| Why does no one listen to Echo & the Bunnymen? After years of extensive research, which mainly involved asking anyone and everyone I’ve ever met if they like Echo & The Bunnymen, I have come to the conclusion that amongst my peers I am alone. No one under the age of 25 listens to Echo & The Bunnymen, FACT. And it’s completely unexplainable, because they all listen to The Smiths, and Joy Division, and Jesus And Mary Chain and other early/mid eighties indie bands, and they go and see Morrissey and The Cure live, but Echo & The Bunnymen seem to have fallen off everyones radar. British Sea Power have just finished working with Bunnymen guitarist Will Sergeant, and I’m horrified no one’s going to know who he is. So here I am trying to rectify the situation by giving a little introduction to the music of a band that really don’t deserve to be as forgotten as they are. Whom? I have to say I’m a little lacking in factual information., in fact I know fuck all about them, except that they’re from Liverpool, and that their first album, ‘Crocodiles’ was released in 1980. They formed in 1978, or 1979 I forget which. But y’know, it’s not about them is it, it’s about the music. There’s nothing much on the official site and the only two fansites that work are in Spanish. And my Spanish goes no further than basic greetings. However I do know the line-up in 1985, when they were at their best, consisted of: Will Sergeant – guitar Ian McCulloch – vocals and words Les Pattinson – bass Pete De Freitas – drums Transdis’ best of the Bunnymen. Songs To Learn And Sing By 1985 they had already released all their best stuff. A quick introduction to the band during their early period is the singles collection ‘Songs To Learn And Sing’. It contains singles off the first four albums, plus one off singles. I’m not sure about the availability of this record anymore, as I found my LP copy in Save The Children. The track listing runs thus: Rescue, The Puppet, Do It Clean, A Promise, The Back Of Love, The Cutter, Never Stop, The Killing Moon, Silver, Seven Seas, Bring On The Dancing Horses. Ocean Rain In my humble opinion, Echo & The Bunnymen’s fourth effort is the best. It was my first Bunnymen album, and I love it like a child. And of course now I love it even more because nestled in there is ‘The Killing Moon’, which was used over the opening sequence of Donnie Darko. ‘Silver’, ‘Seven Seas’, ‘My Kingdom’ - all songs of eccentric post-punk majesticism, beautiful mournful songs about the sea, moonlight, and um, cucumbers and cabbages. Tracks: Silver, Nocturnal Me, Crystal Days, The Yo Yo Man, Thorn Of Crowns, The Killing Moon, Seven Seas, My Kingdom, Ocean Rain. Heaven Up Here This one takes a while to work its way into your system. Only one song was taken off this as a single, ‘A Promise’, and on first listen it is the only standout song. It is hard to single out tracks from this album because it works so perfectly as a whole. The songs jar and clang with bare early U2 riffs, the lyrics yearn with the industrial misery the eighties were famous for. The sleeve has a very lonely picture of the four of them on a cloudy beach staring past a flock of gulls to the open sea. Tracks: Show Of Strength, With A Hip, Over The Wall, It Was A Pleasure, A Promise, Heaven Up Here, The Disease, All My Colours, No Dark Things, Turquoise Days, All I Want. Porcupine Porcupine is surer of itself. It’s a fuse between the two previous albums, the punkness of Crocodiles and the quite reflection of Heaven Up Here. It spawned two single - ‘The Back Of Love’ and ‘The Cutter’, which are the first two tracks here. Tracks like ‘Gods Will Be Gods’ can again be compared to early U2, but seeing as this preceeded anything Bono and co did, who deserves the credit eh? Tracks: The Cutter, The Back Of Love, My White Devil, Clay, Porcupine, Heads Will Roll, Ripeness, Higher Hell, Gods Will Be Gods. Album Discography 1980 – Crocodiles (CD/LP/Cass) 1981 – Heaven Up Here (CD/LP/Cass) 1983 – Porcupine (CD/LP/Cass) 1984 – Ocean Rain (CD/LP/Cass) 1987 – Echo & The Bunnymen (CD/LP/Cass) 1990 – Reverberation (CD/LP/Cass) 1992 – Radio One Live In Concert (CD/Cass) 1997 – Evergreen (CD) 1999 – What Are You Going To Do With Your Life? (CD) 2001 – Flowers (CD) 2002 – Live In Liverpool (CD) linkage the official site Pictures From Our Walls photo site Brazillian Fan Site words: Rachel p.s. If anyone does listen to Echo & The Bunnymen and is under the age of 25, will you please email me so i don't go insane. |
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