Echo & the Bunnymen are an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1978. The original line-up consisted of vocalist Ian McCulloch, guitarist Will Sergeant and bassist Les Pattinson, supplemented by a drum machine. By 1980, Pete de Freitas joined as the band's drummer.
Their 1980 debut album, Crocodiles, went into the top 20 of the UK Albums Chart. After releasing their second album, Heaven Up Here, in 1981, the band's cult status was followed by mainstream success in 1983, when they scored a UK Top 10 hit with "The Cutter", and the album which the song came from, Porcupine, hit number 2 in the UK. Ocean Rain (1984), continued the band's UK chart success with its lead single "The Killing Moon" entering into the top ten.
Their album, Heaven Up Here (1981), was a big critical and commercial success, reaching the UK Top Ten (No. 10), although a single lifted from the album, "A Promise", could only reach UK No. 49.
Recorded at Rockfield Studios near Monmouth in Wales, Heaven Up Here was co-produced by Hugh Jones and the band. A generally well received album by fans in the United Kingdom and by critics, Heaven Up Here won the "Best Dressed LP" and "Best Album" awards at the 1981 NME Awards. The album has also been listed at number 463 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
After releasing a self-titled album in 1987, McCulloch left the band and was replaced by former St. Vitus Dance singer Noel Burke. In 1989, de Freitas was killed in a motorcycle accident. After working together as Electrafixion, McCulloch and Sergeant regrouped with Pattinson in 1997 and returned as Echo & the Bunnymen, before Pattinson's departure in 1998. The band has been touring since, releasing several albums since the late 1990s, to varying degrees of success.
[Following their more psychedelia-based debut, Crocodiles, and subsequent "Puppet" single, Echo & the Bunnymen returned in 1981 with the darkest and perhaps most experimental album of their career. Heaven Up Here lacks the signature hooks and melodies that would make the Bunnymen famous, showcasing instead a dirge-like songwriting approach built around the circular rhythms of bassist Les Pattinson and drummer Pete DeFreitas.
In this setting, the band remarkably flourishes, although they would go on to greater heights by scaling back the album's extremism. Heaven Up Here's strength is the way in which the Bunnymen seamlessly work together to shape each song's dynamics (the tension underlying the crescendo of "Turquoise Days" being a prime example).
Ian McCulloch, having found his trademark confidence, sings with soaring abandon and passion throughout the album. Similarly, Will Sergeant's guitar playing, notably freed from verse-chorus structure and pop riffs, is at its angular finest; his playing on "No Dark Things" is pure Andy Gill-esque skronk. The album's opening troika of "Show of Strength," "With a Hip," and "Over the Wall" (the latter with its jarring, direct invocation of Del Shannon's "Runaway") are particularly effective, establishing the theme of distrust and restlessness which continues throughout the album. Indeed, even the album's lone single, "A Promise," is hardly light, pop material.
But the message underneath that darkness, especially in McCulloch's lyrics, is a call to overcome rather than wallow, as the album ends with the relatively euphoric "All I Want." Sitting comfortably next to the pioneering work of contemporaries like Joy Division/New Order, and early Public Image Ltd. and Cure, this is a rather fine -- and in the end, influential -- example of atmospheric post-punk.
Having reached the British Top Ten, Heaven Up Here is highly regarded among Echo & the Bunnymen's fans precisely for the reasons which, on the surface, make it one of the least accessible albums in the band's catalog.
AllMusic Review by Aaron Warshaw]
Personel
Will Sergeant – lead guitar
Ian McCulloch – vocals, rhythm guitar, piano
Les Pattinson – bass
Pete de Freitas – drums
with:
Les Penning – woodwind
Tracklist
01. Show Of Strength 4:50
02. With A Hip 3:16
03. Over The Wall 5:59
04. It Was A Pleasure 3:12
05. A Promise 4:08
06. Heaven Up Here 3:45
07. The Disease 2:28
08. All My Colours 4:06
09. No Dark Things 4:27
10. Turquoise Days 3:51
11. All I Want 4:09
Bonus Tracks
12. Broke My Neck (Long Version) 7:22
13. Show Of Strength (Live) 4:41
14. The Disease (Live) 1:53
15. All I Want (Live) 3:09
16. Zimbo (Live) 3:52
Tracks 1 to 11 were recorded at Rockfield Studios March 1981. Track 12 was recorded at Tistedal Studios, Norway on 7th June 1981. Tracks 13 to 16 were recorded live at the Manley Vale Hotel, Sydney, Australia on 11th Nov 1981 and were previously unissued.
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