From: owner-seven-seas@smoe.org (seven-seas-moderated-digest) To: seven-seas-moderated-digest@smoe.org Subject: seven-seas-moderated-digest V2 #275 Reply-To: seven-seas@smoe.org Sender: owner-seven-seas@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-seven-seas@smoe.org Precedence: bulk seven-seas-moderated-digest Thursday, November 6 2003 Volume 02 : Number 275 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 4 Nov 2003 12:43:14 -0800 From: Charles Pham Subject: seven-seas-moderated la show / pics good show. highlights were 'the cutter', 'crocodiles', and 'lips'. Show of Strength Rescue Silver Seven Seas Rust Crocodiles Bring on the Dancing Horses Bedbugs and Ballyhoo All My Colours (Zimbo) Over The Wall I'll Fly Tonight Back of Love Killing Moon The Cutter - -- Nothing Lasts Forever Lips Like Sugar - -- Ocean Rain (no Angels & Devils and no Heads Will Roll) not so amazing pics (crap lighting). and hob disallowed flash. http://phamiliardesigns.com/personal/sight/031103.bunnymen/ impossible to get shots of Mac without flash...there's never stagelighting on him. got a couple of merch shots for those asking about what they're selling. apologies if i bumped you in the front for the first 2 songs. lastly, check out The Stills. they're great. much better than i expected. plus, their label & staff are fantastic. Charles ====================================== The Official Seven-Seas Web Page. www.bunnymenlist.com ====================================== ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 4 Nov 2003 21:42:05 -0800 From: Charles Pham Subject: seven-seas-moderated LA Show Review - VirginmegaMagazine http://www.virginmegamagazine.com/default.asp?aid=B36 Echo and the Bunnymen with The Stills, House of Blues, Los Angeles If you're getting confused with all these bands with "The" before their name, you're not alone, and what's worse, they're now beginning to rhyme, The Kills, The Thrills, The Stills. Last night, (11/3/3), the Montreal, Canada quartet The Stills brought their much-hyped sound to the House of Blues, Los Angeles. If you thought that they were an eighties revival band with good connections think again. It's true that for the most part they have ultra simple chord progressions but they captured the room immediately with their The Cure-meets-Television sound and yes, it's all drenched in Echo and the Bunnymen vibe. Singer Tim Fletcher at times sounds like Thom Yorke, at times like a guttural David Bowie but at all times he has a perfect sense of melody. Their true standout is "Still in Love Song," with its amazing bass hook courtesy of bass player Oliver Crowe. "Ready For It" and "Yesterday Never Tomorrow," are Cure-derived songs with guitarist Greg Paquet's thicker progressions and drummer Dave Hamelin playing like he'd memorized every beat off The Cure's Seventeen Seconds. The U2'ish "Let's Roll" and the New Order-ish "Alison Krausse" also went over well with the crowd. The bands shoegazing tendencies are a little overdone; they hardly looked up at all preferring to concentrate on their instruments. At the end The Stills were so entrenched in their music that it seemed they were completely unaware of the crowd and they ended on a chaotic - but still controlled - note. It was all swirling lights, smoke, and darkness as Echo and the Bunnymen then appeared on stage. At least, we think it was that influential new wave band. You see the group's members were backlit and that combined with the dense lights and strobes made it hard to figure out who exactly was on stage. And, it never got any brighter. It was only when we heard that nicotine-aged voice that we realized it was Ian McCulloch in front of us, but frankly in his slithering dance-like movements and cocky chain smoking, there was an amazing similarity in his stage persona to that of another English bigmouth Oasis' Liam Gallagher. In fact, wearing jeans, black leather jacket and dark sunglasses, Mac the Mouth was indistinguishable on stage from his fellow Brit. But the comparisons ended the minute McCulloch began to sing. There was no sign of middle-aged decay here. His voice was soaring, and hyper-expressive especially during the Doors-esque "Bedbugs and Ballyhoo," the booming "The Cutter," a propulsive "Killing Moon," and the galloping "Back of Love," all crowd favorites. He even playfully dropkicked his cigarette and mumbled into the microphone about the girls he'd gotten on the guest list. The band stuck to some of the best songs of their '80s heyday like "Rescue" from their 1980 debut, "Back of Love," from 1983, "Silver" and, "Seven Seas," from '84" and "Lips Like Sugar," from the self-titled album. It wasn't nostalgic, it was simply great songs played by great musicians. The only other original member on stage (bassist Les Pattinson now apparently builds boats and drummer Pete DeFreitas was killed in a car accident in 1989) was guitarist Will Sergeant who was bathed in more light than McCulloch, his precise riffs and gravity-defying guitar playing still identifying him after all these years. This is the 25th anniversary tour for Echo and the Bunnymen. I had seen them back in 1987 when they left the stage at Wembley Arena in London in a cloud of complete indifference, and a year later McCulloch quit the band, so it's interesting that now out of all the comeback bands of the eighties, they are the ones who seems to be succeeding. The enthusiastic response and the critical praise the band has garnered have been little short of remarkable. Great songs aside, perhaps it's also something to do with Mac's friendship with Chris Martin of Coldplay that has stirred a new generation to the Bunnymen sound, and definitely Coldplay owe a lot to the older band. Or perhaps is was Liam Gallagher demanding to do backing vocals on the Bunnymen's comeback 1997 Evergreen record? The show's lighting was atmospheric, sure, but regardless how good the music was - and it was laidback and richly melodic - squinting through the smoke and darkness got tiresome after a while. Nevertheless it's evident from last night's sold-out performance and the crowd's reaction, that Echo and the Bunnymen should have been massive. A slogan on one of their T-shirts being sold that night read: "Echo & the Bunnymen: The Most Influential Band Ever." Now that's something Chris Martin and Liam Gallagher could definitely agree on. - - Dee Mc Laughlin November 4, 2003 ====================================== The Official Seven-Seas Web Page. www.bunnymenlist.com ====================================== ------------------------------ End of seven-seas-moderated-digest V2 #275 ******************************************