The Teardrop Explodes | Reward | Original Promo Restored | 1981

Описание: On this day, the 23rd of January 1981, The Teardrop Explodes released their single Reward.

Here is a new remaster of the Don Letts-directed promo video that accompanied the release.

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Reward was not included on the original October 1980 UK release of the Teardrop Explodes debut album Kilimanjaro. Tho’ after Reward became a hit record [the band's biggest hit, peaking at No. 6 in the UK] it was included in a re-released and somewhat remixed version of the album, that also featured an entirely different sleeve [shadowy band shot replaced by spectacular photo of Zebras in front of Mount Kilimanjaro].

Reward was written by Teardrops singer and bassist Julian Cope and guitarist Alan Gill. Gill suggested a bassline for Cope and a melody for keyboardist David Balfe.

Julian Cope:

I [had gone] from drug puritan to acid king. I would ride imaginary horses to the studio with Gary Dwyer, our drummer. His was called Bumhead, mine Dobbin.

One day, in the middle of this madness, Alan said: “I’ve got a song that sounds like you wrote it.” He played me this fantastic bassline, then turned to Balfey and said: “And you play this.” Gary could only drum two ways, reggae or soul, so he played it soul and we had a song, Reward.

When we recorded it as a single, I urged the producer to make it sound hectic and frenetic, like we were playing in an ice rink, but the first mix just wasn’t mad enough. So me and Bill Drummond, our co-manager, booked another studio with another producer, and I took acid.

Suddenly, I was in command of a possible Teardrops hit. The first thing I did was cut the drum intro, so it went straight in at the trumpets, which we’d started using because I was obsessed with the Love album Forever Changes. Then we took the guitar out. There’s only one guitar chord in the whole song – and the guitarist wrote the music.

David Balfe:

I remember the first time I heard Julian play the Reward bass riff. It was exhilarating – like we’d plugged into the mains. When we did it live on the BBC’s Old Grey Whistle Test, we’d taken amyl nitrate and weren’t sounding great. A week later, we were in the studio to record it, and the producer said: “Oh, I hope we’re not doing that song.” I remember all sorts of problems with the horn solo. I kept saying: “No, no – it’s got to sound like wild elephants.” When I heard the second mix Julian did, I thought it was genius.

Both quotes, excerpts from:
https://www.theguardian.com/music/201...

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The promo video was directed by filmmaker and musician Don Letts. It was shot at a then-disused part of Liverpool’s Victoria Docks. The video featured a who’s who of the burgeoning Liverpool alternative music scene at the time. In addition to members of Teardrop Explodes, the video features members of Echo & the Bunnymen and the Wild Swans and other luminaries from Zoo Records and the Erics scene. The cast are clad [according to IMDB] in 1940’s WWII chic, careering around the dock in an old Austin Champ, a military and civilian jeep-like vehicle produced in the 1950s, and hiding in candlelit abandoned industrial buildings.

With help from an X post by Paul Simpson of Wild Swans, we know that featured in the video are:

Julian Cope, Troy Tate, Gary Dwyer, Alfie Agius [Teardrops]
Les Pattinson [Bunnymen]
Bill Butt, Yorkie, Martin Atkins [Zoo]
Ged Quinn & Paul Simpson [Wild Swans]
Don Letts
Stephen Tempest

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Back in the day, I remember being mighty impressed with this frantic, urgent song and its cool and mysterious video. I felt that this is how the individuals depicted in Talking Heads Life During Wartime would look and behave. The retro thrift store and battered military outfits - along with the similar Bunnymen army surplus chic - propelled me to shop for clothes at Euston’s Laurence Corner army surplus store. It was a look I sported for a year or so, before being converted to vintage Levi’s by subsequent influences.

Thanks for watching, I hope you dig it!

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Credits

Video:
The Teardrop Explodes | Reward | Original Promo | Directed by Don Letts | Produced by Mercury Records | 1981

Audio:
The Teardrop Explodes | Reward | Recorded late 1980 or early 1981 | Released 23 January 1981 on Mercury Records | ℗ 1981 Mercury Records Limited

Musicians:
Julian Cope | vocals, bass guitar
David Balfe | piano, organ, synthesizer
Gary Dwyer |drums
Alan Gill | guitar

Clive Langer | Alan Winstanley | Production

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