Echo and the Bunnymen | The Fountain

Less dour than the Cure but more somber than New Order, with a thorny mix of sadness and sunshine, Liverpudlian gloom-pop masters Echo & the Bunnymen were far weirder than they get credit for being. In their prolific ’90s-and-beyond reunion phase, they’ve attempted to smooth out the eccentricities in their sound (a detriment), but they’ve also focused attention on the assembly-line pop-song dynamo that is McCulloch and Sergeant.

Echo’s music has always been a shaken and stirred cocktail of Nuggets with a splash of Neil Diamond’s baritone and a sprig of Syd Barrett’s eccentricity. Try as they might to turn and not to face the strange on their recent output, that lunacy will always shine through.

• Entertainment
•  
• Music
•  
• Pop and Rock Music
•  
• more >>

The Fountain reveals that the magic of yore is still there. “Do You Know Who I Am” (a line that I am sure Mr. McCulloch has used with a drunken slur countless times through his life) mixes some lysergic-dripping guitar splatters with a gorgeous driving lilt, whereas “Shroud of Turin” is far sunnier and jauntier than a song with that title has any right to be.