From: owner-seven-seas@smoe.org (seven-seas-digest) To: seven-seas-digest@smoe.org Subject: seven-seas-digest V4 #572 Reply-To: seven-seas@smoe.org Sender: owner-seven-seas@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-seven-seas@smoe.org Precedence: bulk seven-seas-digest Sunday, December 4 2005 Volume 04 : Number 572 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 3 Dec 2005 19:40:36 -0000 From: "Shaz" Subject: Re: seven-seas themacweekly.com (Minneapolis) theMACweekly - ha ha - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kristin Smith" To: Sent: Saturday, December 03, 2005 7:18 PM Subject: seven-seas themacweekly.com (Minneapolis) > http://www.themacweekly.com/article.php?arid=145 > The Student Newspaper of Macalester College Since 1914 > Echo and the Bunnymen: Dead Comfy > Geoffrey Stueven > Contributing Writer > And judging from certain testimony, they always have. Jack Rabid, editor > of The Big Take Over, calls them, apart from a few punk and hardcore acts, > "the greatest live band of the past 20 years." Echo and the Bunnymen were > from a school of dark and brooding English bands in the early '80s, > consistently outselling contemporaries like The Chameleons, The Sound, and > The Teardrop Explodes. In the U.S., they played sold-out shows at major > venues like Radio City Music Hall thanks to their word-of-mouth > reputation. Along the way, they recorded a few classics, ranging from the > gloomy, 1981's Heaven Up Here, to the orchestral, 1984's Ocean Rain. > Today, only half of the original band remains, and these two founding > members were the stars of Saturday's show. The four newer members were > hidden on the far right of the stage or behind layers of smoke, while Ian > McCulloch and Will Sergeant were right out front. Guitarist Sergeant was a > silent machine-wielding god on the left, nailing some of the band's > greatest guitar lines in songs like "The Cutter" and "Over the Wall." He's > no longer a young man, but with jacket collar zipped to his chin and hair > dangling in front of his face, he cut a striking figure. > Meanwhile, McCulloch was a major presence, having had a quarter century to > perfect his stage persona. With Bob Dylan sunglasses and morning hair, > right hand perpetually resting on the microphone and holding a cigarette, > he was the perfectly aloof too-cool-for-school frontman. His voice is now > more of a Lou Reed croak than a Jim Morrison baritone, and impeccable > covers of "Walk on the Wild Side" and "Roadhouse Blues" proved his > reverence for both singers. The band has always owed more to The Doors' > brand of psychedelia and The Velvet Underground's discordant rock 'n' roll > energy than the '70s punk scene from which they sprang. When not singing, > McCulloch sports a thick Liverpudlian accent that makes all stage banter > indecipherable. > The band's classic '80s songs dominated over material from the recently > released Siberia. Good as the new songs are, it was clear what the fans > came for. It's sad really, but at least they're not The Rolling Stones. > Early on came "Show of Strength," which was exactly the song I was dying > to hear, delivered in an unexpectedly lumbering form. They recovered > however with poppier numbers like "Bring on the Dancing Horses" and the > majestic "Ocean Rain." The real highlight was the moment when a room full > of middle-aged rockers and myself began singing along to "The Killing > Moon," a song that no lonely, sensitive teenager gets through high school > without. And when McCulloch sung, "I want a song to learn and sing," > during Siberia's "Of a Life," he conjured a time when all of the band's > songs were exactly that. > As for opening act Innaway, they play a meaty space rock with plenty of > shimmering guitars and soaring vocals for the lonely concertgoer. While > not particularly engaging, they proved themselves a worthy warm-up to a > legendary band, if a bit awkward onstage. Which reminds me: When I > referred to Echo and the Bunnymen as "dark" earlier, I believe I misspoke. > In the words of McCulloch, "I never thought we were dark, I thought we > were dead comfy." That's perhaps the most accurate way to describe my > Saturday night: dead comfy. > > > ===================================================================== > Bunnymen Online Presence: > http://www.bunnymenlist.com * http://www.bunnymen.info > * > http://www.bunnymen.com * http://www.fotolog.net/sgtfuzz/ > * > http://www.villiersterrace.com * http://www.angelfire.com/wy2/discog/ > * > http://www.softskull.com/detailedbook.php?isbn=1-887128-89-6 > * > > ====================================================================== ===================================================================== Bunnymen Online Presence: http://www.bunnymenlist.com * http://www.bunnymen.info * http://www.bunnymen.com * http://www.fotolog.net/sgtfuzz/ * http://www.villiersterrace.com * http://www.angelfire.com/wy2/discog/ * http://www.softskull.com/detailedbook.php?isbn=1-887128-89-6 * ====================================================================== ------------------------------ End of seven-seas-digest V4 #572 ********************************