33 1/3 Part 18
Echo and the Bunnymen -’Ocean Rain.’ (Korova, 1984)
For some of the records on here, I could have written pages and pages about how these albums make me feel.
This seems to be the exception…because the music seems to speak for itself. It’s goth, Jim, but not as you know it. Strings that could grace a classical recording, beautifully scored.
Weird, wonderful non-sensical lyrics…and yet evocative lyrics.
One of England’s greatest ever bands reaching their peak.
An album I picked up cheaply on vinyl on holiday in Holland in 1994…that became my second favourite album of the eighties after Disintegration…Ian McCulloch AKA Mac the Mouth giving in fully to the temptation to ape Scott Walker and doing it wonderfully..the line about ’screaming from beneath the waves’ on the title track…the fact that all nine tracks are amazing…’The Killing Moon’…’Nocturnal me’…’Seven Seas’…that cover…the greatest title track ever…
Lay down thy raincoat and groove.
Echo and the Bunnymen -’Ocean Rain.’ mp3
Got to disagree with your assessment of the LP, young man. Last great Bunnies LP? Certainly. But their peak? That title belongs to the mighty ‘Heaven Up Here’!
What a shame that they are now making music for Coldplay fans to like. From anyone else ‘The Fountain’ would be acceptable but compared to their earlier majesty …
have yet to hear the latest album though will put it on my xmas list…like heaven Up here but this is the tops for me!
Love OR, the title track is my favourite all-time Bunnymen song. The Crystal Day event that coincided with the release of the album was unforgettable. It was magical period if they were your band. Got to agree with MPT on HuH as the quintessential Bunnymen album though; it captured a sound that took all the potential of Crocodiles and turned out a piece of work with such urgency, arrangement and vision that it spoilt all other music for this then 16 year old at the time (tough to do in the treasure trove of music that was 1981). As Mac’s influence in the studio increased, Ocean Rain was, in hindsight, a natural progression for their sound but at the time it was surprising - I remember seeing them on The Tube prior to release and being a bit distracted/confused by their new sound. It is a shimmering record that sparkles in many moments, none more so than the entire side 2 - Killing Moon, Seven Seas, My Kingdom and OR. Perfect “pop”. The band put together such a fantastic body of work between 1979-84. I saw them play a low key show in Boston a couple of weeks ago, capacity about 250 - they leave me completely cold these days - saddens but nothing will ever taint the memory of the band are their prime. Thanks for posting.
Have to agree with manicpopthrills, Heaven Up Here far better, I always found Ocean Rain a bit too overblown. The songs sound better live without the all strings. Not listened to The Fountain yet.
OK…appear to be in the monority on this….
Never saw them the first time round as they broke up in ‘88…have seen them three times since they reformed; were absolutely stunning at Glasgow Barrowlands in 2005.
Whichever album is better, this is still great.
I do agree that “Heaven up here” is their best album, but there is some kind of magic in “Ocean rain”… Like a spell. Maybe Mc Cullogh is the best singer ever, with Morrissey and Robert Smith… Not like rock singers (like Eddie Vedder / Chris Cornell… which is also like), but in the way they can carry emotions by singing.
Do you remenber “reverberation” the album without big mac…? If you do something about the worst reccords of the best bands it could be on your top list (with “cut the crap” ).
Irrespective of whether Ocean Rain or which album is best, they were so good around that time that they could put a song as strong as “Angels & Devils” on the b-side of a 12″ …
Craig
Okay…so some love for this album. actually I quite like Reverberation, it’s got some good bits on it ‘Gone, Gone, Gone’ and ‘Cut And Dried’…
nope - for me Ocean Rain is the bunnymen lp that tops all others. For its scope , ambition , drama of killing moon, A1 nonsense that is thorn of crowns and the perfect pop record that is seven seas
Good! Someone finally got it!
I like Reverbaration too but the MK II releases that I enjoy the most are ‘Prove Me Wrong’ and ‘Wigged Out World’ which came out on singles after the album was released and on the bands own Euphoric Records label. If you do not have these Ed, let me know. What did you think of Electrafixion? For me, by far the best post Ocean Rain Bunnymen-related output.
I loved ‘Zephyr’ but didn’t buy any of the stuff at the time. Haven’t heard the other Bunnymen singles you mention, so if you are able to send me mp3s I would be very grateful!
Ed
I can’t listen to a bunnymen reccord without Mc Cullogh… But I will try to listen to it again Ed… We say in French “Seuls les imbéciles ne changent pas d’avis” (”only the fools don’t change their minds”). I have listened to the fisrt solo album from Mc Cullogh and it still sound quite good, “start again”, “proud to fall”, “candleland”… I remember listening to “peepshow” from the banshees and to “Blue bell knoll” which also came in those years. (SSFME)
A great list of albums, both the first two solo mcCulloch solo albums (Candleland and Mysterio) are good, though still haven’t got Sideling yet, must do sometime. Peepshow might actually be my favourite Banshees album, though I’ve never really fallen in love with Blue Bell Knoll.
I’d stand up for Reverberation too, Ed, although the songs were better live. False Goodbyes was my favourite. The two later singles suggested an even better ’second’ LP was on the cards but then Will got back with Mac.
Funnily enough I always thought that if you mixed up Burned and Evergreen you would have had 2 better LPs! Burned was just a little unrelenting but there is some good stuff on it.
Sideling? Christ, I’d forgotten all about that. Dull latter period Bunnies without even the saving grace of Will’s presence. The Glide LP Curvature of the Earth is so much better!
Think it’s time for another Bunnymen-related post on this blog…!