Unheard Vinyl 3: Echo and the Bunnymen's "Heaven Up Here"

[imomus]

Following Genesis and Fairport Convention, the next unheard album in my collection to receive the Gladwellian "blink" treatment (can ears blink?) is Heaven Up Here by Echo and the Bunnymen. I've never heard any Bunnymen albums all the way through, though I know what they sound like from the John Peel show. At this point in the 80s (circa 1985, right?) I was a lot more impressed by Prefab Sprout and Tom Waits. I remember noting the sexiness of Ian McCulloch's lips, though. (Superficial, me?)

The sleeve of Heaven Up Here is nice; it manages to impart to the band photo (one of the biggest challenges in photography) an epic, elegant, spiritual quality. The type is also nice and simple. This -- and later Bunnymen sleeves -- reminds me of the Associates' Sulk sleeve in its aspiration to a kind of sensuous luxury, a widescreen grandeur. Four silhouettes, sea birds, the horizon, the sea, a sense of cold northerly winds and deep emotions. So will the music live up to this image? Let's press the start button.

There's a delicate, Tom Verlaine-ish quality to the guitars which I like, they have a subtle, porcelain feel to them. I expected the production to be ruined by 80s reverb, but it's not too bad. McCulloch warbles in ways which make the words difficult to understand. "Your golden smile would shame a politician / Typically I'll apologize next time". A breakdown with a bit more space. I can hear some overlap, perhaps, with Orange Juice, though I find Ian's voice less engaging than Edwyn's. All these 80s guitar effects! Flanging, ebowing, choppy little tinny "funk" riffs! And lots of tom flourishes on the drums.

This first track is proving rather tuneless. The bassline lopes along, but there's a notable absence of melody; McCulloch is almost improvising, fitting in his lyrics any which way they fit. And it fades over an improvisation, leaving his voice right up at the front, quite an interesting effect.

Track 2 begins with some sound effects (the sea) but the bassline and Ian's vocals are worryingly similar to those in the first track, though there's a smidgen more urgency. The vocal is mixed in such a way -- and the singing is such -- that you feel as if you're at an arena rock show and can't really hear the words, though you can get a certain hystrionic quality. There's a nice little section with a funk rhythm guitar now. I'm remembering the epic Pete Wylie and his Mighty Wah! now. They were also from Liverpool, and shared this ambition at the time. And they also left me rather cold.



I'm enjoying the beginnings and endings of the songs more than what's in between. There are often subtle and interesting beginnings, sonically adventurous, which lead to disappointing, unmemorable songs. This one sounds so oblique it could almost be a song from the first Passage album. Until the chorus, which has a bit too much of a U2 feel. Oh, wait, it's Simple Minds! Fuck! Yes, that chorus is pure Jim Kerr!

It's funny, with hindsight, hearing how this fits between New Order and The Stone Roses. They bookend the style, at either end of the 80s. Generally, I feel it's trying too hard to be stadium rock, and lacks pop virtues like strong hooks and tightly-edited structures. And Ian warbles too much. I get the impression you would only love this band if you saw them live, in a chilly field of mud, and had some sense of cameraderie, and identified with Ian's whimpering ambition for some nebulous "beyond". "Come on and hold me tight, I can't sleep at night..." Or just liked his lips, I suppose.

Some of these tracks sound surprisingly black, though. There's that 80s rock-funk way of playing the guitar, and sort of African scales (one reason why the melodies aren't doing much). But funk licks don't sound funky when you put too much reverb on them; this is a major problem with quite a lot of 80s production; the attempt to be both epic and funky sees a certain short-circuiting happening. And it took Prince to halt the reverb madness with Kiss, the funkiest moment of the 80s precisely because it's so dry; when the instruments stop, everything stops. There's no reverberation blurring the edges of the notes, the beats.

Ian is continuing to fail to come up with anything approaching a memorable melody, I'm not sure if I can be bothered to listen to side 2. He tends to take the root note of the bassline and meander around pentatonic figures mostly involving thirds above it. And he sounds permanently hysterical. The bassist comes up with some nice internal harmonies, and -- like Hooky -- uses high strings effectively. The drummer also sounds like Stephen Morris, with robotic fills, but slightly less precise than the New Order drummer, as if the rhetoric had got more loose and Alan White-ish (which is to say, has returned to the 70s).

I'll flip it over now, just to see if anything radically different happens on the second side.

More yelping, monochromatic vocal riffs (though the guitars are in colour, I think the textures are quite well balanced). I don't think I'll continue, really. Ultimately this is rather barren and joyless stuff, as far as I'm concerned. The sleeve may look a bit like Sulk, but the gorgeous songs and structures of Sulk -- and Billy McKenzie's soaring, warbling, mimicking-yet-sincere voice -- are really missed here. It's not that I can't take rock -- I loved The Birthday Party, for instance -- but this doesn't have the filthy extremity of the best rock, nor the seductive quality of the best pop. There's a moment of sonic excitement at the beginning of each track, but it tends to go nowhere.

