I liked that Will Sergeant yarn

Crocodiles a big deal to me in my teens. I don't really think they've bettered those first two albums but I know I'm in the minority there. Had no idea that Kelley Stoltz was an unofficial member at one point. Weird that there was no mention of him recording his own version of Crocodiles. One time when he toured out here he used Eddy Current Suppression Ring as his band.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/04/2020 04:34PM by Aitch.

I'm with ya, Aitch. The first two Bunnymen albums are the most listenable from start to finish. Porcupine and Ocean Rain both have tremendous high points, but they aren't as consistent. Their subsequent albums offer a few decent songs here & there.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/04/2020 08:17PM by Delvin.

He had some really interesting things to say...like how Echo never rehearses before hitting the road, he never plays guitar for pleasure, and that Ian McCulloch writes all of the songs for Echo now and won't let him contribute. Maybe this isn't news to fans who closely follow the band, but for a casual observer such as myself, I'm not sure if I believe every word he's saying. But I suppose I should since I have no reason not to.

For me, Heaven Up Here is the only Echo album I need.

Indeed I don’t think you are in the minority either... I bought the first two albums then didn’t get others until after the fact.

The debut albums by Echo and the Teardrop Explodes were initially lumped together by the press as part of a ‘new psychedelia’ movement. It may have been due to their peculiar names...but neither act sounded particularly ‘psychedelic’ to me. Rescue, all that Jazz, pictures on my wall... these were pretty stark and direct, not spacey.

‘Heaven up here’ gets more dense and I imagine singles were probably less obvious. But it’s an exciting listen. And it has one of my favorite album covers of the era.

Funny, but when I hear something like ‘lips like sugar’ I always think of that as ‘newer Echo’... even though it’s like 35 years old now.

It kinda bummed me out to hear Will say that he doesn’t share his musical ideas with the group because they don’t want to hear them. He IS will freaking sergeant, whose guitar work is etched into our psyche!

I think getting lumped with Teardrop was a bit of a Liverpool thing as well which is why Wah get included.

Kelly's been cranking out terrific Echo and the Bunnymen-adjacent albums for several years now. A fave of mine is "Que Aura" from 2017.

Also, as a diehard ska fan, I got a big kick out of the fact that teenage Will liked the music!