Finally feeling better from a lingering sickness, and now I can't sleep. So in honor of insomnia, I bring you the Criminally Underrated Band of the Week: Echo & the Bunnymen. Near and dear to my heart are the Bunnymen, so I will try to keep this one brief.
Maybe you know them from Donnie Darko (it's the song that opens the film), maybe you've never heard of them, maybe you just think that have a silly name. But the Bunnymen feature one of he greatest singers in rock history, Ian McCulloch(a big influence on me in my band days), a truly inventive guitarist in Will Seargent, a bass player that defined the post-punk style in Will Pattinson, and a drummer in Pete De Freitas who could shift from African rythyms (All My Colours) to punk attacks (The Back of Love) to orchestral pop (Lips Like Sugar) without missing a beat. From 1980 until 1985 they were the best band in the world, and that is really saying something when you consider that during that period The Smiths and U2 were out in the world. They also hold the distinction of being the only band in history to break up for an exended period of time (1988 - and have a member die - De Freitas), and get back together (1997) to create work that equaled their previous break up peak.
Lets's just run down their albums:
Crocodiles - 5 stars
Heaven Up Here - 5 stars (so underrated)
Porcupine - 5 stars
Ocean Rain - 5 stars (a masterpiece; one of the greatest albums ever made)
Echo & the Bunnymen 3.5 stars
and post reunion
Evergreen - 5 stars
What Are You Going To Do With Your Life? - 5 stars (one of the best albums of the 1990's)
Flowers - 4.5 stars
Siberia - 3.5 stars
Anyway, here they are back in the day performing The Killing Moon (a good entry point to get into them). Enjoy.
Maybe you know them from Donnie Darko (it's the song that opens the film), maybe you've never heard of them, maybe you just think that have a silly name. But the Bunnymen feature one of he greatest singers in rock history, Ian McCulloch(a big influence on me in my band days), a truly inventive guitarist in Will Seargent, a bass player that defined the post-punk style in Will Pattinson, and a drummer in Pete De Freitas who could shift from African rythyms (All My Colours) to punk attacks (The Back of Love) to orchestral pop (Lips Like Sugar) without missing a beat. From 1980 until 1985 they were the best band in the world, and that is really saying something when you consider that during that period The Smiths and U2 were out in the world. They also hold the distinction of being the only band in history to break up for an exended period of time (1988 - and have a member die - De Freitas), and get back together (1997) to create work that equaled their previous break up peak.
Lets's just run down their albums:
Crocodiles - 5 stars
Heaven Up Here - 5 stars (so underrated)
Porcupine - 5 stars
Ocean Rain - 5 stars (a masterpiece; one of the greatest albums ever made)
Echo & the Bunnymen 3.5 stars
and post reunion
Evergreen - 5 stars
What Are You Going To Do With Your Life? - 5 stars (one of the best albums of the 1990's)
Flowers - 4.5 stars
Siberia - 3.5 stars
Anyway, here they are back in the day performing The Killing Moon (a good entry point to get into them). Enjoy.
