… sometimes I feel like they are the best band that ever existed, sometimes I can’t quite be bothered. It’s weird. Ocean Rain is a total classic. Where else should I look?
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The Best of Echo & The Bunnymen (Songs to Learn & Sing)
But Crocodiles, Ocean Rain, & Heaven up Here are the main ones, Porcupine is a bit not quite as good but still decent
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bought mum this for her bday as she never got into them but wants to
(blames me for being born as a distraction but that was like a decade later so don’t think she’s got a leg to stand on there)
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Never really listened to them but I like the beginning of The Cutter
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Ocean Rain is a 10/10
If only for the line, ‘kissing the tortoise shell’ cos my partner sings it to our tortoise all the time.
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I wonder if their ongoing reunion hasn’t rather harmed their reputation. (Which would be totally unfair, I know, but all the same…) Often I think we prefer our bands to have split up definitively.
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they’ve made some great music post reunion
Their original run of albums is pretty near peerless in my view.
Crocodiles - twitchy, scratchy, deeply melodic, a kind of post-punk Merseybeat.
Heaven Up Here - darker, almost gothy, with a Joy Division kind of vibe, unsettling at times but the melody is always there
Porcupine - not quite as coherent as the first two albums but a kind of summary of everything they do - massive unforgettable singles, darker, knottier bits and some songs that nod to their more expansive ambitions to come.
Ocean Rain - the sky scraping classic, rich, deep, almost preposterous in its swaggering ambition, full of great songs that are not swamped by all of its frills
ST - perhaps a bit flat by comparison with what went before, but still has three great singles and some interest elsewhere.
They’re an interesting band because they obviously came out of post-punk and you can hear their connections to the other bands of the time (especially on the first two albums) but they embraced melody and ‘classic songwriting’ in a way that few bands of the period did. It’s hard to remember but in 1980 it was the height of uncool to admit to even a passing admiration for The Beatles, but they were never ashamed of that connection.
The post-reformation stuff has been decent too. Certainly no stain on their legacy. They’re one of the only ‘legacy acts’ I’ve ever bothered to see live too - they were great.
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Saw them at 1985 Glastonbury headlining. Have only every owned Ocean Rain plus knowing the big singles.
They’re quite good.
One of those bands where I mainly listen to the Best Of and that feels like enough (sorry)
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There was an interview with Mac in a 2018 issue of MOJO by the late David Cavanagh (a great writer btw) which was unexpectedly sad & moving…Cavanagh spends 24 hours with Mac and he comes across as a bit of a rock casualty. If anyone wants to seek it out it is the issue with this cover:
I would love to read this. It seems quite a notorious interview.
The first four albums post-reformation are all pretty good too - Evergreen, What Are You Going To Do With Your Life, Flowers and Siberia. All worth checking out. Small sample from them…
Mac is obviously a massive massive prick which must be maddening for the rest of the band. I saw them on their comeback in 1997 and it was a pretty triumphant thing. Then saw them another four or so times and they were awful every time - entirely down to Mac acting the idiot/being drunk/just not caring. Gave up on them eventually. Then a few years back, we were at Latitude and they were playing in the tent with no one else particularly on at the same time. Against my better judgement, we headed along to watch. They came on stage and Mac announced that they’d spontaneously decided to play Crocodiles in full. And they were bloody brilliant - a joyous thing. Might leave the memories there tbh tbf…
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Dreadful live when I saw them
I saw them in 2006 in London at the Sundae on the Common festival that Ben and Jerrys used to do. Not the most promising of set ups, maybe. but they were astoundingly good.
Coincidentally, I went to all of those except the 2006 one…
think Porcupine is my favourite tbh. incredibly strong first half anyway. great band. once got to watch them from the side of stage at Guilfest back in the day ha
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I’m the same. They’re not bad but the albums I’ve heard (2 maybe) never clicked aside from singles. I have one on vinyl I got as a gift about 6 years ago, maybe I’ll pull it out one of these days.
I really like Porcupine too. Not sure why a consensus has seemed develop that it’s a sub-standard album. The second side is perhaps not as good as the first, but it’s still a really good record,
Only really know the singles and the album evergreen but I did used to share a manager with them.