Editing The Teardrop Explodes (section)

===The lost third album and final split===
In September 1982, the band reconvened at Rockfield Studios to record their third album around the nucleus of Cope, Dwyer and Balfe. Creative tensions were high, as Cope wanted to write ballads and quirky pop songs, while Balfe was more interested in recording synth-based music. Balfe took over the sessions and locked Cope and Dwyer out of the studios for much of the time. Rarely able (or inclined) to add their own contributions, Cope and Dwyer worked off their frustration playing risky, stoned cross-country games with speeding jeeps. The situation culminated in a notorious (though disputed) event in which an irate Dwyer chased Balfe over the Monmouthshire hillsides with a loaded shotgun.<ref name="headon" /> Hating Balfe's instrumentals, Cope walked out of the sessions with only part of the singing done and the album incomplete.

To Cope's disgust, the band were already committed to a UK tour playing as a guitarless three-piece, with the instrumentation covered mainly by synthesizer and backing tapes. Cope found the tour "disastrous and demeaning": he performed most of it in a self-destructive sulk, raging at his audience, and quit the group immediately afterwards.<ref name="headon" /><ref name="NME Rock 'N' Roll Years">{{cite book
| first= John
| last= Tobler
| year= 1992
| title= NME Rock 'N' Roll Years
| edition= 1st
| publisher= Reed International Books Ltd 
| location= London
| page= 372
| id= CN 5585}}</ref> In February 1983, Mercury Records released a delayed (and now post-breakup) Teardrop Explodes EP, "You Disappear From View", which included songs salvaged from the aborted third album. The EP received average reviews and peaked at No. 41 in the UK chart.<ref name="storyofthedrude" />