Echo & the Bunnymen, Songs to Learn and Sing

(oh wait, "Never Stop" was a non-album single as well. it can stay.)

yep. "My Kingdom" is a glaring omission here.

inclined to vote for "the cutter"

back of love, most likely. other standouts among standouts are dancing horses, the cutter, and seven seas.

A tough choice against "The Killing Moon" and "Never Stop,", but whenever I see or hear the word "shimmer" I immediately think of "Bring on the Dancing Horses," so I have to go with it.

I love "Rescue". It feels in family with "Never Say Never". It's hard to vote for an Ocean Rain track because I love that whole album and want to also hear The Yo Yo Man when I listen to the others.

maybe it seems aimless (aimless!) compared to the songs all around it

Yes, I've become quite fond of this moniker. ftr, in the book Cold Comfort Farm there is a cow named Aimless. This immediately endeared the book to me. I have not yet seen it used as a proper noun anywhere else.

"Back of Love" wins for me thanks to that dreamy bridge with the strings.

this is tough. I might vote for "Do It Clean"

Why I'm voting for BotDHs:

+ Pete's drumming. He has an amazing soft touch of blending in his high-hat with the 16th-note chuggy arpeggiator at the end of each bar, and then this unusual ambidextrous way of punctuating the offbeat in the chorus.
+ Les's bass. The chorus has this nifty thing where he does that ascending D-E-F# lick on three different strings while simultaneously ringing the open string of the chord progression (D-A-G).
+ I know that arp-synth gate/triggered trem-heavy sound was pretty hot at the time ("How Soon Is Now?" was released a few months earlier) but I feel that in an age of complete excess, Will's playing is really minimal and understated, giving a lot of space to the rhythm section and...
- lol those corny-ass presets! those pentatonic harp sweeps, the dreaded pan flute, "lush strings" is the other one in verse 2 I think... but they save the best one for the chorus, that kind of reedy/brassy Eno-esque ascension DX-7 patch. I can forgive those goofy 80s cliches just for the payoff of the one in the chorus.

Plus, the video

bit of an unfair poll, since you have to choose one favorite song from five albums... and each representing a different stage/phase.
Then that's how it is. I'm with 'A promise' from Heaven Up Here.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I saw them a couple times, including the tour after this was released. In the end, can't deny "The Killing Moon."

I would have gone for Ocean Rain if it were here, too. Saving that, The Cutter (the live version off the Liverpool album is holy shit amazing).

"Killing Moon" is very my thing

this is tough. I might vote for "Do It Clean"

― crüt, Tuesday, March 31, 2020 10:21 PM (two weeks ago)

I've never warmed to these people, but I can't deny "The Cutter" and "Do It Clean."

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Surprised at the result!

same! i didn't realize that "Bring On The Dancing Horses" was a big song for them, tbh

Pretty in Pink, y'all. Maybe you weren't old enough.

*looks down at 50 year old hands. Frowns*.

Well.

i think i voted for 'the cutter' but this poll prompted me to listen to 'bring on the dancing horses' every day for like a week so