Echo & the Bunnymen
Echo & The Bunnymen are a British rock band, whose musical style has evolved from a psychedelic colored New Wave in the late seventies and early eighties to a melancholic pop. After several line-up changes the band is now mainly of the two founding members Ian McCulloch ( guitar, vocals) and Will Sergeant ( guitar).
History
Foundation
The band was founded in 1978 by McCulloch, Sergeant and bass player Les Pattinson in the environment of Eric 's Club, a nucleus of the Liverpool post-punk scene, which also includes the band The Teardrop Explodes and Wah! came from. Originally they performed with a drum machine named Echo, who gave the name of the band. Another version says guitarist Sergeant:
" We had this buddy who suggested us all these names like The Daz Men or Glisserol and the Fan Extractors. Echo and the Bunnymen was one of them. I thought that's as silly as the others. "
The drum machine has been replaced in 1980 by the drummer Peter de Freitas.
The first successes
In this line-up, the group gained with the albums Crocodiles (1980 ) and especially Heaven Up Here (1981 ) on the specially created for the tape label " Korova " quickly achieved cult status. The New Musical Express praised Heaven Up Here as " flawless masterpiece ", the " Rock made what Tamla Motown did for the Dance Music ". With the three following albums Porcupine (1983) Ocean Rain ( 1984) and Echo and the Bunnymen (1987 ) achieved the band more commercial success. The single The Cutter 1983 reached number 8 in the UK Singles Chart, the album Ocean Rain reached number 4 in the UK album charts, where it claimed 26 weeks.
Personnel changes
1988 McCulloch left the band to begin a solo career. In 1989, de Freitas in a motorcycle accident. The remaining Bunnymen dedicated to the Irish singer Noel Burke and drummer Damon Reece and recorded in 1990 the album Reverberation, which pretty well sold in the United States, when criticism of the lack of distinctive McCulloch's vocals, but was taken a little low. In 1994, Sergeant and McCulloch joined forces with bassist Leon de Sylva and drummer Tony McGuigan the band Electrafixion, the commercial success of the album Burned published in 1995 but remained moderate.
Reunification
As always Elextrafixion also played material from Echo & the Bunnymen at their live performances, decided McCulloch and Sergeant to call the band back to life. In 1997 she took together with founding bassist Les Pattinson and drummer Michael Lee on the album Evergreen, which was positively received by critics and audiences. The single from the Nothing Lasts Forever ( Backing Vocals: Liam Gallagher ) reached # 8 on the UK Singles Charts. Pattinson left the group again in 1999, McCulloch and Sergeant published with changing musicians accompanying the albums What Are You Going to Do with Your Life? (1999), Flowers (2001), Siberia (2005) and The Fountain (2009)
Style
Especially on their first albums joined Echo & the Bunnymen, the energy and nervousness of the New Wave with a " pompous -fueled psychedelia " which was based on the Velvet Underground and the Doors. The lyrics of this time were about disturbing experiences with drugs ( Villiers Terrace), cries for help ( Rescue), despondency alive ( The Disease ), often sang McCulloch of the authors of the rock lexicon opinion but also simply " rock lyricism [ ... ] full of nonsense rhymes, verhuschten ambiguities, convoluted Babalitäten ". The singer said it seemed to him musically primarily on euphony to:
"I write songs simply that sound good and have a pretty melody. We just want to do something that is good and atmospheric. "
From 1984, the sound of the group to string arrangements and sitar playing is advanced. The eponymous album released in 1987 sought to commercially pleasing sounds and less morbid lyrics, which disappointed many fans of the first hour. The Rolling Stone criticized the album sounded " as empty as pretty". With the drive to Echo & the Bunnymen known for their fondness for The Doors whose keyboardist Ray Manzarek to the piece Bedbugs and Ballyhoo contributed a solo. In the same year, Echo & the Bunnymen who covered also the Doors People are strange classics for the soundtrack of the American horror film The Lost Boys. The sound after reunification is more pop than the early years, in many respects strings, woodwinds and keyboard sounds are used, which are valued differently by critics. The New Musical Express praised the What are You Going to Do with Your Life? "The arrangements posit Burt Bacharach leading the Love Unlimited Orchestra, with only the occasional edgy guitar motif to remind one of Will Sergeant's presence" ( The arrangements give the impression as if Burt Bacharach would Love Unlimited Orchestra conduct, with only the edgy guitar motif on the presence reminds Will Sergeant ) .. the magazine Mojo describes the music of the album the Fountain as a " mid-tempo, middle of the road, middle-aged pop - rock " ( downmarket pop-rock in the mid- tempo for middle-aged people ).
Discography
Italic: Studio album (No. )