Crocodiles

Product Information

Following the departure of McCulloch and the death of de Freitas, Sergeant and Pattinson assembled a new line-up for the sixth album, featuring ex-St Vitus Dance frontman Noel Burke. Proof, if it were needed, that Mac was indispensable. However, their plans were thrown into disarray when Pete de Freitas was killed in a motorcycle accident on 14 June 1989. [27] De Freitas was on his way to Liverpool from London to take part in the group's first rehearsal with Burke, when his Ducati motorbike collided with another vehicle on the A51 At Longdon Green in Staffordshire, killing him instantly. He was 27 years old and was survived by his widow and their infant daughter, who was born in 1988. With tour commitments looming, the remaining members hastily recruited former Haircut One Hundred drummer Blair Cunningham as their new drummer, but he did not fit in, and left after their Spring 1986 American tour. Cunningham was replaced by former ABC drummer David Palmer. The group began recording material for the new album with Broudie and producer Clive Langer but they were unhappy with the results and the recordings were shelved. Very similar to Echo & The Bunnymen - Crocodiles. However, this version has an alternate barcode format with leading "0" printed on the tray card. Following a PR campaign that proclaimed it "the greatest album ever made" according to McCulloch, [25] 1984's Ocean Rain reached No.4, and today is widely regarded as the band's landmark album. [26] Single extracts " Silver" (UK No.30) and " Seven Seas" (UK No.16) consolidated the album's continued commercial success. In the same year, McCulloch had a minor solo hit with his cover version of the Kurt Weill standard " September Song".

Immediately before the release of the band's next album What Are You Going to Do with Your Life? (1999), Les Pattinson quit to take care of his mother. [31] McCulloch and Sergeant have continued to tour and record as Echo & the Bunnymen, touring repeatedly and releasing the albums Flowers (2001), Siberia (2005), The Fountain (2009) and Meteorites (2014). The Siberia band line up was Ian McCulloch, Will Sergeant, Paul Fleming (keyboards), Simon Finley (drums) and Pete Wilkinson (bass), Hugh Jones produced Siberia after previously engineering early Bunnymen albums. Since August 2009 the group's touring incarnation has comprised McCulloch and Sergeant along with Stephen Brannan (bass), Gordy Goudie (guitar), Nicholas Kilroe (drums) and Jez Wing (keyboards). The Liverpool scene at the interface of the 70s and 80s was the proving ground for a trio of singers that are among the most mercurial ever to emerge from the Merseyside metropolis. Ian McCulloch, Julian Cope and Pete Wylie actually started out together as The Crucial Three in 1977, before Wylie quit (going on to The Mighty Wah!) and McCulloch and Cope went on to form A Shallow Madness, an early incarnation of The Teardrop Explodes. Hugh Jones was promoted from engineer to producer on the Bunnymen’s not-so-difficult second album, which went on to win Best Album and Best Dressed LP accolades at the NME Awards, and has a place in Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, despite the band’s modest success Stateside.

P E A C E

On 11 January 2008, McCulloch was interviewed on BBC Breakfast at the start of Liverpool 08. He was asked about new Bunnymen material and he revealed that a new album would coincide with their gig at the Royal Albert Hall in September. He went on to say that the album was "The best one we've made, apart from Ocean Rain." a b Roberts, David, ed. (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19thed.). HIT Entertainment. ISBN 1-904994-10-5. Tangari, Joe (2 March 2004). "Echo and the Bunnymen: Crocodiles / Heaven Up Here / Porcupine / Ocean Rain / Echo & The Bunnymen". Pitchfork . Retrieved 5 May 2010.

