In Praise of ... Ocean Rain by Echo and the Bunnymen

(xpost Ned's Coldplay comment may explain my detachment as I have probably as little interest in what Coldplay is trying to do as it is possible to have without being dead.)

Ocean Rain seems to get a bad rap by the purists, but I think any album that contains "Thorn of Crowns" is a priceless goddamn gem, and fi upon ye who disagrees.

C-C-C-CAULIFLOWER!

Sorry for the intrustion, but you should realize that by quoting only 2/3 of a line from a Bunnymen song within my hearing, you're going to get the same kind of response from me that you'd get if you yelled "shave and a haircut!" within earshot of Roger Rabbit.

*nervous, self-conscious laugh*

Um ... um ...

So! ... um, ... Anyone seen the "Tanya" thread around here? I was actually summoned to this board by someone to read _that_ thread, but I couldn't find it and I guess I got kinda sidetracked here. hahah!

*blush*

So, um, if someone could send me towards that thread ... please?

Anyway, I would pay $50 for an alarm clock that played "Silver" to wake me up, as a friend once suggested. I'd never be late.

It's the kind of album that I stumble upon while flipping through my collection, put it on, and remember that I really like it. I love albums like that. Albums that are consistently listenable. They tend to be underrated.

of all of the eighties black-overcoat bands, EATB sorta became "mine" by both chance and choice. by chance in that my first exposure to them was the pretty in pink soundtrack (how eighties teenager!) and the "bring on the dancing horses" video. by choice in that others in my high school who were into the black-overcoat band thing already had "their" bands (usually the smiths, but also a few cure fans and depeche mode fans and REM fans and U2 fans [yeah, those last two were "black-overcoat" back in the mid-eighties) -- EATB sorta were the odd ones out (the more things change ...). but they were also the odd ones out in that they didn't really sound to my 15-year old ears like any of the others previously mentioned -- no DM/New Order synths, a little bit like REM and the Smiths in the guitar-playing (but much more reverb!), more like U2 than the others (so much so that i wondered who was ripping off who -- esp. since the unforgettable fire had just come out). and mccullough was as visually and aurally striking as was morrissey, only not "gay" (hey, i was 15! and david gahan sounded/looked just as "gay" as morrissey did!) who knows, maybe there was also the "they play guitars!" and the doors thing (again, i was 15 and dumb).

as to the music: ocean rain was the 1st proper EATB album i'd heard (i got the songs to listen and sing comp beforehand), when i was 16 (so i hadn't heard heaven up here or porcupines yet and was blissfully unaware of whether they wer being "pure" to those albums or not). again, it just didn't sound like any of the other alternative/new-wave/whatever songs i was hearing at that time what with the strings, the florid-yet-puzzlingly-vague lyrics (except maybe the cure's the head on the door). i think that "the killing moon" was my favorite back then -- again, the sweeping strings and romantic longing (and i hadn't even kissed a girl at that point!) i liked the sea-chantiness of "seven seas" and "my kingdom" -- no-one else was doing anything so silly and catchy (kissing the tortoise shell, indeed!) and then there was ian's scat-like singing on "thorn of crowns."

in b/w then and now, and having heard just about everything they've put out (yes, including reverberation check out the thread about that CD yo!), ocean rain is the one i come back to the most often. the title track is now my favorite -- it's sad but tastefully so, its lyrical metaphors that made no sense to a 16 y/o now resonate w/ the 33 y/o old me, and it's one of the songs that i put on when i need a little something to keep me going. and i still love the silly sea-chanties that are "seven seas" and "my kingdom."

that's it, really!

Anyway love it.

Dude, you need to let the Good Charlotte thing go.

if wasn't fer good charlotte, i'd be totally ripping on limp pipsqueak instead. and if you think "seven seas" was goofy, i wonder what you'd think of "my kingdom"!

Everyone knows that Angels & Devils is proof of a musical heaven, right?

(I just bought the remaster with Angels & Devils as a bonus track, where it has rightly belonged for quite some time, I feel)

Anyway I think Dr. C will agree with me, if no one else.

Also it has an insane cover of "All You Need Is Love".

Revive!

This is such an enjoyable record -- almost as if Sixties Scott Walker were making an Eighties alternative rock record. Yes, the Richard Ashcrofts of the world ruined this sort of thing for many of us. But "Killer Moon" and the title track are magnificent.

Listened to it for the first time in over a decade a few weeks ago. I found it a bit hard to get back into. Very trebly production, I guess that was just the way they made records in those days, but I wonder why? I think Porcupine is the better record though. The Cutter is still great.

But do you have the remaster? It sounds fantastic...

This album is good example of the word CLASSIC, even though maybe that word is perhaps abused on this board. There must be a reason it still sounds so good after 20+ years.

i think this album is a more apt reference point for the arcade fire et. al than springsteen

http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/6687/bunnymen2or7.jpg

( sold out already - more dates on bunnymen.com )

Looks like they are doing the same show on Oct. 1st at Radio City. Tix on sale the 26th.

http://www.bunnymen.com

I got a ticket and I am flying to NY for this show and I am happy as a goddamn clam about it.