Actually, as the songs get sparser, they get better. This one sounds like something off Side Two of Joy Division's Closer. A little too much, actually; it's Decades, isn't it? But with more yelping and less definition. There's some quite good dynamic contrast in the last song -- the arrangement pulls power in the quiet bits only to push it in the loud ones, something House of Love (and Nirvana, of course) later perfected. But for me, this album was singularly joyless to listen to.

Consults reference materials: Okay, this is much earlier than I thought, it's their second album, and came out in 1981. It went to number 10 in the UK album chart, which is pretty incredible. Obviously those arena gestures, and the Simple Minds and U2 feel, impressed Joe Punter and got him forking out his three pounds at Woolworths. My own three pounds went, that year, to Nick Cave, Dick Witts, Green Gartside and Billy McKenzie.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

The song that goes "My life's the disease" is the best mopey-teenager song I've ever heard.

[(Anonymous)]

14-year-old me loved this when it came out, but the songs do feel a bit samey and lacking something now. I'd say it was trying to be Closer, but not succeeding. Having said that, I think the Bunnymen improved with their next two albums, where the sonic textures got more interesting. With its wailing middle-eastern intro, The Cutter has to be one of the more unlikely top ten hits:

[kumakouji.livejournal.com]

I'm not surprised it got into the top ten because my dad owns this album. My dad's also a fan of Genesis. 2 Dad-rock reviews already...

It is all utterly joyless, you're right, but I would say that because this is the sort of stuff my parents played when I was young and after years of being forced to listen to it it just sorta washes over you.

One band my Dad really likes which I really liked as a young kid was Sisters of Mercy; if you're wanting for "pop virtues like strong hooks and tightly-edited structures", Sisters of Mercy deliver.





But yeah -- less Dad-rock.

Billy, Billy

[(Anonymous)]

I have to say, I'm rather enjoying this occasional series, and look forward to reading of a previously unheard album you actually enjoy. I've never done a lot of the Bunnymen either, for some reason. In fact I've heard 'Killing Moon' which sort of put me off somehow.
Even though they seem to fit in with the kind of alternative Eighties which for me is sort of staple. I'm far more likely to go for Siouxsie, the Cure and the Jesus and Mary Chain, though. Although I rather class the Cure as something of a guilty pleasure though. I think they're regarded as a bit crap by most. I think I got into them because I had a massive crush on a girl while in college, who cited them as something of an influence.
I love 'Sulk' though, like yourself. That record is so atmospheric. Billy is sorely missed.

[rckdjbear.livejournal.com]

I love your analysis of this album! Though I have to say that they really were at the top of their game for the first four albums up to and including the classic "Ocean Rain". On this album, 'Over The Wall' is my favorite. Like you mentioned, the starts and endings of the songs are the real grabbers..the sonics and sound effects. As the original foursome, they were quite an amazing band. When Pete died in a motorcycle crash, they would never be the same again. Ian really was the classic frontman with the classic Big Ego, always mouthing off in the Melody Maker and the NME, talking crap about other bands believing 'they' were the best band in england! I wouldn't go see them now though, their best days were from 1981 to 1984.

[(Anonymous)]

I'm surprised how much like boys they look. As a teenager they represented an older generation, men rather than boys. (Mind you, Hendrix seemed like an older dude and he bought the farm at 28).

[(Anonymous)]

This review might start a fame war with Mac the Mouth. Are you not concerned he'll beat you up like he did Paul Weller?

[(Anonymous)]

flame war, even.

[robinsonner.livejournal.com]

Its like someone was at my vinyl sale circa 1988.

To think we thought Ian was a mystic!

My fave track of theirs is Fuel the b side of The Back Of Love. Autoharps and bamboo gamelan with Ian incanting his lazy prose seduction.

The opening lyrics of My White Devil are something...

"John Webster was
One of the best there was
He was the author of
Two major tragedies
The White Devil and
The Duchess of Malfi "

Nice to see a nod to Alan White.

[(Anonymous)]

Staring at birds won't topple the man. I've told them a million times.

I preferred the smooth energy of the first album. The best songs, 'All My Colours' and 'Over The Wall, were both written then, I think. (The others feel like tracks rather than songs – very much a static product of the studio).

[tchernabyelo.livejournal.com]

It's really interesting to read these reviews and the by-notes. I loved The Associates, mostly for Billy McKenzie's voice (I think voice was also what drew me to Scritti Politti, Green's breathy wistfulness, but I lived the structured, percussion-based patterns of "Wood Beez" et al), but was more ambivalent toward Echo and the Bunnymen. Musically, I think their best album by far is "Ocean Rain", although the lyrics are often, frankly, irritating ("C-c-c-cucumber, c-c-c-cabbage..."), but I loved "The Cutter" and "Never Stop".

