of each?
Just curious .
I have ordered from Universal Germany, for those in the EU , it’s a good idea.
No idea, I’m afraid.
Thanks Paul.
I thought you might know, not to worry.
Happy Easter to you and all.
Hello, can u please post to me the German Universal Shop Website , can’t find it ..thanx
At least I’m not the only one who couldnt’t find the website of Universal Germany…
http://www.bravado.de
It´s Bravado – the german Universal Shop. The CD-Box costs 75 € + 6 € postage
Obviously you are more knowledgeable than average punter Paul but does that mean product is sitting around on shelves months before release? Being a bit naïve about things like that is that how albums can go from being unofficially released to never coming out? The very first Deadsy album being a case in point which is going for silly money on eBay, a full album recorded but never officially saw the light of day. Ironically it was probably their best album.
I don’t know the details but I imagine this box set’s release date got pushed back at some point. But the product had been manufactured and ready for a previous date.
Quelle surprise – profit making entities want to make, wait for it,………………….profit! Simply wait for unsold stock to drop in price and then buy it?
I guess if you think there’s a market for 2010 copies, it’s probably better business sense to press 2000 copies and leave 10 people hanging than to press 2500 and 490 unsold copies taking up space?
More seriously, in a set like this that requires licensing from third parties, they may indeed have negotiated a licence for a specific/maximum number of physical copies.
*Very* excited by this release……………… though those graphics aren’t very reminiscent of the band’s original artwork.
I think in a package like this, where the book and the visual presentation are such a big part of it, that’s a fair thing to comment on. Still, that won’t stop me from buying it.
Well I haven’t ordered a box set in quite awhile, but this one is one I won’t pass up. Shipping is quite reasonable to the USA – not that we could comparison-shop for the lowest prices on this one. I’m still trying to score a reasonably price Floored Genius 2 (2CD version) – never see these in North America! Very excited about this one.
Happy with this, CD purchased.
Pleased to see material I only have on vinyl now on CD and loads of unreleased stuff.
As others have side if you haven’t read his music memoirs, treat yourself and, not joking when I say, his archaeological history on stone circles is considered one of the best written.
An interest character, the arch Druid, erratic in quality but his Island period solo stuff is his peak for me. It’ll be a happy day when this little lot drops through the door.
Oh, and I think the price is reasonable compared to other recent releases.
This and a new Dexys album has though cost me quite a bit this week.
An absolute treasure trove, if maybe less than exhaustive. I have a ton of Julian Cope releases from the Head Heritage site and beyond, including a lot of Teardrops stuff. This still looks pretty enticing to me.
I have a pretty extensive stack of Teardrops vinyl that I accumulated over the years, as well as a handful of CDs and bootlegs. Ordinarily I’d try to parse through which of the tracks I already own before ordering. But with 57 unreleased songs in the set, and for this very special band, I’m not going to bother. Looks great, I’m in!
Shame they couldn’t have tagged on a disc with the videos and any footage from bbc shows, such as ogwt. The Copeulation dvd is like gold dust! Maybe Cherry Red could do a reissue to coincide!
Shame, they don’t accept paypal (with bank)
ordered. Thanks Paul. Not an unreasonable price and even if it was it doesn’t look as though it is safe to try hanging around for a price drop, unlike with Bob Dylan and usually David Bowie.
Looks like the Club Zoo set is the the tracks missing from the vinyl version, which leads me to think they might issue this separately at some point.
Also, curiously, the CD version doesn’t appear to include the US only version of Reward.
Indeed! Just did an A-B comparison, all of the ‘Club Zoo’ tracks are omitted, as is one other song, ‘Flipped out on LSD’ from Disc 6. So, expect a RSD release of the Club Zoo material on vinyl next year!
I’ve run through the CD vs Vinyl list and also spotted that the US Reward is not on the CD version or iTunes DL and Spotify. Is this the full intro one as I’m sure that should have been included.
Though I’m a big TE fan, is there anything that is missing still sat in the archives?
Very excited about this. The Teardrops were excellent, I know most people rate Kilimanjaro higher but Wilder is one of my favourite albums of that era – I have all the albums in different editions, and most of theirs and Julian’s singles and 12 inches but this seems to complete my Teardropmania – duly ordered! Many thanks Paul, can’t wait to get my hands on it
Instant purchase – I’d been waiting for this since it was trailed late last year. And now, we wait… :D
Julian cope the Syd Barrett of the 80’s
A genius a wayward star and I never thought he would have anything to do with the Drop’s ever again so I’m in and a massive thanks to Paul for the heads up.
Really? – There was a Head Heritage cd of ‘drops material only a few years ago… Purchased but hoping that the sound quality is better than the ‘Piano’ cd!!!
Thanks Paul, I ordered the CD set like a shot! Can we also now look forward to the big Psychedelic Furs box set that was also touted in the same Mojo article as the TFF set?
Seriously? I’d be down for that one as well. That’s a band that is overdue for a box set.
Excellent news. Ordered. Worth signing up for their newsletter too as it’ll give you 10% off this purchase.
thanks for the tip
Spotted this after I ordered copy of both, to eager
Thanks for info – ordered
Thanks for the heads up, just ordered the CD version.
At bleedin’ last! Great news that Mick Houghton’s so closely involved in delivering this – his previous sleevenotes for The Cope were entertaining, and his Fried & Justified book is a great read. If anyone can do justice to this elegant chaos, it’s him.
So: next long-overdue box sets on the list… Edwyn Collins solo years and The Blue Nile, please.
Ordered! Mojo mentioned this was due around 5 years ago – better late than never! (Hopefully we might still get The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway SDE they also exclusively mentioned.)
It would have been nice to get the still-unreleased Peel Session (and a couple of Jensen tracks, I think), but this is a real treasure trove for any fans out there. Can’t wait!
Thanks as always for letting us know, Paul.
Been awaiting this for a while. Happy birthday me!
Hello, I have been waiting for this set for many years. I can not really remember when it was first mentioned (Mojo 2020?). Anyhow, this is exciting . This band together with Echo and the Bunnymen were the first bands that I discovered via our local Pop-rock Magazine “Schlager” in Sweden in 1980-81. It was also due to Julian Cope that learned about Scott Walker. I look forward to receiving the set and I hope that they eventually will do the same for Echo and The bunnymen. Around the same time as this box was discussed, a similar set by Julian Cope was also discussed. Best regards, Hans Lindskog
I was wondering what had happened to this after it was announced back in January and then….silence.
Ordered!
This looks stunning, but you do have to ask yourself why, after deciding to do a big vinyl box set, they chose to omit 14 tracks from it. That’s a lot of money to pay for something that is incomplete.
I was thinking along the same lines. Surely, if you are going to the trouble of making a 7 LP box set, then why not make it 8 and put everything on. Just sayin’.
Looks great. But am I seeking that right the albums aren’t included? I would probably purchase if the albums were included as well
I know what you mean, but I would’ve thought the main audience for this sort of release would already own the albums. There would probably be a lot of criticism if the albums had been included, as people may not be willing to buy them again.
I think you’re exactly right, Gary. No-one who wants 4CDs of live stuff, demos and outtakes won’t own the albums. It would have added cost without adding value.
With the price of these boxes and the involvement of Cope, it seems really odd that there’s nothing whatsoever signed?
Maybe he lost his pen down the back of the ‘henge…