IAN MCCULLOCH
''HOLY GHOSTS, DISC ONE''
APRIL 15 2013
100:34
1. Bring on the Dancing Horses (Orchestral Reworkings Live at Union Chapel) /4:02
2. Rescue (Orchestral Reworkings Live at Union Chapel) /4:10
3. The Idolness of Gods (Orchestral Reworkings Live at Union Chapel) /4:13
4. Bedbugs and Ballyhoo (Orchestral Reworkings Live at Union Chapel) /2:23
5. Pro Patria Mori (Orchestral Reworkings Live at Union Chapel) /3:55
6. Angels and Devils (Orchestral Reworkings Live at Union Chapel) /2:35
7. Nothing Lasts Forever (Orchestral Reworkings Live at Union Chapel) /5:19
8. Arthur (Orchestral Reworkings Live at Union Chapel) /3:48
9. Candleland (Orchestral Reworkings Live at Union Chapel) /3:31
10. The Killing Moon (Orchestral Reworkings Live at Union Chapel) /4:43
11. All My Colours (Zimbo) [Live at Union Chapel] /3:32
12. Watch Me Land (Orchestral Reworkings Live at Union Chapel) /3:59
13. The Fountain (Orchestral Reworkings Live at Union Chapel) /4:06
14. Somewhere in My Dreams (Orchestral Reworkings Live at Union Chapel) /3:17
15. Lips Like Sugar (Orchestral Reworkings Live at Union Chapel) /5:57
DISC TWO
1. Different Trees /3:47
2. Empty as a House /3:53
3. Lift Me Up /4:13
4. Pro Patria Mori /4:42
5. Raindrop on the Sun /3:08
6. Fiery Flame /3:23
7. The Party's Over /5:09
8. Watch Me Land /3:42
9. Me and David Bowie /5:25
10. Somewhere in My Dreams /3:42
REVIEW
By Alex Lee Thomson
When I saw Echo & The Bunnymen perform their dusky 1984 masterpiece Ocean Rain with a full orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall a few years ago, a small groove was carved in my ear. This balanced tone between the small and the very, very big within the margins of Eighties pop songs was utterly provoking.
The determined melodies and lonesome vocals were now accompanied with flooding, majestic swathes of string the staggering drama compiled into an almost religious experience. With that same approach now being applied to reworkings of other bits of the Bunnymen catalogue, the first disc of Ian McCulloch's new double album is a brilliant place to find yourself as a fan.
This really does feel like a treat for any follower of the band, a collection of songs like ‘Nothing Ever Lasts Forever’ and ‘Bring On The Dancing Horses’ recorded at Union Chapel and re-imagined in orchestra-augmented Technicolor. That’s not to say this album is guilty of simply turning up all notches though, adding gimmickry and noise to pad out the live material, instead it uses the full weight of an orchestra cautiously and only at just the right moments – elsewhere the tracks, and this is really felt on ‘Lips Like Sugar’ - are almost a whisper. There’s been a lot of thought put into this, and stunningly produced by Killing Joke’s Youth, the nob-twiddler behind The Verve’s string-tastic Urban Hymns. He demonstrates with it a fundamental understanding of where the crease should be felt between honesty and magnificence, allowing the song to remain pop, but pushing the sound upwards into glorious mountains.
The second half of this record - dubbed Pro Patris Mori - is (kind of) new solo material, and a more delicate affair overall, but still loaded with swelling, sweet landscapes of string and menacing studio production to contrast the live recording of the first. It feels tragic but in a delightful way, like a decent Spiritualized album. There's some genuinely good new tracks here: 'Empty As A House' has a bright, innocent feel as observed from a lofty place in McCulloch's childhood, while 'Lift Me Up' has a more familiar Bunnymen sound with shuddering guitars and a sentimental chorus which could be drunkenly thrown out by Conor Obsert.
Title track 'Pro Patria Mori' remarkably shows that songwriting isn't just still possible from McCulloch, but can be interesting and saddled with quality, putting to best effect the 'old' sound with enough nods at the new to make your experience of the album seem rather complete.
Not to beat about the bush but most times somebody like this releases new material you're left politely dozing, a tenner out of pocket, secretly only playing it once or twice before going back to the classic works. That really isn't the case with Pro Patria Mori though; 'Fiery Flame' giving you another chance to roll around in now trademark dirty melodies which recall ‘Veronica’-era Elvis Costello verses a kind of dainty Glasvegas.
This isn't the best record McCulloch's put out and yet still career-defining, not only paying respect to Echo & The Bunnymen with 30 years of nostalgic contemplation into the re-workings, and new tracks that tip a cap to his influences - Bowie, Reed, etc - but also shows an intelligent, relevant British songsmith still worth listening to.
