Echo & The Bunnymen - Ocean Rain

You know, that one off Donnie Darko…

Rock’n’roll hubris: try as Johnny Borrell might to give it a bad name, he’ll never reach the ludicrous heights of Ian M the gob. And at least McCulloch had something to back it up. A disparate, one-off masterpiece in an already amazing oevre, Ocean Rain was an album of unparalleled scope and ornateness; as McCulloch sings on The Killing Moon, “a sky all hung with jewels”. A thorough remastering throws fresh light on the gothic riches of Nocturnal Me and the rapturous Thorn Of Crowns.

The extras on Disc One are merely one average B-side and two entirely inessential alternate mixes, but the second disc is a treat: a 1983 recording from Royal Albert Hall that features the band in best sky-kissing form, McCulloch desperately throwing his voice into the vaults with less polish but more vigour than recent years. Stripped of the reverence that surrounds it now, The Killing Moon sounds young and fresh alongside earlier tracks from Crocodiles, Heaven Up Here and Porcupine. “The greatest album ever made,” said the promo posters at the time. They weren’t entirely wrong, you know.

5 stars 5 stars 5 stars 5 stars 5 stars

Rhino/Warner | 2564611652 (2-CD)

Reviewed by Isobel George
<< Back to Issue 357

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