Echo & the Bunnymen's debut single " The Pictures on My Wall" was released on Bill Drummond& David Balfe's Zoo Records in May 1979, the B-side being "Read It in Books" (also recorded by The Teardrop Explodes approximately six months later as the B-side of their final Zoo Records single "Treason"). Though credited as a McCulloch/Cope collaboration, McCulloch has denied on more than one occasion that Cope had any involvement with its writing. [14] [15] In the book The KLF: Chaos, Magic and the Band Who Burned a Million Pounds by John Higgs, Bill Drummond says that he saw the face of "Echo", an imagined giant rabbit, in the cover design. [16] Releases [ edit ] Endelman, Michael (5 March 2004). "Crocodiles". Entertainment Weekly. No.754 . Retrieved 5 May 2010. Crocodiles" is the debut album from Echo and the Bunnymen with two songs, "Pictures on My Wall" and "Rescue," on the album previously released as singles. This is quite an album. The music is described as post-punk and neo-psychdelic with imagery of darkness and sorrowfullness. Yes, that's all there. To me, the sound is sort of similar to Joy Division's "Closer" and Gang of Four. The band includes Ian McCulloch (singer), Will Sergeant (guitars), Les Pattinson (bass) and drummer Pete de Freitas whom they added after they signed to a label and were encouraged to add a drummer. One of the first things you notice is how prominent each of the band members are. They all make major to contributions to the songs and album as a whole. McCulloch's lyrics are dark and appear very personal. Given the imagery and personal nature leaves a lot of these songs open for interpretation. The lyrics and music match perfectly creating a great dark and somewhat haunting mood.

Ocean Rain proved difficult to follow up, and their only releases in 1985 were the single, " Bring on the Dancing Horses" (UK No.21), and a compilation album, Songs to Learn & Sing, which made No. 6 in the UK album chart. Various: Manchester North Of England - A Story Of Independent Music Greater Manchester 1977 - 1993 (1) In 2018, Echo & the Bunnymen announced and released an album of reworked orchestral versions of older material and two new songs, titled The Stars, the Oceans & the Moon, to mixed reception. [44]

Echo & the Bunnymen formed in 1978 and originally consisted of Ian McCulloch (lead vocals), Will Sergeant (lead guitar), Les Pattinson (bass) and a drum machine. They released their debut single, "The Pictures on My Wall", in May 1979 on the independent label Zoo Records. The band then signed with WEA subsidiary label Korova and were persuaded to employ a drummer. [4] Pete de Freitas subsequently joined the band, and in early 1980 they recorded their second single, "Rescue". The single was recorded at Eden Studios in London and produced by fellow Liverpudlian and ex-member of Big in Japan Ian Broudie. [5] Adams, Chris (2002). Turquoise Days: The Weird World of Echo and the Bunnymen. New York: Soft Skull Press (published 1 July 2002). ISBN 1-887128-89-1.

Ironically, Echo & the Bunnymen (frequently referred to as “the grey album”, though McCulloch prefers “the ‘loss of grey matter’ album”) gave them their biggest success in America. But Mac wasn’t alone in wondering, “Where was the Bunnymen we all loved?” On their 1978 debut at Eric’s Club in Liverpool, Echo & the Bunnymen played a 20-minute version of Monkeys, which was entitled I Bagsy Yours at the time. Of course, it's not as straightforward as its two predecessors, 1980's Crocodiles and 1981's Heaven Up Here. The Bunnymen hit the ground running, and their debut album is a stunning statement of purpose, with McCulloch already in full dramatic swing and the band at their most straightforward-- any band that uses as much reverb as this one is hard to label "raw," but "Pride" and "Do It Clean" nonetheless hit hard, and "Rescue", with Sergeant's massive opening riff, manages to turn a chorus that should sound like a plea into a rallying cry. Heaven Up Here ranges more widely, and makes motions toward the slightly funkier band that turned up on Porcupine on the aptly titled "Show of Strength" and "With a Hip", while also stretching out their theatrical side on the slow-burning, flute-laden "All My Colours" (also frequently referred to as "Zimbo" for McCulloch's weird, droning nonsense refrain). Matrix / Runout (Side B runout, variant 8): W-5 KD KODE 1 B-1 WITH FLOWERS A̶̷̲̅N̶̷̲̅D̶̷̲̅ IN THEIR HAIR ARUN