BIOGRAPHY
by Andy Kellman
The big-mouthed/well-coifed frontman of Liverpool's Echo & the Bunnymen, Ian McCulloch got his start with Pete Wylie and Julian Cope as the Crucial Three. This band lasted just over a month; Wylie and Cope bounced around in a couple of bands, with Wylie eventually starting Wah! and Cope forming the Teardrop Explodes. McCulloch formed Echo & the Bunnymen with Will Sergeant in 1978, who went on to become one of England's most successful and important pop bands throughout the '80s. McCulloch left the band in late 1988 to pursue a solo career. 1989's atmospheric Candleland stood up to his band's best work and was quite successful in the U.K., reaching the Top 20. 1992's Mysterio wasn't as strong, failing to do as well on the charts. During the tail-end of the '80s and the early '90s, McCulloch shut himself out from the rest of the world, staying in his Liverpool house and helping raise his two daughters. The combination of a frenzied lifestyle and the death of his father were enough to make him take a few steps back and virtually disappear from the public eye for several years. Around 1994, McCulloch patched up his friendship with Sergeant. Under the name Electrafixion, the duo added a rhythm section and released 1995's Burned, which scored the band a couple of minor hits on alternative radio in the U.S. Echo bassist Les Pattinson entered the picture, and the trio decided to record again as Echo & the Bunnymen. 1997's Evergreen, 1999's What Are You Going to Do with Your Life, and 2001's Flowers were each received positively in the press, if not quite living up to the high standard of the group's original incarnation. 2001 proved to be a busy year for McCulloch, who toured with the Bunnymen and inked a solo deal with U.K. indie Jeepster. Rhino also issued a four-CD box set of Echo & the Bunnymen material, entitled Crystal Days. Nearly 11 years after his last solo effort, McCulloch returned with Slideling in spring 2003. The album was released on Echo & the Bunnymen's stateside label spinART and featured collaborations with Coldplay's Chris Martin and Jonny Buckland, and actor John Simm (24 Hour Party People). In 2013, McCulloch delivered the fan-funded studio album, Pro Patria Mori, and the concert album, Live at Liverpool Anglican Cathedral. Both albums were also released as a double-package titled, Holy Ghosts.
DoWnLoAd
''HOLY GHOSTS, DISC ONE''
APRIL 15 2013
100:34
1. Bring on the Dancing Horses (Orchestral Reworkings Live at Union Chapel) /4:02
2. Rescue (Orchestral Reworkings Live at Union Chapel) /4:10
3. The Idolness of Gods (Orchestral Reworkings Live at Union Chapel) /4:13
4. Bedbugs and Ballyhoo (Orchestral Reworkings Live at Union Chapel) /2:23
5. Pro Patria Mori (Orchestral Reworkings Live at Union Chapel) /3:55
6. Angels and Devils (Orchestral Reworkings Live at Union Chapel) /2:35
7. Nothing Lasts Forever (Orchestral Reworkings Live at Union Chapel) /5:19
8. Arthur (Orchestral Reworkings Live at Union Chapel) /3:48
9. Candleland (Orchestral Reworkings Live at Union Chapel) /3:31
10. The Killing Moon (Orchestral Reworkings Live at Union Chapel) /4:43
11. All My Colours (Zimbo) [Live at Union Chapel] /3:32
12. Watch Me Land (Orchestral Reworkings Live at Union Chapel) /3:59
13. The Fountain (Orchestral Reworkings Live at Union Chapel) /4:06
14. Somewhere in My Dreams (Orchestral Reworkings Live at Union Chapel) /3:17
15. Lips Like Sugar (Orchestral Reworkings Live at Union Chapel) /5:57
DISC TWO
1. Different Trees /3:47
2. Empty as a House /3:53
3. Lift Me Up /4:13
4. Pro Patria Mori /4:42
5. Raindrop on the Sun /3:08
6. Fiery Flame /3:23
7. The Party's Over /5:09
8. Watch Me Land /3:42
9. Me and David Bowie /5:25
10. Somewhere in My Dreams /3:42
REVIEW
By Alex Lee Thomson
When I saw Echo & The Bunnymen perform their dusky 1984 masterpiece Ocean Rain with a full orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall a few years ago, a small groove was carved in my ear. This balanced tone between the small and the very, very big within the margins of Eighties pop songs was utterly provoking.
The determined melodies and lonesome vocals were now accompanied with flooding, majestic swathes of string the staggering drama compiled into an almost religious experience. With that same approach now being applied to reworkings of other bits of the Bunnymen catalogue, the first disc of Ian McCulloch's new double album is a brilliant place to find yourself as a fan.
