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January 29, 1988 - Image 9

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Michigan Daily, 1988-01-29

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

Echo
create

and

the

The Michigan Daily-Friday, January 29, 1988- Page 9
Bunnymen

By Brian Jarvinen
The English pop scene has al-
ways supplied American audiences
with two kinds of bands. Some,
such as Level 42 and the Pet Shop
Boys, cross the pond and climb
straight into our Top 40. Fortu-
nately, there are two types. The
other stripe of bands have generally
been around for awhile, putting out
artistic albums that bring them
critical hosannahs, but their records
usually make a dent only on the
dance charts. The Cure, New Model
Army, and the subject here, Echo
and the Bunnymen, who perform
tonight at Hill Auditorium, typify
the more adventurous side of English
pOp.
Echo and the Bunnymen formed
in November of 1978 as a three-
piece in Liverpool. The band con-
sisted of Ian McCulloch on vocals
and guitar, Will Sergeant on more
guitar, Les Pattinson on bass, and a
drum machine they cutely named
Echo. This led to their choice of
band name - get it? Echo retired in
October 1979 when it was replaced
by a real drummer, Pete de Freitas.
Amazingly this line up has remained

advent
the same for the last eight years,
which is probably a record for the
bands discussed above.
Depending on your point of view
and musical allegiance, the Bunny-
men's post-punk sound is heavily
influenced by the Doors, the Velvet
Underground, or some phases of
David Bowie's career. They recently
let their Doors influence hang way
out, first on their 1987 album, Echo
and the Bunnymen, on "Bedbugs and
Ballyhoo," and then on the Lost
Boys soundtrack with "People are
Strange," which was produced by
that old gold-digger Ray Manzarek.
The hopping fellows have been
known to play "Soul Kitchen" as an
encore.
Their influences are relatively
easy to hear, but that is about all
one can easily learn about them. The
Bunnymen have always disdained
interviews, rarely talking with the
press. When they filmed a concert
flick in 1981, Shine So Hard, their
fans were driven to the secret site.
McCulloch's lyrics reflect this mys-
terious image with dark, poetic pop
songs that are up to the listener to
decipher.
So much for ancient history.
Echo and the Bunnymen's current

urous pop
success can be traced to the 1985 re- without any real airplay until MTV
lease of their greatest hits/ singles put "Lips Like Sugar" into rotation
album Songs to Learn and Sing. last summer. Strangely, however,
Songs allowed people who liked the Bunnymen have not appeared on
one or more of their scarcely-heard- local airwaves, despite their Pine
in-America singles to safely buy an Knob success and MTV exposure.
LP worth of material. This clever Perhaps we are better off thokigh,
move gained them many new fans. as it allows a band that will play
Last July they released their fifth Doors covers and has a lead singer
studio LP, the aforementioned Echo prone to random drunken escapades
and the Bunnymen. Then they em- to play a place where their fans can
barked on a major tour with Gene see the action. In other words, Hill
Loves Jezebel and New Order. This Auditorium will play host to an
triple bill sold out Pine Knob last uncompromising, rambunctious
August. band from the better half of the
The Btnnvmen have achieved English scene.

their current popularity by doing
what they want, or as Ian McCol-
luch told Rolling Stone this fall, by
refusing to "sell yourself in every
way possible." They have also done

The Leather Nun will open the
7:30 p.m. show. Tickets are $18.25
and $16.75 at the Michigan Union
and all TicketMaster outlets, and are
available at the door for $1.75 less.

NNW"

Echo and the Bunnymen have
in mystery over the years. A
to be seen tonight when they

sustained an image that's been shroudel
more intimate view of the band is sure
play Ann Arbor's Hill Auditorium.

Records

Copying
SPrinting
EResumes
Q Word Processing
Ql Transparencies
Q Books
Q Binding
E Brochures
E Typesetting
O Padding
Q Carbonless Forms
Q Business Cards
Ql Color Copying
HDissertations
Stapling
0Folding
ElLabels
El Letterheads
El Envelppes.
[~71

Copies

Gary Peacock
Guamba
Dave Holland Quintet
The Razor's Edge
ECM Records
Here are a pair of great releases by
two of the truly outstanding bassists
and composers in modern music.
Between them, Peacock and Holland
have worked with everyone! They are
both impeccable musicians who
have come up with very different
approaches.
Peacock is the mystic. His tunes
are lonely and alert. His bass has an
immense fullness, and Jan Gar-
barek's plaintive saxophone is suited
to his compositions. The title cut is
spellbinding. The curious "Intro-
ending" is alive with playful
movement. Drummer Peter Erskine
is just fine in what strikes me as an
unusually quiet date for him.
Dave Holland offers his third
quintet LP of fiery post-Mingus
straight-ahead tilted tunes. This is
more traditional than Guamba but
Holland and friends are not laying
back resting on laurels. They are
hard at play extending the notions of
Those Who Came Before.
Holland's bands are always sym-
pathetic. No exception here. Steve
Coleman's alto saxophone is lively
throughout, and Kenny Wheeler's

tenure with Holland is paying off in
ever-increasing musical dividends.
Both of these records benefit from
the fine engineering that is the stan-
dard with ECM. Peacock's offers
soothing reflections while Holland is
more forthrightly swinging. Both
sessions are thoughtful, never self-
conscious. Enthusiastically recom-
mended. Times two!
--Marc S. Taras

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The Personal Column
MICHIGAN DAILY CLASSIFIED ADS

Gary Peacock rounds out a fine album of experimental
'Guamba.'

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Free passes at Michigan Union ground floor lobby,
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