Echo & The Bunnymen - Echo & The Bunnymen
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Free Music Notes for Echo & The Bunnymen
Free Music Review: Echo & the Bunnymen CD
Hit: 5 Stars
Good Material. And the best Echo & the Bunnymen Album.Free Music Review: The Last 'True' Echo & the Bunnymen Album
Hit: 4 Stars
Echo & the Bunnymen's self-titled album, popularly referred to as "the gray album" (due to the color of the cover), is similar to "Ocean Rain" in the sense that it has a timeless quality and sounds fresh and new, despite the passing of years. This, their fifth studio album, comes off as a far less earnest attempt than their previous releases. Ian McCulloch's vocals are more restrained, possibly more refined and artful than before.The instrumentation isn't anything epic or grandeur like "Porcupine" or "Ocean Rain", but I think this album is a bit classier and probably more accessible for newer fans' tastes. Though there are a few tracks that stand out ("Lips Like Sugar", "Bedbugs and Ballyhoo", and "The Game", for instance), this album seems to be best listened to as a whole.
This album was really the last one that truly captured the spirit of the band; after this, the band's singer, Ian McCulloch, on to do solo work and the drummer, Pete de Freitas, died in a motorcycle accident. Their next album, "Reverberation", was released in 1990 and featured an entirely different vocalist and new drummer in place of the previous Echo & the Bunnymen members. An album featuring Ian McCulloch as vocalist, "Evergreen", did not appear until 1997. Still, after several more major album releases (in 1999, 2001, and 2005) the band hasn't yet been able to, and probably won't, regain the energy and style of music that they once made in their first five studio albums, especially due to the loss of a very critical member of a band, Pete de Freitas, Echo & the Bunnymen's incredibly talented drummer.
This re-mastered edition includes seven extra tracks: "Jimmy Brown" (an early version of "Bring on the Dancing Horses"), "Hole in the Holy" (an early version of "Over You"), "Soul Kitchen" (Doors cover), an acoustic demo of "The Game", and two B-sides ("Over Your Shoulder" and an early version of "Bedbugs and Ballyhoo").
Free Music Review: Not Bad for a Band on the Verge of Breaking Up
Hit: 4 Stars
The four dour personages of the cover of the "Gray Album" could only hint at what was going on behind the scenes during the making of this album. The band was fighting, breaking up, regrouping, and yet managed to make their best selling album out of the chaos. It's equally fascinating that some of songs here are E&TB's most coherent. They are also the most timely sounding, probably more to producer Laurie Latham trying to make the band sound more 80's timely and the band being too contentious to care.Ian McCulloch was also veering into a new phase of singing. He's in deep croon here, as "Bomber's Bay" and "All My Life" deftly indicates. He was stretching towards arty pop (Ray Manzerek guesting on "Bedbugs and Ballyhoo" is a dead giveaway) and the rest of the band was resisting. The tension gave birth to terrific songs like "Lips Like Sugar" and "The Game," but also guaranteed the band would jettison him after this record was done. Too bad, because the rift that led the Bunnymen to go on without the Mac left us with the bitter "Reverberation" and Mac's "Candleland" needed them more than he cared to admit.
But for now we can revel in this remastered and punchier sounding disc of the Bunnymen's swansong. (I don't count the reunion albums.) The bonus tracks are pretty cool, in particular, the live version of "Soul Kitchen."
Free Music Review: Echoes of the past
Hit: 4 Stars
I realize that this isn't the band's favorite album, but artist's (and critics) can frequently be wrong. Behind Heaven Up Here (my favorite)and Porcupine (my second favorite), their self titled album more than holds its own in #3 position for me. The remastered sound is terrific although the production is a tad flat on at least a couple of tracks. The songs are well written and if the production might be a little too slick it works with the material the band put together here.
With 5 previously unreleased bonus tracks and two that appeared on the boxed set, this is, to date, the ultimate edition for this vastly underrated album. As the band began to fall apart, they produced some of their most memorable songs including the incredible "Lips Like Sugar", "All My Life" and "The Game". Really this album is essential for anyone who is a fan of the band.
Unfortunately, the remastered albums don't feature all the tracks on the boxed set, so most fans should probably make a copy of those tracks and then sell the boxed set. Missing from this CD are the following tracks: "Lips Like Sugar" (single version), "People are Strange", "Rollercoaster".
The booklet is quite nice as well.
Free Music Review: Not the Best Bunnymen Album, But a Still Good
Hit: 4 Stars
Bunnymen fans all know the band broke up at the eve of this album. They also know that it is an album that the band personally hated. 3 years in the making, the album was a slickly-produced affair that felt like a very smooth/commercialized version of E&B.
There's no doubt that this album lacks the originality or urgency of the band's first few albums. There are no classics like "The Killing Moon" or "Ocean Rain" on this album. But songs like "The Game", "Lips Like Sugar", and "Over You" still capture some of the magic of the Bunnymen. Though it's a bit too slickly produced for me, the songs still have great lyrics and catchy melodies. My favorite song though, is still "Bedbugs and Ballyhoo" - which I think is the only song that the band actually 'feels' like the old/not jaded Echo and the Bunnymen. There, we hear the band having fun, which was when they were always at their best.
If you are a collector or fan, you probably already have this album already. If you are a first time fan, try the Ocean Rain album first, and then buy this album as evidence of the band's evolution (and the swan song of the true original foursome).