At the end of 1981 (and with Ronnie François now added on bass guitar) the band took up a lengthy residence at the Pyramid Club in Liverpool, where they set up "Club Zoo", playing twice a day as a five-piece. The band then undertook an extensive tour of Europe, the US and Australia, hiring trumpeter Ted Emmett (ex- 64 Spoons) for the live band. 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)" When reading up about The Teardrop Explodes, with all the subplots, scene shifts and personal intrigue, it sometimes feels like trying to piece together a coherent narrative about an early Anglo-Saxon kingdom. New manuscripts turn up, old ones get reappraised over time. The cultural fall out from those who set forth from the Eric’s scene to conquer the British pop charts never seems to end: currently there is a film about the club in the pipeline, as well as a book from original member of the Teardrops and The Wild Swans, Paul Simpson. I’m sure that these new iterations of the legend will draw on plenty of new material, long lain mouldering in a shoe box in L8, to chew on and to add to the information in tomes like Cope’s magnificent account of the period, Head On, Bill Drummond’s 45, Will Sergeant’s Bunnyman or Houghton’s own recent memoirs. Typically Liverpool, you could say, a never ending source of language, dream, music, wit, poetry, snarky puns, true genius and endless tea and talking - often all at once. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrateded.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p.306. ISBN 0-646-11917-6. In April, the band had another Top 20 hit with the re-released "Treason" (featuring the earlier Kilimanjaro line-up of the band) which reached No. 18 in the UK Singles Chart. Another single, "When I Dream", received airplay on progressive radio in the U.S., introducing the band to new fans. In June 1981, the band embarked on another American tour. The tour proved to be a chaotic affair: neither Agius nor Hammer fitted into the group socially and Cope was retreating further into an LSD-fuelled isolation, retaining only Dwyer as trusted companion. The tour finally came adrift on the East Coast in a mess of bad business arrangements and infighting.

Starr, Red (16–29 October 1980). "The Teardrop Explodes: Kilimanjaro". Smash Hits. Vol.2, no.21. p.29.Various: Manchester North Of England - A Story Of Independent Music Greater Manchester 1977 - 1993 (1) Cranna, Ian (26 November – 9 December 1981). "The Teardrop Explodes: Wilder". Smash Hits. Vol.3, no.24. p.25. I must say I don't like Dave. He gets a pretty dubious character sometimes. He just plays a good role in the band that's all, but we often fight, and I mean physically. I usually win because he's a bit of a wimp... not that I'm a fighting person though. Dave is just one of the most extreme characters I've ever met. Sometimes he gets me so knotted up inside .. but then again that's good because it keeps me pushing; you know, right there…I usually do the interviews because I’m the only one with anything to say really. Like Alan just spends most of his time thinking, and Gary never says anything. I can usually speak for them better. Dave would just start pissing you off ... it sounds like a really horrible band, doesn't it?" 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" a b ["Julian Cope, the hit who became a myth"] – feature on Julian Cope by Andrew Perry in The Daily Telegraph, 1 July 2010

A third single from Wilder – the uncharacteristically sombre "Tiny Children" – was released in June 1982 and narrowly missed the top 40 (No.41 UK) despite being championed by high-profile BBC Radio One DJ, Mike Read. By now, Balfe had also developed an interest in writing songs and lobbied to join Cope as band songwriter, with Cope retained predominantly as singer and frontman. [5] [6] The lost third album and final split [ edit ] Paul Simpson – organ on "Sleeping Gas" (single version), "Camera Camera" and "Kirby Workers Dream Fades" I used to do outlandish, extreme things because that's what my heroes would have done,' Cope admitted later in a rare moment of clarity. 'The idea was that the accumulation of all my heroes would be one hell of a god to be!'

Staunton, Terry (August 2010). "The Teardrop Explodes – Kilimanjaro". Record Collector. No.378 . Retrieved 3 January 2017. The Teardrop Explodes enjoyed a brief, but mercurial period of mainstream success during 1981, with a re-recorded ‘Treason’ going Top 20 and their next single, ‘Passionate Friend’ also scoring Top 30 success and again bringing Cope and company to Top Of The Pops. Despite Dave Balfe being traditionally cast as Cope’s main creative sparring partner, the influence of the mystic Alan Gill really stands out as a vital influence in retrospect. It’s instructive to listen to the Cargo sessions and what became the final version of Kilimanjaro. Or contrast the YMCA gig from 1980 and the 1979 gigs. Would we be talking of The Teardrop Explodes’ music in the same way without him, especially when we consider his “gift” of their most famous song, ‘Reward’? I think not. Staunton, Terry (July 2013). "The Teardrop Explodes – Wilder". Record Collector. No.416 . Retrieved 18 December 2020.

