Echo And The Bunnymen - Heaven Up Here

Following their more psychedelia-based debut, Crocodiles, and subsequent "Puppet/Do It Clean" single, Echo And The Bunnymen returned with the darkest and perhaps most experimental album of their career. Heaven Up Here lacks the signature hooks and melodies that would make T’Bunnymen famous, showcasing instead a dirge-like song writing approach built around the circular rhythms of bassist Les Pattinson and drummer Pete DeFreitas. In this setting, the band remarkably flourishes, although they would go on to greater heights by scaling back the album's extremism. Heaven Up Here's strength is the way in which T’Bunnymen seamlessly work together to shape each song's dynamics (the tension underlying the crescendo of "Turquoise Days" being a prime example). Ian McCulloch, having found his trademark confidence, sings with soaring abandon and passion throughout the album. Similarly, Will Sergeant's guitar playing, notably freed from verse-chorus structure and pop riffs, is at its angular finest; his playing on "No Dark Things" is pure Andy Gill-esque skronk. The album's opening troika of "Show of Strength," "With a Hip," and "Over the Wall" (the latter with its jarring, direct invocation of Del Shannon's "Runaway") are particularly effective, establishing the theme of distrust and restlessness which continues throughout the album. Indeed, even the album's lone single, "A Promise," is hardly light, pop material. But the message underneath that darkness, especially in McCulloch's lyrics, is a call to overcome rather than wallow, as the album ends with the relatively euphoric "All I Want." Sitting comfortably next to the pioneering work of contemporaries like Joy Division/New Order, and early Public Image Ltd. and Cure, this is a rather fine (and in the end, influential) example of atmospheric post-punk. Having reached the British Top Ten, Heaven Up Here is highly regarded among Echo And The Bunnymen's fans precisely for the reasons which, on the surface, make it one of the least accessible albums in the band's catalogue.

Echo And The Bunnymen - Crocodiles [Expanded]

Inspired by psychedelia, sure. Bit of Jim Morrison in the vocals? OK, it's there. But for all the references and connections that can be drawn (and they can), one listen to The Bunnymen’s  brilliant, often harrowing debut album and it's clear when a unique, special band presents itself. Beginning with the dramatic, building climb of "Going Up," Crocodiles at once showcases four individual players sure of their own gifts and their ability to bring it all together to make things more than the sum of their parts. Will Sergeant in particular is a revelation (arguably only Johnny Marr and Vini Reilly were better English guitarists) with flavours of delicacy, shades, and inventive, unexpected melodies. More than many before or since, he plays the electric guitar as just that, electric not acoustic, dedicated to finding out what can be done with it while never using it as an excuse to bend frets. His highlights are legion, whether it's the hooky opening chime of "Rescue" or the exchanges of sound and silence in "Happy Death Men." Meanwhile, the Les Pattinson/Pete De Freitas rhythm section stakes its own claim for greatness, the former's bass driving yet almost seductive, the latter's percussion constantly shifting rhythms and styles while never leaving the central beat of the song to die. "Pride" is one standout moment of many, Les Pattinson's high notes and Pete De Freitas' interjections on what sound like chimes or blocks are inspired touches. Then there's McCulloch himself, and while the imagery can be cryptic, the delivery soars, even while his semi-wail conjures up, as on the nervy, edgy picture of addiction "Villiers Terrace," "People rolling round on the carpet/Mixing up the medicine." Brisk, wasting not a note, and burning with barely controlled energy, Crocodiles remains a deserved classic.

