The Repo Zone: 1999 - Music Diaries - Forums : Best Ever Albums

meccalecca
Voice of Reason

Gender: Male
Location: The Land of Enchantment

[quote="Repo"]

meccalecca wrote:

In short, what's the best Echo album? Do they have more than one essential album and if so, which ones. And was I just super high or is Reverberation actually pretty good?

Oddly enough, I don't think I've ever listened to Reverberation, though I think I've listened to everything else they've ever done.

If I were to pick just one, it's the obvious one - Ocean Rain, but Porcupine is a very very tight 2nd. Heaven up Here and the S/T album are also both very good. For me, the later stuff is not quite at that standard but still enjoyable.
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dihansse

Gender: Male
Age: 60

Repo wrote:

I listened to their 1990 album Reverberation last night and was pretty impressed!

By true classic do you mean 5 star? I think Crocodiles is Great but flawed and therefore NOT a five star album. It's not quite at that level.

You know me. I can sometimes exaggerate a bit. Here is my current ranking, but I need to do a recheck of many of those albums so I'll be happy to join you:

Classics:
1. Porcupine (1983): slightly better than Ocean Rain but that's only because the latter has a few lesser tracks next to a few classics while Porcupine is more consistent overall.
2. Ocean Rain (1984)

Very good albums:
3. Evergreen (1997): yes a late nineties album
4. What Are You Going To Do With Your Life (1999): yes same thing
5. Siberia (2005): even more recent

Good albums:
6. Flowers (2001)
7. Crocodiles (1980): I know I know but I just had in my head that this was a classic and maybe it will after I'll listen to it again because it's been a long time
8. Meteorites (2014)
9. The Fountain (2009)
10. Heaven Up Here (1981)

And you know what, there's two missing: that same Reverberation that you mentioned: so I have already starten listening to it: the first two track already have a nice eastern flavor and now only just discovered that Ian McCullogh is not singing here because to busy with his solo career. And also the self-titled album.

And conclusion: maybe I'm overrating the newer albums a bit and underrating the older ones, just because I have listened to those newer ones more recently. So I'll be happy to join you to give you my final ranking in a while. But there is certainly already one thing: none of their albums is really below par.

dihansse

Gender: Male
Age: 60

So I've listened to Reverberation. Like I already said I fairly like the eastern atmosphere of the first few songs and although it takes some to getting used to the new singer the overall atmosphere and the songs are not bad. But at the second half, the album definitely loses steam. It's becoming clear that Noel Burke is not as good a singer as Ian McCullogh (sometimes he sounds like Midge Ure) and the song writing is also dwindling. But the album is finally saved by the last track which again has that nice Eastern ting. So overall at the lower parts of the "good" albums but still a worthwile one.

meccalecca
Voice of Reason

Gender: Male
Location: The Land of Enchantment

The concept of a Bunnymen album without Ian on vocals frightens and confuses me.
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dihansse

Gender: Male
Age: 60

meccalecca wrote:

The concept of a Bunnymen album without Ian on vocals frightens and confuses me.

Maybe that was the reason you (and I) hadn’t listened to it yet Twisted Evil

Repo
BeA Sunflower

Location: Forest Park

dihansse wrote:

So I've listened to Reverberation. Like I already said I fairly like the eastern atmosphere of the first few songs and although it takes some to getting used to the new singer the overall atmosphere and the songs are not bad. But at the second half, the album definitely loses steam. It's becoming clear that Noel Burke is not as good a singer as Ian McCullogh (sometimes he sounds like Midge Ure) and the song writing is also dwindling. But the album is finally saved by the last track which again has that nice Eastern ting. So overall at the lower parts of the "good" albums but still a worthwile one.

Just relistened and totally agree. Those first 3- 4 songs are pretty good though!

Repo
BeA Sunflower

Location: Forest Park

Echo News Flash: Gave Evergreen 3 listens over the past two days, and it's just not my thing. So I WON'T be including the newer stuff in my rankings. I will include Reverberation since I like it. Although it will most likely take last place and is definitely not essential stuff. The first side reminds me of The Charlatans (who I really like) who were just getting started at that time.

Repo
BeA Sunflower

Location: Forest Park

Echo & the Bunnymen Chat (continues...)

@Purplepash (and anyone else who like Echo):

1. Do u consider Crocodiles a five star album? I keep listening to it as I camp, I do think it's a really solid album and as good as anything they've done perhaps. Dihansse is right. All their 80s stuff is pretty consistent.

