Heylo Bassers,
My friend Sal Maida asked me to contribute to Volume 2 of The White Label Promo Preservation Society Vol 2: More Flop Albums You Ought to Know. Sal Maida, Mitchell Cohen & Friends. I am very thrilled and honored that he thought of me for another essay. My essay is on the band, Teardrop Explodes, and their debut album, Kilimanjaro.
I would encourage you to buy the book because so many of the essays are really fun, interesting, and are a deep depth of knowledge. It’s truly an oral history by some really great and interesting writers.
https://hozacrecords.bandcamp.com/merch/the-white-label-promo-preservation-society-book
Here’s my essay, for all you bouncing babies:
I’m not sure how it started, but I remember how it ended. On a rooftop in Brooklyn, somewhere in Prospect Heights, and at a party for my roommate’s 25th birthday. We three were sitting on the far edge of the roof looking onto the Brooklyn/Manhattan skyline as the sun set, and the singer was standing, facing us. As the sun lowered the voices rose, and eventually we all were in complete darkness and silence. The line was drawn, and we went with the guitar player.
The new incarnation (of almost the same band) continued when I lived in Williamsburg, on Maspeth Avenue right past the White Castle. I’d take the B43 bus to Greenpoint with my bass on my back headed to the guitar player’s apartment. We’d spend hours in his classic one-bedroom on Dupont Street hanging out with his Maine Coon, and coming up with cool guitar and bass parts that would later be formed into songs. We started every hang with me thumbing through this week’s The Week, talking about politics, our current relationships, our jobs, and we’d talk a lot about music and many things British. He had a very charming depth of sensibility with an introverted sense of awareness of himself and others. The environment was very easy for me to soak it all in. We were building the groundwork of a creative process based on trust and connection.
During these hangs he introduced me to The Mighty Boosh on the BBC, he demonstrated how some of his pedals could emulate similar sounds of Johnny Marr’s playing, and we’d listen and dissect The Cure. That was one of the first times where I realized when each track was isolated it revealed an incredibly simple part on its own, but when pieced together within the ensemble, the result was equally complex. Each hang and play session opened my mind and my ears, and when he showed me the 1981 Top of the Pops performance of Teardrop Explodes, everything that I soaked in up to this point left a level of clarity and openness that transcended my crude musical education. It eroded away the barrier of they have the special talent, and I don’t. I was inspired, and I believed that I could do that, too.
We often listened to the 2000 Kilimanjaro Reissue that included some bonus B-side tracks from the original 1980 track listing. The whole album is best experienced as a complete body of work and paired with a cup of tea, a comfy chair and time carved out to settle into musical escapism. This might be a feature of the “neo-psychedelic” genre Wikipedia calls Teardrop Explodes, whatever that means. Julian Cope is an alluring and intense performer, but not until years later I realized that he was the bass player on many of the recordings. The hypnotic, treble groove that’s his signature on this record makes a perfect table for him to lay out his inner dark vulnerabilities, veiled with a moving flange.
I’m a sucker for bold, lead-off tracks. Ha Ha I’m Drowning has horn hits that feel more like The Specials than The Style Council. The bass part is percussive, and driving, and the drum fills grab hold of your heart. What a poppy tune with sharp lyrics! I would NOT want to be one of Julian’s lovers…well, maybe I would.
You ask me if I love you
Well, I don’t think that’s real
To criticize our love
Well, ask me once again
And ask me for the third time
Oh, and ask me how I feel
I say, I’m drowning in your love
The descending bass line, and the whimsical carnival keyboard part make the chorus of Treason so hooky and infectious. The juxtaposition of this perfect pop tune with these dark and dreadful lyrics is so classic Liverpool; Treason and the whole Kilimanjaro album is a northern British progenitor of the 90s Brit-Pop to come.
Mirror hopping days are a coarse reaction
Oh it’s very hard to fight
I tried to find a plan of action
But I couldn’t get it right
Until you realize It’s just a story
Until you realize
It’s just a story
When I Dream is about as romantic as a codependent relationship can get. The song has hazy textures, nonsensical lyrics, desertions, and desperations. Julian sings that he’s going, but I don’t believe him. It’s addict-type behavior and the push pull lyrics make for a heady, delirious song.
There you go again
Playing with my heart
And when I dream I dream about you
And when I scream I scream about you
I go ba ba ba ba oh oh
I go ba ba ba ba oh oh
Well I’m going
The circle came around with me at the end this time. I walked into our monthly rehearsal space next to the Gowanus canal and under the Smith and 9th Street stop. I told the guys that my life has changed, and I can’t be in the band anymore. I had recently moved to the Upper West Side, and things were different for me. My guitar playing friend looked at me and said, “This must have been really hard for you.” It was.
Margaret LaBombard is a bass player and a founding member of the NYC band, Slyboots.
See you on the low end!
Love,
Mags