1. Echo And The Bunnymen - Killing Moon The Best Of
2. Cast - All Change
3. Curtis Mayfield - Love's Sweet Sensation
4. Badly Drawn Boy - Have You Fed The Fish?
5. Gorillaz - Plastic Beach
6. John Surman - Coruscating
A bit of an odd week this one (after such a storming selection last week). Why? Well, the first two CDs in the magazine I actually found, in a bush, on my walk home from work (along with REM and Gang of Four). Who chucks their unwanted CDs into a bush (rather than car booting them, leaving them on the wall, or simply throwing them in the bin)?
They aren't ones I would have otherwise. Certainly not the first one. Why not? Well, I saw Echo And The Bunnymen once live at Glastonbury and they were rubbish (and even worse, rude to the crowd calling us a bunch of hippies - was anyone else there?).
Is it fair to damn a band on one brief appearance? Maybe not, but you do remember. Another band I saw live once which had a similar effect on me was Florence And The Machine. I know Florence is quite cool and popular these days but frankly she couldn't sing in tune. Maybe she was just having an off day, and Echo and the boys were likewise just having a bad day at the office. It's perfectly acceptable - we all have them, Van Morrison famously has a lot of them (although he doesn't let this affect his voice!).
Ok, so it is with trepidation that I slot the first half of this monumental 36 track Echo greatest hits compilation into the player (I had similar trepidation with a Bruce Springsteen anthology a few weeks back). It's all new to me. I have no idea what the Echo hits were.
It's better than I expected but obviously the singing is monotone, the songs sound the same, and the music is unsurprisingly stuck in the 80s. Why is it that 80s and 90s music seems to sound more dated than the 60s or the 70s? I imagine that is just an illusion and perception or maybe merely a personal preference. Or maybe there was just more variety then (and now) so giving you more opportunity to find what you like.
I liked The Puppet though and Over The Wall has a Tangerine Dream pulse beat - eh?
I liked The Puppet though and Over The Wall has a Tangerine Dream pulse beat - eh?
I don't know the music that well from the period but am fairly confident in stating that it is similar to a number of other bands in fashion at the time - Flock of Seagulls, The Cure, Teardrop Explodes etc. Perhaps being kind I'd say they sound a bit more on the Smiths / Joy Division edge of the genre but lacking the originality or impact of either of those bands.
I know I should give more time to this but unfortunately when you get older you realise life is too short to invest too much energy into stuff you aren't that interested in (or reading a book that doesn't grab you in the first 50 pages or so).
Back to the bush for you my Echo (or the back of the filing cabinet for a few years).
Cast is another band I saw at Glastonbury - most likely the same year (1996 or thereabouts?). They rode in on the Britpop coat tails of Oasis and Blur with their retro rock fundamentals and scored some singles hits including Alright and Fine Time from this album. Based on the 90s guitar rock blueprint Cast did nevertheless have a 60s feel and even sound like very early Who in places, and a lot like fellow post Brit poppers Suede.