were hired – keyboard player Jeff Hammer and bass player Alfie Agius (the latter freeing Cope to concentrate on vocals and rhythm guitar). Despite the internal turmoil, by 1981 The Teardrop Explodes were at the height of their popularity. In March, the band played their first American dates (a time also notable for Cope's meeting with Dorian Beslity, who’d later become his second wife). 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. On their return to the UK, the five-piece Teardrop Explodes recorded the song "Passionate Friend" (which was allegedly about Cope's brief recent relationship with Ian McCulloch's sister, further increasing the friction between Cope and his former bandmate). Released as a single, it reached No. 25 in the UK chart and gained the group another Top of the Pops appearance (in which Cope performed wearing a ripped pillowcase he’d made into a T-shirt, later claiming to have been tripping on LSD throughout the performance). Subsequently, both Agius and Hammer were sacked. Having sufficiently mended his relationship with Cope and Dwyer, David Balfe returned to the group as keyboard player. Wilder and Club Zoo Expectations were high for the band's second album, Wilder, which was recorded in London during November 1981 with a nucleus of Cope, Dwyer, Tate and Balfe. Unlike the first album, which was more of a band effort, Wilder was more the work of Cope (who took sole songwriting credit on every track on the album) and was a bleaker, more sombre work than its predecessor cataloguing the breakup of Cope's first marriage and the mental chaos surrounding Cope and the band. The album was also a break from the solid beat-group sound of Kilimanjaro, showcasing a variety of different approaches. It reached No. 29 on the UK chart and was certified Silver by the BPI,