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Echo & the Bunnymen / Ocean Rain: 2LP Hardcover book edition

By Justyn Barnes

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ocean_rain

Early December sees the release of Ocean Rain the fourth in a series of Echo & The Bunnymen 2LP hardback book limited editions on the Weatherbox label…

This set harks back to May 1984 when the Bunnymen’s fourth studio album was originally issued to distinctly mixed reviews. At the time, the use of a 35-piece orchestra in Paris recording sessions was criticised for softening the band’s edge compared to their previous output. ‘Too often a monochromatic dirge of banal existential imagery cloaked around the mere skeleton of a musical idea’ was Rolling Stone magazine’s damning verdict.

However, songs such as The Killing Moon, Silver and Seven Seas have aged well, the lush string arrangements are now far better appreciated and the album is widely regarded as the band’s finest work.


This set is a limited edition of just 500 copies and includes two 180g vinyl records within the hardcover book packaging – the first with the original nine-track album, while the second has eight bonus tracks, amongst them Angels & Devils, the B-side to single Silver, and five tracks from the Life at Brian’s – Lean and Hungry sessions, including a cover of Lennon-McCartney’s All You Need Is Love, which were recorded for Channel 4 programme Play At Home.

As with previously packaged Bunnymen sets, Guitarist Will Sergeant provides new sleeve notes from his memoirs and personal archive photos in the 12-page hardback book. The book cover of course displays the original album cover artwork, featuring a photograph with a suitably elemental feel taken of the band rowing a boat inside Carnglaze Caverns in Liskeard, Cornwall. As you do. 

Ocean Rain is released on 4 December 2015.

pre-order

 track_listing

LP 1

A-side:

  1. Silver
  2. Nocturnal Me
  3. Crystal Days
  4. The Yo Yo Man
  5. Thorn of Crowns

B-side:

  1. The Killing Moon
  2. Seven Seas
  3. My Kingdom
  4. Ocean Rain

LP2

 

A-side:

  1. Angels and Devils
  2. All You Need is Love (Live)
  3. The Killing Moon (Live)
  4. Stars Are Stars (Live)

B-side:

  1. Villiers Terrace (Live)
  2. Silver (Live)
  3. My Kingdom (Live)
  4. Ocean Rain (Live)

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10 Comments

10 thoughts on “Echo & the Bunnymen / Ocean Rain: 2LP Hardcover book edition”

  1. £43 is a little expensive for what you get. Some of this reissue lark is just a cash in by the labels. Needs to be better pricing on this kind of thing.. Some are way over the top..

  2. vinyl? been there – done that. but as a gift for and in consideration of a great (music) friend of mine: why not include the beautiful remixes?

  3. @Charles

    Agree on the Peel Sessions. Still amazed that the Bunnymen have never had their 6(?) Peel Sessions released in full. Take my money please…

  4. EABM recorded two excellent “work in progress” BBC John Peel Sessions in 1983 (“Yo-Yo Man” was then known as “Watch Out Below”; “Ocean Rain” was radically different.) I actually prefer the Peel versions of the OR tracks, probably ‘cos I taped them off the radio and played them relentlessly for many months before the LP appeared. Anyway, a crucial part of the story at the time.
    That would have made a better Disc Two; or a superb Disc Three IMO. Nothing much of substance to the “Brians” tracks as I recall. “Angels & Devils” sounds more like a “Porcupine”-era outtake. Extended versions don’t add much.

    1. These are nice… I have Lisa Minelli “Results” and a previous Echo and the Bunnymen one, but they are very much a luxury. You have to really appreciate the packaging – which is very good :)

  8. Rolling Stone may not have liked it, but I thought it was well received in the UK at the time. But perhaps my memory is playing tricks.

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