Anyone still expecting a genuine renaissance from Echo & the Bunnymen will surely be left disappointed by new LP ‘The Fountain’. Frankly it’s the Bunnymen for fans of Coldplay. The darkness and the mystery are long gone and, on the evidence of the last 5 Lps, never likely to return.
McCulloch has stated that he has never sounded better but if the majority of the material is this uninspired then it really doesn’t matter how it’s sung. The big problem is that most of the tunes are Bunnymen on auto-pilot – they’re simply not memorable.
To be fair the record is not entirely without merit as there are a handful of decent tunes on here. The fact that three of these are the opening 3 songs briefly, but ultimately misleadingly, raises hopes. But the rest of the record is a struggle with only the atypically piano led ‘Proxy’ any sort of highlight.
From anyone else ‘The Fountain’ may just about be acceptable, but this is the Bunnymen and it adds nothing to their legacy.
Here’s a live performance of lead single, ‘I Think I Need It Too’, one of the bettere songs on the album:
Thankfully, the incredible mediocrity of most of the Bunnymen’s output since reforming has not diminished my love of their earlier work. Everything they have done since Ocean Rain (with the exception of Electrafixion) has left me cold. Shame cos they show occasional glimpses of greatness but these moments are all too fleeting.
And the really sad thing is that they seem to know it themselves given that the new material only ever lasts 1 tour then gets ditched. You could get a decent LP’s worth material out of the reincarnation but that’s only a 20% success rate.
There’s going to be another MPT show in Dundee on Sunday 29th November at the Westport Bar. The confirmed line-up is
Doors at 7.30, first band on at 7.45. Tickets are £5 in advance and they are available now from Groucho's and Ticketweb.
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how very very sad….
Thankfully, the incredible mediocrity of most of the Bunnymen’s output since reforming has not diminished my love of their earlier work. Everything they have done since Ocean Rain (with the exception of Electrafixion) has left me cold. Shame cos they show occasional glimpses of greatness but these moments are all too fleeting.
And the really sad thing is that they seem to know it themselves given that the new material only ever lasts 1 tour then gets ditched. You could get a decent LP’s worth material out of the reincarnation but that’s only a 20% success rate.