Nick Cave, sadly, I was completely oblivious to, all the way back then. I was just about coming across some weird bloke called Momus, though.

[tchernabyelo.livejournal.com]

Have you tried "Teenage Angst" by Placebo? "Since I was born, I started to decay: nothing ever, ever goes my way..." That's a fifteen-year-old's pure poetry right there :)

[imomus.livejournal.com]

My money would have been on Weller, but it's hard not to imagine them both going "Oh, not my hair!"

[imomus.livejournal.com]

That Momus bloke might end up in this series too -- I mean, I've heard all his albums, but some of them not in years. It would almost be like listening to them for the first time.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Ah, the Sisters of Mercy, the The The it wasn't cool to like! Or do I mean the 1980s Nine Inch Nails?

I think they were much better than the Bunnymen, yes. And the hottest groupie I had in the 80s -- the one you can hear achieving orgasm in The Homosexual and Amongst Women Only -- had had Andrew Eldritch before she had me!

Something new!

[boof-boy.livejournal.com]

I seem to understand where you're coming from. Sort of 'heard it all before'. And I agree - I'm in my forties and a lot of stuff I hear I'm now on my third or fourth time round (i.e. landfill indie). But recommend something that you've heard this year that sounded totally new - something that shocked you and that you felt you hadn't heard before. Was there anything?

Re: Something new!

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Oh, sure, Oorutaichi (http://imomus.livejournal.com/395955.html)!

[tchernabyelo.livejournal.com]

That would be interesting! I will admit that I still listen to most of your early stuff (the first three albums, plus Live Whilst Out Of Fashion and The Philosophy Of Momus) more than others.

I still regret having been made redundant just before you announced Stars Forever, otherwise I would have been immortalised... (I never tire of hearing "Adam Green", for instance)

[cap-scaleman.livejournal.com]

Some of the 80's reverb sounds quite cheap, though they never made it cheap enough. In fact, if you put on too much reverb you get the best out of it. Everything turns into a stream of intelligble sound... Which is fun!

[(Anonymous)]

I've never listened to an Echo and the Bunnymen album, but I am currently reading (the fascinating) Bill Drummond's book 45 and there is a chapter about his perspective on their existence from his own idiosyncratic-manager standpoint. He calls their first three albums "shit" and then their fourth one, Ocean Rain, "pretty good." He wanted that to be their last album and wrote the ad copy to say "The Greatest LP Ever Made" without telling them. He also focuses on creating a parallel mythology inside his own head based on the band name and album covers, which is pretty entertaining.

Your feelings here sum up what I got from Drummond's words (and my own expectations, as well), and your preference for Green, Paddy & Billy helps my pre-hearing prejudice along as well...

-Spencer

sisters of morrissey

[robotmummies.livejournal.com]

was it really uncool to like the Sisters of Mercy? I liked their semi-clone band the March Violets; their singles I think go so far in surpassing those by the Sisters, but First and Last and Always and Floodland are so cool to listen to

[electricwitch.livejournal.com]

Aw, you gave money to Green instead. Well done! He's sexier than Ian is.

Ian McCulloch is sexy though, it's the groany voice and lush lips. Well, not anymore. I went to see them and now he looks like Edward Ka-spel.

[electricwitch.livejournal.com]

PS: NOT THAT YOU'RE NOT SEXY, EDWARD.

[robotmummies.livejournal.com]

I think the best 80s funk single was Let it Whip by Dazz Band, the verse is like a perfectly general and uplifting simulation of earlier r&b but it blends into the very 80s chorus part so well, with the guy singing "Let it whip" having so much attitude he doesn't even need a talk box. But I also like the 80s funk with a faint undercurrent of menace in the rhythm like Zapp or the Gap Band. I prefer Prince when he had that airy drum machine that almost sounded like someone breathing. To me that is a big part of what made his albums sound so good. "Kiss" makes me think of secretaries in an office.

Re: sisters of morrissey

[lord-whimsy.livejournal.com]

was it really uncool to like the Sisters of Mercy?

God, I'm old.

They were not better than the Bunnymen. Gene Loves Jezebel, yes, but let's not be hasty.

But then, it was all corny pap. Fun, (http://lord-whimsy.livejournal.com/289785.html) but corny.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

I was browsing that 45 book and it looks pretty interesting.

I'm also prepared to accept Bill's view that the first three albums were shit and the fourth pretty good. That sounds sensible and honest.

[thomascott.livejournal.com]

Ha, The Sisters Of Mercy.
I'm ten years younger than our host so I remember being sixteen and briefly diverted by their epic bombast.
Their songs collectively sound like a completely po-faced Euro-disco version of a Bruckner mass.
Mind you,that trumps Echo and The Drearymen by quite a measure.