RAH show was last night. anybody go?

(the gloucester leisure centre date on the Ocean Rain tour was the first gig i ever went to.)

cd will be re-re-released sometime soon, oct 13 according to amazon. comes, apparently, with a copy of the old RAH gig which has been released before i think.

I ran into D on the train this morning, who was wiped out exhausted from the show last night. She said that the sound was patchy (RFH seating, bah) but the set that was Ocean Rain (they did two sets) was incredible. Made her look at the album - especially the songs she skips over (I never skip over anything on this album!) - in a whole new happy light.

Who could skip over a song on this album!

I know! I know! I took her to task for this. But she says she skips Thorn Of Crowns !(wha?!?!??!) and Yo Yo Man (for the "hey nonny no" middle 8) - she is a mad person. Clearly.

One of the first "real" albums I bought back in 1986 and, for what's worth, a listening experience that totally capsized my 15-year old little world.

Perfect mash album for a 15-16 y.o. in '84. Maybe it should be higher than #20 in my '84 list, but there was always something a bit ludicrous and half-baked about it. Hrm.

"Ocean Rain" is probably the most "pop" Echo & The Bunnymen album, at least apart from the 90s comeback stuff. And that fits me well. I love "Seven Seas".

The second side of this record is glorious.

I didn't understand from the post above, but "two sets" apparently meant one for Ocean Rain and one that had a bunch of other old stuff in it. I'm looking forward to New York!

ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN’S OCEAN RAIN TO GET BLASTED INTO SPACE

NASA Astronaut to Take All-Time Fave Album to the International Space Station

New York, NY, May 13 – Move over Star Trek. Echo & The Bunnymen’s mighty 1984 album Ocean Rain will boldly go to the International Space Station on June 13th courtesy of astronaut Colonel Timothy L. Korpa.

Korpa, who has been a Bunnymen fanatic since his teens recently contacted the band via their website about his upcoming three-month mission on the ISS. Though Ocean Rain is Korpa’s favorite, he gave the choice to the band to pick which of their albums they would like him to take on his mission, saying that he would snap photos in space with the album and crew of the ISS and give the album back to the band as a souvenir when he returns to Earth. The Bunnymen ecstatically shipped out to Korpa an autographed copy of Ocean Rain right away.

“What an honour,” said Echo & The Bunnymen’s Ian McCulloch. “Now it’s official. We are the coolest band in the universe. As a kid I dreamt of being an astronaut, and now in a way it feels like I’m fulfilling that dream. I cannot wait to hear from Tim what it is like to listen to ‘The Killing Moon’ in the actual glow of the moon.”

The NASA mission happens to tie in with a box set reissue of Ocean Rain, set for release on May 30. The set will include a live version of the album recorded at the Liverpool Arena last November, plus a DVD documentary and booklet. The first 1000 copies ordered will be signed by McCulloch and guitarist Will Sergeant.

Following the success of last year’s Ocean Rain performances in London, NYC and Liverpool, two more of them are being planned in North America in 2009, and the band will perform the album when they headline the John Peel stage at Glastonbury on June 28th. Many of the songs on the album were written for a John Peel radio session so this will be a particularly special and poignant show. Echo & The Bunnymen will serve as a main stage headliner at All Points West in New York on August 2nd, will perform at this year’s Hop festival and the Electric Picnic and have also announced two dates in Liverpool in December:

LIVE DATES:

June 28th - Glastonbury - John Peel Stage
July 4th - Hop Farm
August 2nd – All Points West
Sept. 4th - Electric Picnic
Dec.18th - Liverpool 02 Academy
Dec.19th - Liverpool 02 Academy

Ocean Rain, which has lived long and prospered since its release in 1984 was Echo & The Bunnymen’s fourth album and is widely considered their masterpiece. It mesmerized Echo’s fans and broke them to a much wider audience on the strength of such towering songs as “Silver,” “Seven Seas” and the unforgettable “The Killing Moon.”

The Bunnymen are currently in the studio putting finishing touches on their highly-anticipated tenth studio album entitled The Fountain, set for release later this year.

The NASA mission happens to tie in with a box set reissue of Ocean Rain, set for release on May 30. The set will include a live version of the album recorded at the Liverpool Arena last November, plus a DVD documentary and booklet. The first 1000 copies ordered will be signed by McCulloch and guitarist Will Sergeant.

I seriously just lost my shit.

Come on, that is fantastic. What a superb story.

Faith up against zero G

can't find pics of goth astronaut ;_;

http://www.headinjurytheater.com/images/ink%20astronaut%202%20jared%20hindman.jpg

Oh my god. Way too cool for school.

OK this is fucking great.

Killing Moon-->Seven Seas, the kind of one-two most bands could only dream of.

