Echo & The Bunnymen: Ocean Rain [Remastered & Expanded Edition] CD Track Listing

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Echo & The Bunnymen Ocean Rain [Remastered & Expanded Edition] (1984)
2003 Rhino/Sire Records\n\nOriginally Released May 4, 1984\nCD Edition Released \nRhino Remastered & Expanded CD Edition Released January 27, 2004\n\nAMG EXPERT REVIEW: Channeling the lessons of the experimental Porcupine into more conventional and simple structural parameters, Ocean Rain emerges as Echo & the Bunnymen's most beautiful and memorable effort. Ornamenting Ian McCulloch's most consistently strong collection of songs to date with subdued guitar textures, sweeping string arrangements, and hauntingly evocative production, the album is dramatic and majestic. "The Killing Moon," Ocean Rain's emotional centerpiece, remains the group's unrivalled pinnacle. The 2004 reissue of Ocean Rain features improved sound, new liner notes, loads of photos, and a wealth of bonus tracks. The bulk of the bonus tracks is made up of the Life at Brian's sessions, which found the band playing some of their "hits" like "The Killing Moon," "Stars Are Stars," "Silver," and "Villiers Terrace," as well as a faithful cover of the Beatles' "All You Need Is Love" in a relaxed, acoustic but still very dramatic setting. Also included are two live cuts from the band's Crystal Days extravaganza in May of '84 ("My Kingdom" and "Ocean Rain"), and the Velvet Underground inspired B-Side to "Silver," "Angels and Devils". The bonus material is nothing less than superb, and makes the band's best album even better. The only minor fault would be the lack of space to include the extended version of "The Killing Moon." -- Jason Ankeny & Tim Sendra\n\nAmazon.com Customer Review\nBunnymen at their peak, February 18, 2004 \nReviewer: A music fan from birmingham, mi United States \nOcean Rain finds the lads from Liverpool hitting their stride on the brink of superstardom in 1984. The album is lush with orchestration (strings, cellos, etc.) and features the best Bunnymen tunes: "Killing Moon" and the title track "Ocean Rain". McCulloch reached his own as a singer here and guitarist Sargaent provided the blueprint for the always solid rythym section of Pattison and Defrietas. The result was a collection of songs textured with majestic beauty as provided by a band that had matured, but had always possessed a special chemistry from the very start of their careers. This record is probably their most accessible up to this point and for anyone that does not own a recording from these guys, I would recommend Ocean Rain over any other record in the Bunnymen catalogue.\n\nAmazon.com Customer Review\nAlready Peaked out, January 29, 2004 \nReviewer: Donald kinda from Fullerton, CA \nThis album was the Bunnymen's 4th, following Porcupine. After owning and listening to their first three over and over, I found only two songs on "Ocean Rain" up to their previous high level- "Crystal Days" and "Seven Seas". For some reason, the Bunnymen got away from their incredible guitar/drum driven sound into lush keyboards and strings which felt out of character for them. Their fresh use of strings in "Never Stop" on the previous LP totally rocked. They lost something here in this record, became overblown, too full of themselves, or something, which is why I think they took a 3 yr. break before their next LP (Self-Titled), which was viewed at the time as a bit of a comeback, because I think there was some kind of split after "Ocean Rain". This is a great band, with incredible lyrics and guitar playing, and their first 3 albums will richly let you in on this. \n\nAmazon.com Customer Review\nCareer high from 1984., December 11, 2003 \nReviewer: Jason Parkes from Worcester, UK \nWhile Crocodiles (1980) remains my personal favourite Bunnymen album, it is without a doubt that Ocean Rain remains their most accomplished album and their career high. The albums that had followed Crocodiles had been miserable (Heaven Up Here) & messy (Porcupine) though there had been a wealth of great songs: Never Stop, Back of Love, Zimbo, Show of Strength, Clay, The Cutter...\n\nRecorded mostly as Studio Des Dames in Paris (the location of The Cure's Lovecats recording also), it found the Bunnymen with Gil Norton, Adam Peter & Jean Yves crafting an orchestrally-accompanied classic. Probably the best Scott III influenced album till Suede's Dog Man Star! The strings & experimentation of the flawed Porcupine pay off here, as they pretty much deliver the proposed 'greatest album ever made' (this statement has worn thin with overuse by McCulloch to every subsequent release, no matter how mediocre). \n\nMcCulloch's lyrics are suitably nonsensical, the right balance between Lear and Le Bon- Crystal Days is gorgeous stuff, though the opening single Silver has a breezy quality that suggests seasons other than the autumn or winter that dominated the feel of the early recordings. Nocturnal Me ("bury me internally") is the miserablism of Heaven Up Here given a more original direction- this is the greatest night-time music! Pity this edition doesn't get across the greatness of the album cover- this & Porcupine need to be owned on LP just for the brilliant covers which perfectly render the contents of the recordings in visual form. \n\nIt's the latter four songs of Ocean Rain that really stand out, often cited by journos as the greatest album side in history (fair enough I suppose!), what's left of The Bunnymen still play all four of these songs in a row live. Pity the extra tracks at the end don't have all four songs in a row/live (just My Kingdom & Ocean Rain). The Killing Moon is probably the greatest Bunnymen song, later covered by Pavement on Major League & featured in the cult classic Donnie Darko (as well as so so nostalgia flick Grosse Point Blank). The third single Seven Seas is a breezy acoustic driven slab of beauty- this would be the template for the disappointing Bunnymen album that would follow in 1987. It was not bettered. My Kingdom explores a sound that recalls and advances on Love's timeless Forever Changes; but it's the title track that blows the mind:"All at sea again/and now my hurricans bought down this ocean rain...screaming from beneath the waves/all hands on deck at dawn/sailing to sadder shores/your port in my heavy storms/harbours the blackest thoughts..." Quite simply this song, and this side, need to be heard- listening to them makes clear what words don't seem capable of: this is godlike stuff!\n\nThe extra tracks are pleasant- classic b-side Angels & Devils, a few live takes and alternate versions of songs from the 'Life at Brians' sessions that preceded the 'Crystal Days' series of gigs where the Bunnymen decided they were The Beatles (an idea ripped off by Oasis later...) Hence the cover version of All You Need is Love- though to be fair the live medley of Do It Clean/Ticket to Ride etc found on The Cutter 12" is much better! The alternate versions of Killing Moon & Silver are fine, though don't touch the album originals; nice to see some old Crocodiles songs- Villiers Terrace & the sublime Stars are Stars are returned to- almost suggesting that the band cite Crocodiles as the closest album to this in terms of quality (which it is). \n\nOcean Rain is a fantastic album, one of the greatest albums ever made- up there with any candidate you could name (e.g. Sulk, Closer, Low, 154, The Queen is Dead, Dust, For Your Pleasure etc); it's hard to work out what went wrong- surely global domination should have beckoned? Like The Smiths, the Bunnymen fell by the wayside & U2 ended up taking it all with The Joshua Tree. After this, the Bunnymen would release the dire eponymous album of 1987 (from which De Freitas went absent to form the Sex Gods- see Julian Cope's Repossessed), then McCulloch would leave the band. Then De Freitas was killed in a motorcycle accident. Then McCulloch released the rather good Candleland solo album (which would have been better had it been a Bunnymen album) as Sergeant & Pattinson ploughed on with a new line-up from Irish band St Vitus Dance (a bad idea in retrospect) The Bunnymen could never get close to this again- the reformed Bunnymen (which featured the Electrafixion duo of McCulloch & Sergeant, alongside Pattinson- who would leave after 1998's Evergreen) did some nice stuff, but not great stuff. & it was demeaning to see them have to accept the patronage of mediocre bands like Coldplay, Fun Lovin Criminals & Oasis in order to get noticed. Hopefully this set of reissues will get them noticed for the right reasons- for being one of the greatest bands of the 80s and producing two of the greatest albums ever made... \n\nHalf.com Album Credits\nEcho & The Bunnymen, Producer\n\nAlbum Notes\nEcho & The Bunnymen: Ian McCulloch (vocals, guitar); Will Sergeant (guitar); Les Pattinson (bass); Pete De Freitas (drums).Additional personnel: Adam Peters (cello, piano).Recorded at Les Studio Des Dames, Paris, France and Amazon Studios, Liverpool, England. Originally released on Sire (25084). Includes liner notes by Max Bell.OCEAN RAIN was modestly described as "the greatest album ever made" during it's promotional campaign. While it doesn't quite live up to this rash claim, it remains Echo and the Bunnymen's most ambitious and cohesive '80s release--a stepping stone that really should have led the band to world-wide fame. This is where the band left any traces of post-punk shambling behind and reached for the stars.The majestic mood of the album is heightened by the extravagant string arrangements that underpin Ian McCulloch's plaintive croon. On "The Killing Moon," one of the band's finest moments, the orchestra is deployed to spectacular effect. McCulloch gives the performance of his life, while the group's often overlooked guitarist Will Sergeant plays with imaginative dexterity. Things turn spookily psychedelic during "Thorn of Crowns," with its memorable refrain "c-c-c-cucumber, c-c-c-cabbage, c-c-c-cauliflower." It's hard to tell whether McCulloch is exorcising some inner demon or just trying to remember his shopping list. Somehow, in the context of the sparkling OCEAN RAIN, it doesn't really matter. YEAR: 1984
This rock cd contains 17 tracks and runs 73min 54sec.
Freedb: e3115011
Buy: from Amazon.com

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