Moo!

[thomascott.livejournal.com]

"But for me, this album was singularly joyless to listen to."

Think that closing comment pretty much sums it up.
The Bunnymen were one of those bands whose albums I taped from friends' LPs and forgot after two listens.
Ian McCulloch was always a witless tosser.

I have an inexplicable soft spot for this, but I think it probably has some mentally-encoded connection with some girl who wouldn't go to bed with me and so does not count, does it?

From goth to glucosamine.

[thomascott.livejournal.com]

Do you feel that old Whimsy?
I think we are around the same age; I joined the circus in 1971 and in a curious way feel younger than I did twenty years ago.
Bit rheumaticy now and again but much more liberated than when Eldritch's faux-doomy dirges were briefly new..

[(Anonymous)]

Hmm. SoM are at the cusp, where 'dark natured' turns into 'pantomime Goth'. Suddenly everyone with a brain couldn't wait to cheer up. Unfortunately 'indie dance' was the result.

Unheard Vinyl 3: Echo and the Bunnymen's "Heaven Up Here"

[(Anonymous)]

I remember this as the best Echo and The Bunnymen Album. Some of things pointed out as its weaknesses were strengths to me back in 1981( it's timelessness for instance). I don't remember this album having an 'epic' ambition at all ( e.g U Bloody 2), it had a shambling quality to me that strove for some of the emotional intensity that Joy division had. Hearing 'Television' a couple of years later I realised how indebted this album was to them of course.

This project of listening to unheard at the time albums many years later and coldly dissecting with the benefit of hindsight, is an interesting and enjoyable one, but it makes me wonder. When I think of this album which seems to mean something to me though not listened to for years, I can see it's striking picture cover and immediately experience it's physical new vinyl feel, see the cheap and unreliable ( jumping needle)record player in my shared cramped and impoverished teenage bedroom. I think of the NME review of this which I seem to still recall - and then a gateway to all the other stuff I was experiencing at the time- the depressive stuff was actually quite positive back then, we were 'alternatives' after all -
Before I get carried away, the point I am making is that these records are related to the time they were made in and in pointing out the presence of the musical gimmicks used ( they weren't necessarily gimmicks at first but may have become so when picked up unimaginatively by later bands etc) makes it easy enough to critique as boring or even 'shit'. But listening to contemporary music even back then was a realisation that a few listenings later we could completely change our minds about music we didn't think we liked.

Half a Brighton Momus Society

Re: Unheard Vinyl 3: Echo and the Bunnymen's "Heaven Up Here"

[(Anonymous)]

"Mr Douglas..you are a legend! "

Burt Reynolds

Re: sisters of morrissey

[kumakouji.livejournal.com]

"was it really uncool to like the Sisters of Mercy?"

I'm guessing by the fact a whole load of click opera regulars have queued up to collectively shit on them, the answer would be yes.

The Sisters of Mercy aren't remotely cool.

[(Anonymous)]

Watching the Cutter video made me realize yet again. How huge these songs would have been if they would have taken an extra day to write lyrics that actually meant something. It's a little hard to walk around singing "Spare us the Cutter". These would have been classics!

Re: sisters of morrissey

[robotmummies.livejournal.com]

maybe it's uncool to like anything

Re: From goth to glucosamine.

[lord-whimsy.livejournal.com]

'68.

This week I do feel that old: my joints have been giving me trouble now that the cold weather has set in. It's a good thing I don't live in a city, because the concrete does a number on my hips and knees.

Wading into freezing swamps in the dead of winter doesn't help matters, either.

[eclectiktronik.livejournal.com]

I'm with the 'ocean rain' camp. still quite joyless but they actually put some melodies in on that one.
I got the Lp when it came out, and replayed it a few years go. it has dated, but not nearly as badly as others of the era.

[(Anonymous)]

please please please review your albums(very po mo very you)it would make absolutely crucial reading,go nicky boy do it do it.......best to try and be as impartial as possible or else all your new stuff will be judged with a somewhat less critical ear than your old stuff.maybe best divide each album in to lyrical/musical critiques.lyrically i noticed an immense change around say 95-96

[imomus.livejournal.com]

The influence of Beck, no doubt.

Re: Something new!

[boof-boy.livejournal.com]

I see what you mean - thanks. Keep 'em coming on your blog. I'm fed up with 'record collection rock/folk/country'.

[(Anonymous)]

My, you do get up early in the morning!

[imomus.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to catch up with the past, and there's a lot of it!

[endoftheseason.livejournal.com]

Some important points to keep in mind:

1) The un-glowing assessments on here of Heaven Up Here are solidly incorrect, aesthetically speaking;

2) While fawning over Billy Mackenzie, it helps to remember that often he was one false move away from Simply Red and/or Rick Astley.