Wonderful post from Eisbär (llamasfur) 8 years ago.

Actually the whole 2nd side of this, wow.

"The Killing Moon" – 5:50
"Seven Seas" – 3:20
"My Kingdom" – 4:05
"Ocean Rain" – 5:12

whole thing's amazing! one of my fav records ever ever ever

Actually the whole 2nd side of this, wow.

"The Killing Moon" – 5:50
"Seven Seas" – 3:20
"My Kingdom" – 4:05
"Ocean Rain" – 5:12
--Mark

Silver gets overlooked. A gem of a song.

^^^ this, it is a massively enjoyable wave of loveliness that decides to crash over you at the start of the album with strings and Mac going la-la-la-la-la.

Is it any wonder why it's hard to love anything that came after this majestic album? The eponymous album is better than it's initial impact and Mac's "Candleland" is solid but everything else he's done - meh.

saying that he would snap photos in space with the album and crew of the ISS and give the album back to the band as a souvenir when he returns to Earth.

where is it?
checked 137 photopages of the ISS mission 20.

And my latest for the Quietus...

http://thequietus.com/articles/15779-echo-and-the-bunnymen-ocean-rain-review

i haven’t listened to this album since college and i completely forgot how exquisite “thorn of crowns” is

It's my least favourite thing on there by a million miles.

I love this album, though... every time I see the cover I get 'The Yo Yo Man' stuck in my head.

#heartmusic

I saw they used Nocturnal Me in an episode of Stranger Things recently, gave me chills.

oh also “my kingdom,” jeez, what a song

"Seven Seas" is my jam on this album

I have to listen to this album right now.

It is an extremely thin sounding record for some reason, Thorn of Crowns is so slight and papery sounding.

Some of the CD versions are a bit thin-sounding, but that's more a result of bad mastering.

the sequencing of this record is terrible.

This is my favourite album of all time. Every single second on it is flawless as far as I'm concerned!

The Bunnymen very recently announced that their next album (out May 2018) will be 'The Stars, The Oceans & the Moon' and will contain new songs as well as reworkings of old classics with strings & stuff.
That's... probably a very bad idea in principle; reworkings of old classics are very rarely an improvement and most people agree that Ian McCulloch can't really sing as he used to anymore. But I'm looking forward to it myself. I actually prefer Ian's present-day crooner voice over his eighties voice. Ian did a solo thing where he added strings to a live performance and I thought it worked surprisingly well, it'll probably be something similar.
In any case, he/they can do little wrong in my opinion.

These guys really should have been as big as U2. Musically, they were head and shoulders above them.

Pattinson and De Freitas were an amazing rhythm section, so unique.

the sequencing of this record is terrible.

― campreverb, Saturday, November 25, 2017 12:49 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

weird, the other thing i noticed this time around is how much i love the sequencing

Pattinson and De Freitas were an amazing rhythm section, so unique.

― MaresNest, Saturday, November 25, 2017 8:09 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Indeed, and De Freitas no longer being with us is a huge part of why it wasn't, and couldn't have been the same when they reformed. It feels like a huge part of their sound is missing. Post-reformation Bunnymen feels like a very different thing to me.

I realised years later (after reading a Mojo article) that I had, in the past, worked fairly regularly with De Freitas' wife, wish I'd known at the time.

weird - i woke up this morning with a line from ocean rain in my head ("all hands on deck at dawn/sailing to sadder shores").

Think I would have had 'The Killing Moon' end side A, and had 'Angels and Devils' open side 2. Seems like 'Yo Yo Man' is better executed in other places.

As it is, it's heavily weighted side 2 record, none of which matters into day's digital age, but I think accounts for some of it's mixed reception.

This is one of those rare albums that I have two copies of: the 2003 CD with great bonus tracks and the 2008 reissue with Live At The Royal Albert Hall, a fantastic 1983 gig.

I stand by my Quietus piece.

xxpost:

Mixed reception? It's widely considered to be their best album, even if some days I don't agree.

NME and RS were both pretty down on it at the time. Not saying they're right, but I do think it's been elevated retroactively.

Listened to this a couple times this foggy morning, it's such a gorgeous record. My Kingdom strikes me as a very Julian Cope sort of song, especially the end. Guitar solos in it are stunning, I repeated it three or four times.

Actually the whole 2nd side of this, wow.

"The Killing Moon" – 5:50
"Seven Seas" – 3:20
"My Kingdom" – 4:05
"Ocean Rain" – 5:12

― Mark, Friday, March 18, 2011 7:54 PM (seven years ago)

Was this polled and I'm having trouble finding it via search?

Discovered this copy of the Killing Moon in my tapes. I usually got copies for my own personal collection. This will be a rough mix with the original drums on. Before Pete replaced the kit using brushes. #bunnymen pic.twitter.com/YPfEov2pvt

— Will Sergeant (Official) (@Will_Fuzz) December 6, 2022

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6ICtWN5hw0