From: owner-seven-seas@smoe.org (seven-seas-digest) To: seven-seas-digest@smoe.org Subject: seven-seas-digest V3 #168 Reply-To: seven-seas@smoe.org Sender: owner-seven-seas@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-seven-seas@smoe.org Precedence: bulk seven-seas-digest Monday, May 10 2004 Volume 03 : Number 168 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 10 May 2004 10:29:56 -0600 From: "K. F. Smith" Subject: seven-seas review [part 1 of 2] This is quite lengthy, so I am sending it in two parts. http://www.starvox.net/feat/echo.htm Echo & The Bunnymen Remasters ~by Matthew Heilman 2004 marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of Echo & The Bunnymen, one of alternative music's most important and influential bands. Along with The Cure and Joy Division, the Bunnymen's early revitalization of Psychedelia and the then contemporary Post Punk formula paved the way for countless bands to emerge throughout the 1980s. Few ever outshined their predecessors and the ones that did, basically owed the blueprints of their sound to the first definitive wave of innovative acts. The Bunnymen's influence is still discernible in newer acts like Interpol, Radiohead, and The Rapture, and even more recently, the band's lush masterpiece "The Killing Moon" was used in the opening sequence of the surreal cult film "Donnie Darko." My earliest memory of the Bunnymen was at the ripe age of seven, when I saw "The Lost Boys" for the first time and asked, "Who is that covering The Doors?" The influence of The Doors on the Bunnymen is hardly difficult to detect-the psychedelic guitar styles, jazzy drums, and Ian McCulloch's cryptic lyrical genius and playfully eccentric persona. Many regarded Ian the Jim Morrison of New Wave. Whatever the case, the most valid explanation as to why the band has endured is simply because they made immaculately good music that is just as powerful and transcendent today as it was when it was first released. My interest in the Bunnymen came much later than I would care to admit. For whatever reason, I didn't fully explore the band's discography until only a few summers ago. At that time, I was trying to find earlier Goth and Post Punk acts to quell my insatiable need for heavy drum cascades, propulsive bass lines, and whacked out guitar intensity. I had my fill of the essential Joy Division, Bauhaus, Cure, Siouxsie, etc and I needed more. The 'Goth' of my generation, as I have pointed out repeatedly, lacks the urgency of early Post Punk and formative British Goth acts. Though the Bunnymen have never really been included in the Goth canon so to speak, their music fits comfortably alongside some of the greatest bands that defined the style. Rhino/Warner Bros. has rightfully seen fit to re-release the first five Echo & The Bunnymen albums in honor of the band's anniversary. The albums have been remastered and include bonus tracks and additional liner notes, and each CD is specially priced at $11! I have to admit right now that I have not purchased these new editions of the albums, so I cannot really say much about the specifics of the bonus material or the new packaging. What I would like to do here, though, is merely take this opportunity to express my admiration for the band, and the original versions. My intention is to urge readers, who have yet to familiarize themselves with this band's fantastic releases, to go out and buy these discs immediately in one fell swoop! Or, perhaps describe the albums enough so that the reader can discern which album they'd like to start with. Crocodiles was the band's debut album in 1980, and features "Rescue," one of the band's biggest hits. This release finds the band at their rawest, having yet to emerge from the shadow of punk that was cast over England's music scene in the late 1970s. The album's beloved title track, as well as the live favourites "Do It Clean" and "All That Jazz," are forward thinking punk through and through, charged and relentless, yet spiced with a new sense of groove and atmosphere. The brilliant opening cut "Going Up" and the splintered dynamics of "Pride" had just as much to do with foreshadowing what was to become the 'post punk' sound as Joy Division or The Cure's early work had done. Moodier tracks like "Pictures On My Wall" and "Monkeys" contribute a more dramatic flair, allowing Ian's vocals to breathe, bellow, and soar above majestic kaleidoscopic backdrops. The gripping melodies found in "Stars Are Stars" and the strange imagery that encompasses "Villiers Terrace" ("People rollin' 'round on the carpet") help round out a stellar album that is often lauded as the band's best. Certainly it is the band's most unbridled release. The bonus tracks here include the B-side "Simple Stuff" as well as explosive live recordings from the "Shine So Hard" EP from 1981. From a Goth perspective, Heaven Up Here, the band's second release from 1981, is their masterpiece. My personal favourite, it finds the band animated by a deep sense of restlessness, angst, and agitation. The album kicks off with the unforgettable "Show Of Strength," which is without question my all time favourite Bunnymen track. Ian's voice is at its most commanding, powerfully reverberating atop Will Sergeant's majestic guitar work, from trickling arpeggios to overdriven angular stabs to climactic enveloping wails of ominous psychedelic fuzz. Dynamic rhythms, powerful, punchy drumming and foreboding bass lines, the song sets an imposing tone for the rest of the album, and the listener is struck with a sense that something epic and grandiose is about to enfold. "With A Hip" and the title track are pure rhythmically driven Post Punk at its finest. The climactic classic "Over The Wall" begins with a subdued whisper of hypnotic bass and guitar effects that soon explode into a mammoth drum driven masterpiece that was the astonishing highlight of many of the band's early shows. "The Disease" and "All My Colours" show the band at their most desperate and melancholic hours, the former a claustrophobic, dizzying number comprised of minimalist guitar strums, weird delay effects, and a vocal performance riddled with eerie vulnerability. "All My Colours" is led by the pensive heavy drum cascades of Pete De Freitas, somber acoustic chords offset with echoing melodic leads and Ian's bitter lamentation "That box you gave me burned nicely." The most accessible, though by no means unimportant track is "A Promise," a lighter quirky track that laid the groundwork for many of the band's most popular songs that would appear in later albums. Ian's pleading bellows here are unmatched (even by himself). One of the things that the Bunnymen achieved along with The Cure (although not quite as widespread as Robert and co) was the ability to create memorable and loveable pop songs that proved it wasn't necessary to sacrifice poetic substance. This edition of Heaven Up Here includes the stark and highly recommended B-side "Broke My Neck," as well as additional live cuts. This is an album I have listened to repeatedly for almost three years now and I have yet to tire of it. Others have been listening to it with the same passionate devotion for over twenty years! Absolutely essential. ====================================== http://www.bunnymenlist.com ====================================== ------------------------------ End of seven-seas-digest V3 #168 ********************************