Kilimanjaro is the 1980 debut album by the neo-psychedelic Liverpool band The Teardrop Explodes. It contains versions of the band's early singles - "Sleeping Gas", "Bouncing Babies", "Treason" & "When I Dream" - as well as their biggest hit, "Reward". The album also includes the song "Books" - originally a song by Julian Cope's previous band, The Crucial Three, it was also recorded by Echo & the Bunnymen (as "Read it in Books", released on the b-side of their debut single, and featured on some versions of Crocodiles). In 2000 Q magazine placed Kilimanjaro at number 95 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever.
The original working title for Kilimanjaro was Everyone Wants To Shag The Teardrop Explodes (this was later used for the CD release of demos for the band's never-finished third album). When originally released, the album featured a shadowy photograph of the band on the sleeve, but this was later changed to a cover showing Mount Kilimanjaro, the mountain after which the record was named. When the album was subsequently released on CD the cover artwork reverted to the original.
In 2000 Cope gave his blessings to re-release Kilimanjaro with a selection of bonus tracks(mainly single b-sides), original artwork, a remastered sound, and full lyrics and essays. A deluxe 3-disc edition followed in 2010, including original singles, b-sides and radio session recordings.
Famous quotes containing the word explodes:
“Comedy defends the commonplace; tragedy explodes it.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)