2. What's your favorite album by Echo?

@Mecca (and anyone else who likes Echo)

3. How do you feel about their reunion albums?!?! I just can't get into them as yet. I feel like it's a bit too Adult Contemporary for my tastes. Am I missing something?

4. Did you ever listen to Reverberation? Wink

My latest observation: Their self-titled album is the epitome of commercial college rock. Every bit as good as Crocodiles, they've just moved (very successfully) to the pop end of the spectrum. I remember when it came out, this album got a bit derided for being too commercial. Selling out. BUT, that style actually suits them really, really well. Like U2, they were always more on the pop end of the post-punk spectrum. I think the album to compare Crocodiles with is Boy , NOT Closer or Seventeen Seconds. And both Boy and Crocodiles are very, very good early College Rock albums. Both those albums were really formative in creating the College Rock sound.

Purplepash
ranker, rater, & music list maker

Gender: Male
Age: 54
Location: Western Australia

Hey Repo, thanks for the question.

No I don't consider Crocodiles a 5 star album, but I give full marks sparingly. I've only given 67 albums a 5 star equivalent out of over 3000 albums I have rated here. It is however probably my favourite studio album of Echo & The Bunnymen. I have a soft spot for, and do revisit sometimes, the compilation Songs To Learn And Sing as that was where I got my start with Echo. I listened to it so much in the eighties that it really became a well titled album as I could basically sing along to every song on it, and it made me get all their albums up to and including their self-titled (which like you I thought was a very strong album and a bit unfairly maligned - at least at the time).
Heaven Up Here would be right up there as one of my favourites too. In fact it's higher on my yearly chart than Crocodiles is for their relevant years but I still think Crocodiles is better overall where every song is excitingly really good to great compared to nearly all of Heaven, whereas Ocean Rain has the best Echo song ever (duh!) and a few great ones but also some filler (admittedly decent filler).

Sure Echo don't have that wow factor like their contemporaries Joy Division and Cure (who do both have 10/10 albums from me) but it's their singalongability and Ian's voice and vocals that stood out for me back then, and still do now, so I'm more likely to join them with bands like The Smiths, REM, and The Jam as bands I loved because I loved to sing along with them and wish my voice was good as theirs. I think Boy is a good comparison too though, it's just I wasn't into U2 at the time so It wasn't an album to learn and sing for me.

I haven't listened to anything of theirs post '80s...can't say I'm that interested too either tbh.

Repo
BeA Sunflower

Location: Forest Park

Purplepash wrote:

Hey Repo, thanks for the question.

No I don't consider Crocodiles a 5 star album, but I give full marks sparingly. I've only given 67 albums a 5 star equivalent out of over 3000 albums I have rated here. It is however probably my favourite studio album of Echo & The Bunnymen. I have a soft spot for, and do revisit sometimes, the compilation Songs To Learn And Sing as that was where I got my start with Echo. I listened to it so much in the eighties that it really became a well titled album as I could basically sing along to every song on it, and it made me get all their albums up to and including their self-titled (which like you I thought was a very strong album and a bit unfairly maligned - at least at the time).
Heaven Up Here would be right up there as one of my favourites too. In fact it's higher on my yearly chart than Crocodiles is for their relevant years but I still think Crocodiles is better overall where every song is excitingly really good to great compared to nearly all of Heaven, whereas Ocean Rain has the best Echo song ever (duh!) and a few great ones but also some filler (admittedly decent filler).

Sure Echo don't have that wow factor like their contemporaries Joy Division and Cure (who do both have 10/10 albums from me) but it's their singalongability and Ian's voice and vocals that stood out for me back then, and still do now, so I'm more likely to join them with bands like The Smiths, REM, and The Jam as bands I loved because I loved to sing along with them and wish my voice was good as theirs. I think Boy is a good comparison too though, it's just I wasn't into U2 at the time so It wasn't an album to learn and sing for me.

I haven't listened to anything of theirs post '80s...can't say I'm that interested too either tbh.

Great, great post, Purplepash! Made me think about of bunch of stuff, but especially that singalongability factor that I had been neglecting so far in my ratings. Do Five Star essential albums have to be grand? Have to have that wow factor? Why can't they just be FREAKING FUN!!! (I thought while I was driving back home from camping.) Which immediately prompted me to write this...