Echo and the Bunnymen - More Songs To Learn and Sing(Korova)

Track List CD: The Cutter, The Back Of Love, The Killing Moon, Seven Seas, Never Stop, Rescue, I Want To Be There (When You Come), Don't Let It Get You Down, Promise, Silver, People Are Strange, Do It Clean, The Game, Rust, Lips Like Sugar, Nothing Lasts Forever, Bring On The Dancing Horses, Hang On To A Dream, It's Alright, Stormy Weather

Track List DVD: The Cutter, The Killing Moon, Seven Seas, Bring On The Dancing Horses, Game, Lips Like Sugar, Nothing Lasts Forever, Rust

With the release of this record it gives a respected cult band another chance to gain the attention that a number of these songs deserve. Backed by a decent promotional campaign, this compilation is a timely reminder of the bands near legendary status.

The title of this record suggests that this collection picks up where the 80s compilation, Songs To Learn and Sing left off. This in fact is a more encompassing collection of their hits than that particular album. It is also more comprehensive than the 1997 retrospective Bedbugs and Ballyhoo, an album released to cash in on the Bunnymen comeback, after a near decade hiatus.

Released on the recently reactivated Korova label - More Songs, covers all points of the band’s Warner Brothers career and includes bonus tracks from their last three releases.

The band is still a going concern and these days and consists of guitarist Will Sergeant and the redoubtable singer Ian McCulloch. Sadly drummer Pete De Freitas is no longer with us, he died in a motorbike accident towards the first phase of the bands career. Original bassist Les Pattinson, has now retired and working in a boat yard in Lancashire.

The early classics make up the bulk of this compilation, with The Cutter opening up the proceedings for this twenty-track reflection of the great and the good of a long and winding career.

It is taken as read that the Mac-free Bunnymen (or the Bogusman as Mac branded them) songs are not included here, but it does include a couple of interesting selections alongside the obvious classics such as the Cutter, Seven Seas and the Killing Moon.

Included is the rare curio Hang On To A Dream, the Tim Hardin classic that popped up on the Internet-only release Avalanche and is given a full release here for the first time.

The comeback hit Nothing Lasts Forever still sounds as fresh as it did when it was released in 1997. It doesn’t stray far from the formula of the early classics such as the Killing Moon and Ocean Rain; a song surprisingly omitted from this collection.

The cigarette soaked croon of a mature Mac gives the song that classic status that would have seen Sinatra clamour to record such a finally crafted tune - if he was still around today.

One thing that is interesting to note is how the lyrics become less ambiguous as their career progresses. The lyrics become less Buffalo and Bison / Bison and Buffalo, and start to explore more personal themes as Stormy Weather from Siberia highlights - a song which chronicles a love gone wrong.

They may be something of a diehard’s choice these days, but the quality of the songs particularly on the last album show that it’s likely that the Bunnymen will be around for a few more years.

This album would be the perfect introduction for someone who has seen their name linked in reviews with the latest crop of bands that have been influenced by the Bunnymen’s sound.

This is a well thought out compilation and it is released, not just to cash in on the back of the inclusion of a song on a soundtrack or a reformation, but it pays tribute to the enduring qualities of the Bunnymen as a band.

If you catch it early this compilation includes a DVD of a number of the bands promos over time released on DVD for the first time.
Posted by Paul at 11:17 PM 0 comments Links to this post