“Tiny Children” / “Racheal Built A Steamboat” (Mercury TEAR G7) June 1982

The Teardrop Explodes | Tiny Children | (Mercury) 1982 | In which Julian Cope shines his Torch into the big ballad country. From the glistening keyboard intro to the low down rhythmic backdrop, this is every bit the Teardrop taking their cue from Soft Cell’s romanticism.

Cope has the courage to let his voice take charge; the result is one of those downright sentimental, wistful slowies that can hardly fail (at present) to take our charts by force.

It’s no ‘Reward’, certainly not a case of ‘Treason’ but, going on past examples, I can’t see the Exploding ones failing. And I hope they don’t. (Sounds, 19/06/82)

The Teardrop Explodes | Tiny Children | (Mercury) 1982

That charming psychedelic nursery rhyme from the grossly neglected ‘Wilder’ album. For those only familiar with Teardrop singles, Cope’s delicacy can be quite a surprise, as will the absurd B-side.

On the 12″ edition there’s the dubious bonus of a live from the last Club Zoo version of ‘Sleeping Gas’ which is actually just one long indulgent rant with nary a daft attempt at rapping to redeem it. (Record Mirror, 19/06/82)