Echo And The Bunnymen — Echo And The Bunnymen

• Artist: Echo And The Bunnymen
• Title: Echo And The Bunnymen
• Year: 1987
• Format: Vinyl 12 in.
• Rating (1-10): 6
• Owner: Mary, if she’ll claim it
• Acquired: I’m not gonna ask
• Keeper: Maybe

Oh man this album is lame, for Echo And The Bunnymen that is. Now I remember why they were dead to me, DEAD I tell you!, by the time this record came out. Maybe I didn’t give it a fair listen, but I’m not playing it again. If I was right the first time I’ll just suffer again for nothing. The hits “Bedbugs and Ballyhoo” and “Lips Like Sugar” are probably the best songs on Echo And The Bunnymen.

Flushing my head now with some Wolfmother. Heavy riffs, take me away…

Echo and The Bunnymen — Bedbugs and Ballyhoo 12 inch

• Artist: Echo and The Bunnymen
• Title: Bedbugs and Ballyhoo 12 inch
• Year: 1988
• Format: Vinyl 12 in.
• Rating (1-10): 6
• Owner: Mary
• Acquired: Girl ain’t here to ask

I checked “maybe” by the Keeper field for this 12 inch of “Bedbugs and Ballyhoo” by Echo and The Bunnymen. The truth is, even though they are one of my favorite bands ever, I was pretty much done with them by the time this came out. I would only keep it now as part of the collection. It’s more pop than their earlier stuff, not necessarily a bad thing, but still a little twisted. Two remixes on side A and side B has live versions of “Run, Run, Run”, “Paint It Black”, and “Friction.”

As I write this I’m listening to the latest album by Muse, “Black Holes and Revelations”, which is super exciting. I may have to shake up the I’m Heavy Duty! programming a bit to write about some new stuff. Right, Keith?

Echo and The Bunnymen — Ocean Rain

• Artist: Echo and The Bunnymen
• Title: Ocean Rain
• Year: 1984
• Format: Vinyl 12 in.
• Rating (1-10): 10
• Owner: Tracy
• Acquired: No idea.
• Keeper: Yes

Ah yes, “Ocean Rain.” I could listen to this Echo and The Bunnymen record every day and not get tired of it. And that’s pretty much what I did when it came out in 1984. This record is maybe a little more pop than the first three, not a bad thing, and it also has a full orchestra going for it… which is nice.

More about Echo and The Bunnymen and the album “Ocean Rain” at Wikipedia.

Echo and The Bunnymen — The Sound of Echo EP

• Artist: Echo and The Bunnymen
• Title: The Sound of Echo EP
• Year: 1983
• Format: Vinyl 12 in.
• Rating (1-10): 8
• Owner: Mary
• Acquired: She’s not around to tell me right now…
• Keeper: Yes

I am distraught, people. Dih-straught. When I went looking for the third Echo and The Bunnymen album “Porcupine” it was nowhere to be found. How could this happen?! I would usually blame this kinda thing on my little brother, but we’re getting too old for that. So, I have no idea what happened to it. In its place tonight we have an oddball EP. There is no title anywhere on the record, but I have found sites that refer to it as “The Sound of Echo.” The five songs here are from different albums.

“Never Stop” – Songs to Learn and Sing (Which came out later)
“Rescue” – Crocodiles
“The Cutter” – Porcupine
“Back of Love” – Porcupine
“Do It Clean (Live)” – Originally released on Crocodiles

There isn’t even a proper release year on the disk or packaging. I’ve read it was 1984. Maybe it was put out to hype the band, generate buzz, etc. before “Ocean Rain” was released later that year. Anyhow, it’s all good. It seems rare-ish. I’m still crushed that “Porcupine” is missing though.

Echo and The Bunnymen — Heaven Up Here

• Artist: Echo and The Bunnymen
• Title: Heaven Up Here
• Year: 1981
• Format: Vinyl 12 in.
• Rating (1-10): 8
• Owner: Tracy
• Acquired: 1981 ? – No idea.
• Keeper: Yes

Echo and The Bunnymen was always one of my favorite bands. Why I didn’t keep up with them past the first four records is unclear to me, but maybe they just got lame. Or was it me? In reading about them I just realized that they have put out four more albums in recent years that I didn’t even know about. How can this happen? I thought I was hip!

Anyhow, “Heaven Up Here” is a great follow-up to “Crocodiles.” My favorite song is “Over The Wall.” There is slightly, just slightly, too much lyrical whinging for my taste, but when I was a teenager I’m sure I thought the lyrics were awesome.

Echo and The Bunnymen — Bring On The Dancing Horses

• Artist: Echo and The Bunnymen
• Title: Bring On The Dancing Horses
• Year: 1985
• Format: Vinyl 7 in.
• Rating (1-10): 7
• Owner: Mary
• Acquired: 1985 – Unknown origin.
• Keeper: Yes

Echo and The Bunnymen, similar to Black Sabbath, made their best music on the first four albums. “Bring On The Dancing Horses” came later. I like it more than other later singles, but much less than the music on the first four LPs. Now this I find strange: The flipside is “Read It In Books” which was on their first record “Crocodiles” from five years earlier. Mary’s theory is that since the band was finally getting popular in the US they put that on the flip to encourage new fans to also get the back catalog stuff. I think if that was the reason they should’ve picked something more immediately appealing like, say, “Rescue.”

Echo and The Bunnymen — Crocodiles

• Artist: Echo And The Bunnymen
• Title: Crocodiles
• Year: 1980
• Format: Vinyl 12 in.
• Rating (1-10): 10
• Owner: Tracy / Mary
• Acquired: 1980 – No idea where I got my copy but my friend Jeff Arthur turned me on to the band.
• Keeper: Yes

1980 was a very good year for music. Echo and The Bunnymen is one of my all-time favorite bands and this was their debut. This album is full of “hits” and pretty much every other modern rock bar band in the ’80s did a cover of some song on “Crocodiles.” Usually “Do It Clean” or “Rescue.” Like “Louie Louie” or “Gloria” those songs are so good, and so simple that it’s hard to do bad versions of them.

It’s almost impossible to explain their sound, yet it sounds familiar. They’re arty and edgy, but they can rock. The lyrics are interesting and intelligent sounding, but not pretentious. I think often times singer/songwriter Ian McCulloch chooses words for how they sound instead of what they mean.

I think they’re geniuses and by most accounts so do they. More Echo and The Bunnymen records and stories to come as I continue to lap through the alphabet.