Echo & the bunnymen: Classic or Dud?

The SOUND OF THE GUITAR.

I really think Silver is their finest ever moment. Those strings! that will sergeant guitar! the 'did he
slip in a rude word there?' bit
so much mightier than the cutter, good as that is, but it's really just a good riff and some choppy guitar
but not much melody. even killing moon can't top silver.
never stop is another overlooked single, the best thing on porcupine

"Boney Maroney??"

Go to sleep.

Yes, I shall soon, indeed. But what business is it of yours?

i was just watching this before i posted earlier. mac for home secretary, circa 83

> never stop is another overlooked single, the best thing on porcupine

except it isn't. was only added to the re-releases.

Yeah I was gonna say...Never Stop wasn't on a regular LP of theirs...

To me that's when the Bunnymen started really getting good was when that song came out.

But it's possible I have my timelines a bit skewed. Anyway, I found the Radio City Music Hall NYC performance on You Tube of Thorn of Crowns...it's not quite as energetic or animated as you might imagine (was Mac just extremely pissed?) but if you were there at the venue to shout and jump around like I was, you wouldn't care:

Nice performance! It looks to me like Ian is doing his best Jim Reid impersonation, though.

...Never Stop wasn't on a regular LP of theirs...

forgot that, have just dug out my copy to remind myself. the other side of that single, heads will roll, is
on the album. i always felt never stop should have been. i agree it was their first stunning record, much
as i like the first 2 albums and songs like Over the Wall

"looks to me like Ian is doing his best Jim Reid impersonation"

Jim Reid started out as a McCulloch impersonation.

LOL

Okay, get ready folks, new dbl CD reissue of Ocean Rain due Oct 21st has a gig from 1983 as the second disc.

"Some fine singles but with Interpol's stronger rhytm section they may be rendered totally redundant if the new breed make enough albums."

Oh boy.

Wait, so.. Bimble, did Echo actually play "Never Stop" at the RCMH show? I love that song too & always thought it would sound absolutely fanfuckingtastic played live with string section.

No, they didn't play Never Stop at the gig I attended, but it is on the '83 gig that comes with the new Ocean Rain reissue.

I love Ocean Rain and all that sails in her.
But it has to be said that reciting a list of vegetables bears as much relation to psychedelia
as sticking pencils up your nose and placing yer underpants on yer head bears to madness

I've got the Peel Sessions and presumably, you don't.

Definitely more goth than you lot.

Go fuck a giraffe in the sunlight of the desert, folks. You don't get any more goth than Echo & Bunnymen Peel Sessions.

OVER THE WALL

Oddly enough, I don't. But I soon will.

I can't help it, that Peel Session song "No Hands" is the gothiest thing ever. Beautiful and amen. Listen to the bass. I'll never recover. That is absolutely the most beautifully goth thing I've ever heard. Oh my god, make it stop. That is going to fuck with my head all night.
Too much goth. Too much.

Echo & Bunnymen Peel Sessions, people. This is where the living is. Breathe the fresh air.

Do you know why I'm cooler than you? Because I have them doing New Order/Joy Division's "Ceremony", that's why. Out cooled you all, too late.

I've got McCulloch joining NO for 'Ceremony' at the Festival of the Tenth Summer, 1986. That's got to count for something!

Last time I saw Ian Mac, was at an 808 state gig where he was featured vocalist.

haha that track ("Moses") is probably my favorite thing he's done

last time i saw IM he was singing Pale Blue Eyes with edwyn collins (and A N Other?) as one of a few support acts for the cocteau twins (which also include jim and william reid doing acoustic songs) (brixton academy, er, nov 1990)

Last time I saw him was Electrafixion. D'oh!

he was singing Pale Blue Eyes with edwyn collins (and A N Other?)

Roddy Frame, I believe.

you are right. who else played, do you know? google got me lots of links to that same cocteau's gigography but no details.

I like how you're asking Ned, Deano.... I mean, you were there. I suppose if you remembered maybe you weren't.

Anyone have the "Baseball Bill" 7" that was Electrafixion's last release? It was later included on Echo's "Avalanche" but to my ears the two versions are labeled backwards:
"Baseball Bill (Electrafixion version)" - 4:44
"Baseball Bill (Sgt Fuzz remix)" - 4:35

The first track sounds fuzzy, the second less so. Can anyone check?

Moment from Simon Reynold's "Rip It Up..." book that made me laugh:

Ian McCulloch started to make bitchy comments about U2, describing their anthemic songs as "music for plumbers and bricklayers" while boasting that the Bunnymen were "an oceans and mountains band."

lol @ these guys blaming the IRS for them fucking up their tour

Just been speaking to my brother in law who went to see them last night in Glasgow. Sounds interesting, as Mac was totally hammered, was abusing the road crew, ranting at the audience and walked off before the end. Though my brother in law had left before then.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PtwgdcB4tk

Skip to 2'30 for Mac meltdown.

absolutely no idea what he's saying. made out 'shut up' and 'fucking bastard'.

Sadly it wasn't “I will knee-cap yer fuckin’ head off”

http://wandywatson.wordpress.com/2011/09/29/all-at-sea-again-%e2%80%93-echo-and-the-bunnymen-at-the-royal-concert-hall-glasgow-28-september-2011/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearls_Before_Swine

So yesterday friend Stripey and I got to chat for a while with Will Sergeant about his art at his gallery showing in LA. Very cool guy. Artwork's excellent as well, BTW; showing only started on Friday and half the pieces were sold!

Also he has a new solo album out, Things Inside, which is acoustic and not limited to guitar either -- enjoyable and will have to give it a couple more listens here for sure. Les Pattinson also plays bass on four tracks!

i once briefly lived in a car (a friends) and killed their battery listening to 'the cutter' over and over and over for about three or four days.
obsessed with that song.
can do no wrong. (just got lent that julian cope 'double' book about that whole thing... which one should i read first?)

I really like Echo & the Bunnymen, but I've never gotten Sergeant's guitar hero status. It's amazing, in fact, how little the guitar plays a role in much of their best stuff, aside from a few little simple but not terribly inspired licks (compare to Pete, who is one of my favorite, and a wildly creative, drummer). Though I admit, knowing what not to play, or when not to play, is often gift enough.

Meantime, other Will-related stuff. First, a new project, Polter-Geist, with Les Pattinson.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Polter-Geist/412308438805076

Separately and a couple of years old, the Metronome.

http://www.myspace.com/themetronome

Are they any cop? It's been years since anything from a Bunnyman interested me, sadly.

The new Bunnymen album is...another pleasantly forgettable listen.

http://thequietus.com/articles/15246-echo-and-the-bunnymen-meteorites-review

I see they're touring again too. Have not seen 'em live in ages.

That's some excellent music writing in that review, really sums up how I've felt since "Evergreen". Also liked the bit about it being as long since Evergreen as Evergreen was from Crocodiles.

That was one of those moments I had to double check to be sure -- and when I realized I was right, it made everything clearer.

...and the Bunnymen's UK tour has been cancelled. This according to Black Submarine's twitter feed (it's Nick McCabe and Simon Jones' new band - they were opening all dates for the tour)