This really does feel like a treat for any follower of the band, a collection of songs like ‘Nothing Ever Lasts Forever’ and ‘Bring On The Dancing Horses’ recorded at Union Chapel and re-imagined in orchestra-augmented Technicolor. That’s not to say this album is guilty of simply turning up all notches though, adding gimmickry and noise to pad out the live material, instead it uses the full weight of an orchestra cautiously and only at just the right moments – elsewhere the tracks, and this is really felt on ‘Lips Like Sugar’ - are almost a whisper. There’s been a lot of thought put into this, and stunningly produced by Killing Joke’s Youth, the nob-twiddler behind The Verve’s string-tastic Urban Hymns. He demonstrates with it a fundamental understanding of where the crease should be felt between honesty and magnificence, allowing the song to remain pop, but pushing the sound upwards into glorious mountains.
The second half of this record - dubbed Pro Patris Mori - is (kind of) new solo material, and a more delicate affair overall, but still loaded with swelling, sweet landscapes of string and menacing studio production to contrast the live recording of the first. It feels tragic but in a delightful way, like a decent Spiritualized album. There's some genuinely good new tracks here: 'Empty As A House' has a bright, innocent feel as observed from a lofty place in McCulloch's childhood, while 'Lift Me Up' has a more familiar Bunnymen sound with shuddering guitars and a sentimental chorus which could be drunkenly thrown out by Conor Obsert.
Title track 'Pro Patria Mori' remarkably shows that songwriting isn't just still possible from McCulloch, but can be interesting and saddled with quality, putting to best effect the 'old' sound with enough nods at the new to make your experience of the album seem rather complete.
Not to beat about the bush but most times somebody like this releases new material you're left politely dozing, a tenner out of pocket, secretly only playing it once or twice before going back to the classic works. That really isn't the case with Pro Patria Mori though; 'Fiery Flame' giving you another chance to roll around in now trademark dirty melodies which recall ‘Veronica’-era Elvis Costello verses a kind of dainty Glasvegas.
This isn't the best record McCulloch's put out and yet still career-defining, not only paying respect to Echo & The Bunnymen with 30 years of nostalgic contemplation into the re-workings, and new tracks that tip a cap to his influences - Bowie, Reed, etc - but also shows an intelligent, relevant British songsmith still worth listening to.
BIOGRAPHY
by Andy Kellman
The big-mouthed/well-coifed frontman of Liverpool's Echo & the Bunnymen, Ian McCulloch got his start with Pete Wylie and Julian Cope as the Crucial Three. This band lasted just over a month; Wylie and Cope bounced around in a couple of bands, with Wylie eventually starting Wah! and Cope forming the Teardrop Explodes. McCulloch formed Echo & the Bunnymen with Will Sergeant in 1978, who went on to become one of England's most successful and important pop bands throughout the '80s. McCulloch left the band in late 1988 to pursue a solo career. 1989's atmospheric Candleland stood up to his band's best work and was quite successful in the U.K., reaching the Top 20. 1992's Mysterio wasn't as strong, failing to do as well on the charts. During the tail-end of the '80s and the early '90s, McCulloch shut himself out from the rest of the world, staying in his Liverpool house and helping raise his two daughters. The combination of a frenzied lifestyle and the death of his father were enough to make him take a few steps back and virtually disappear from the public eye for several years. Around 1994, McCulloch patched up his friendship with Sergeant. Under the name Electrafixion, the duo added a rhythm section and released 1995's Burned, which scored the band a couple of minor hits on alternative radio in the U.S. Echo bassist Les Pattinson entered the picture, and the trio decided to record again as Echo & the Bunnymen. 1997's Evergreen, 1999's What Are You Going to Do with Your Life, and 2001's Flowers were each received positively in the press, if not quite living up to the high standard of the group's original incarnation. 2001 proved to be a busy year for McCulloch, who toured with the Bunnymen and inked a solo deal with U.K. indie Jeepster. Rhino also issued a four-CD box set of Echo & the Bunnymen material, entitled Crystal Days. Nearly 11 years after his last solo effort, McCulloch returned with Slideling in spring 2003. The album was released on Echo & the Bunnymen's stateside label spinART and featured collaborations with Coldplay's Chris Martin and Jonny Buckland, and actor John Simm (24 Hour Party People). In 2013, McCulloch delivered the fan-funded studio album, Pro Patria Mori, and the concert album, Live at Liverpool Anglican Cathedral. Both albums were also released as a double-package titled, Holy Ghosts.
DoWnLoAd