Echo And The Bunnymen - Shine So Hard

There is and always will be an argument about who is the best band from Liverpool. The Beatles are obviously the main targets due to their undoubted influence on the music scene in general, yet people seem to overlook the stuff that came after when the scene was thriving around iconic clubs like Eric’s, with the whole post punk / new wave scene throwing out different genres and creating a new dark sound that resonated with the kids of that era. I’m not from Liverpool so be kind to me if I’m wrong, as I was still exploring music, but from the tales I’ve heard and read about it was an exciting time with bands The Teardrop Explodes and the characters like Pete Burns, Bill Drummond (KLF) and Dave Balfe (went on to manage Blur) milling around. It sounded like a creative bubbling pot of like-minded stoners all cooking up a new brand of incredible music that was and still is a massive influence on our bands today. The Bunnymen were one of these bands that really caught my attention as a youngster and they’ve released some of the best albums you’ll ever need to add to your vinyl collection. For you kids out there here is a bit of information to drag you back into that world…formed in Liverpool in 1978 with Ian McCulloch on vocals and rhythm guitar, Will Sergeant on lead guitar and Les Pattinson on bass. They were soon joined by Pete De Freitas on drums and the rest, as they say, is history.
It began with their classic debut Crocodiles in 1980, released amidst the growing wave of post-punk. Crocodiles cemented the band’s reputation as one of the best around with the NME describing it as “probably the best album this year by a British band”. The album went on to finish in many critics greatest ever debut album lists. The band followed the album with the release of the Shine So Hard EP in April 1981, recorded live at the Pavilion Gardens in Buxton, before releasing their second studio album Heaven Up Here the same year. This one-off Buxton show is a hugely significant part of The Bunnymen’s history. As a band they strived to be different and challenge their fans, the magnitude of this event should not be understated. Guitarist and founder member of the band, Will Sergeant on that night in Buxton and how it came about...
“The Bunnymen were always looking to stand out from the rest of the now referred to as ‘post-punk’ bands. We sought out places where no-one could play, no-one would play or even in their wildest dreams would have thought to play. We saw being in a band as a way of opening up all possibilities to adventure. We invented and had been wearing the Apocalypse Now chic camouflage fatigues for a while. The stage was a crazy psychedelic bunker of surplus shop uniforms, kit and ’camo-netting’ with surreptitiously pruned local foliage, strobe lighting, smoke and ear-splitting volume. A Coppola inspired vision of Armageddon. We were an invading army and the fans were up for the battle as much as we were. They wore the same surplus shop jackets as we did; we were one army under one groove. But after we had done all of that we knew it was time to change tack... to keep moving and keep the fans and the music press guessing. We gave it our all that night and as the recording proves we were firing on all cylinders.”

Echo And The Bunnymen - BBC Radio 1 Live In Concert

By January 1988, Echo & the Bunnymen were touring in support of their self-titled 1987 album (often called The Grey Album). While tensions were quietly building behind the scenes, this homecoming show at the Liverpool Empire Theatre captures a band operating at an astonishing theatrical and musical peak. The performance seamlessly fuses the dark, jagged post-punk tension of their early records with the shimmering, cinematic arrangements of their mid-80s masterpieces. Pete de Freitas’s drumming throughout the set is remarkably urgent, anchoring Will Sergeant’s swirling, delay-heavy guitar work. McCulloch, ever the enigmatic and arrogant frontman, delivers the vocals with a beautifully weathered, soulful authority.
This specific release holds massive historical weight for fans, as it chronicles the final chapter of the band's iconic original era. It captures the original core lineup—vocalist Ian McCulloch, guitarist Will Sergeant, bassist Les Pattinson, and legendary drummer Pete de Freitas—just months before McCulloch left the band and over a year before de Freitas tragically passed away in a motorcycle accident.

Echo And The Bunnymen - Porcupine

'Porcupine' is a bit of a juxtaposition. It saw Echo And The Bunnymen at the height of their commercial powers, with the album dropping the band's biggest hit 'The Cutter' onto a baying public. But it also saw the band in its least commercial mind-set, producing a dark, experimental and purposely difficult album. Indeed, the recording of 'Porcupine' was famously marred by in-fighting and looming threats of a band split. It must have been a bittersweet time to have been one of the Bunnymen.
That said, however, 'Porcupine' is a hugely powerful work that still stands as the peak of Echo And The Bunnymen's career.

Echo And The Bunnymen - John Peel Session 1980

 Echo And The Bunnymen - BBC Radio Peel Session, 12th November 1980 (TB FM 2448 Master)