Wilder is the sound of Julian Cope on drugs. This does not make it a unique record, but his early puritanical phase had lasted until most of the way through the recording of Kilimanjaro, and by now he was making up for years of chemical sobriety. It's also the sound of Cope's relationship with Dave Balfe. Reading Cope's Head On, the first volume of his autobiography, you get the impression that they hated each other. The sleeve notes here (with pieces written by both parties) show a slightly different side to the story. No doubt there were creative tensions, but both are pretty complimentary about each other here - the respect they show isn't even grudging. Balfe's particularly excellent piece also gives great insight into the arranging and recording process in general. Widely acclaimed (a retrospective NME review referred to the disc and its successor Wilder as “two of the defining albums of their age) Kilimanjaro included re-recorded versions of the band’s initial trio of singles, plus the album’s trailer single, ‘When I Dream’. The band’s next single – and signature hit – ‘Reward’, however, was a UK Top 10 smash early in 1981 and after it was added to a reissued Kilimanjaro with a different sleeve, the album peaked at No. 24 in the UK and later went silver. The new 180gm vinyl edition has been cut at Abbey Road and features the Kilimanjaro cover which was used when ‘Reward’ was added to the album.Alan Gill – guitar on "Reward" (second edition of album only), "Poppies in the Field", "Ha Ha I'm Drowning", "Books" and "When I Dream" [11] Ged Quinn – keyboards on "Brave Boys Keep Their Promises", Ha Ha I'm Drowning", "Went Crazy" and "Chance" I know what you're thinking, but you'd be wrong. The good folks at Hi-Fi News don't pay me by the word. I'm listing all these 'ha's and 'aha's firstly in the pursuit of accuracy, and secondly to try to illustrate the utter, imbecilic, out of control mental state Cope and his band were in, when they attempted to put down on tape what was apparently a prolonged episode of what we might charitably call 'mind expansion'. Plus a rampant clash of personalities. Plus a festering bout of musical differences of epic, civil war proportions. And, thankfully, what also just happened to be a bloody fine record. Actually I'd seen Sky Saxon, my hero from The Seeds, dressed like T E Lawrence in a picture. That inspired me. The vocals sounded ten times, no, 50 times better.'

He just couldn't cope, says Steve Sutherland as he counts out the 'aha's and listens to the recent 180g reissue of the Liverpool band's post-punk debut LPPetridis, Alexis (15 July 2010). "The Teardrop Explodes: Kilimanjaro: Deluxe Edition". The Guardian . Retrieved 12 May 2017. But the more these tales, and the resulting songs of struggle and skin-changing settle in your mind, the more a sense of Cope’s personal battle to be the singer in his group becomes apparent: that of a man who was told he couldn’t sing, or looked too naff to be a frontman, or seen as too tense, an idiot or a dictator, or a teenage pinup, or whey-faced loon; to quote an old Teardrops press release. Someone whose ideas were seemingly used for other bands by his label and management and whose recordings were not seen as good enough for release or getting a deal. Or, even when he did get the breaks he still couldn't play ball. The plan, according to Julian Cope at the time, was: 'The whole idea of The Teardrops to me is nice, nice melodies and lyrics that, while always sung hopefully, have dark secrets in them. I have this theory that we're the "lurking doubt" whispering in people's ears.' Wilder is the second album by neo-psychedelic Liverpool band the Teardrop Explodes, and the final completed album released by the group. [8] Following the band's dissolution, Julian Cope began a career as a solo artist, writer and cultural commentator which continues to this day. Gary Dwyer played drums on Cope's 1984 debut solo album World Shut Your Mouth, and drummed for The Colourfield in 1986 and Balcony Dogs in the late 1980s, but subsequently left music for a variety of jobs including fork-lift driver. David Balfe moved into artist management and subsequently set up Food Records, acting as a mentor to bands such as Blur: he quit the music business in 1999. Former guitarist Troy Tate released two solo albums and work as a producer (including work with The Smiths).