A slap on the wrist for saying 'What a load of Crap'

[tonywojo]

I think the new album will be called

I think this needs to be an Epic

or

The best album since Ocean Rain

or

Wipe the floor, ceiling, basement

[Dr Cheese]

By the time they get it released will anyone actually care what it's called? Or what it sounds like? You'd think after the (mostly) positive reviews they got for Siberia they would've got their arses into gear and followed it up fairly quickly but... hang on ... this is The Bunnymen, the masters of half-arsedfullness!

[guitarplayer on here too]

Problem was after Siberia they changed labels and it seems the norm for some bands to take over 18 months to record their next album from start to finish, and sometimes they still end up sounding crap.

It reminds me though of quotes about Portishead's new album. This from the NME.

... Founding member Geoff Barrow has posted on the band’s Myspace page, explaining that work on the record remains slow....

"“Work ain’t good at the moment. We’ve got stuck. Just a few more months and we can really go at it. Working everyday on this fucker. It’s really hard not to sound like you’re doing a bad impression of yourself."

[Frank The Bunny]

Problem is, going back to Warner, the label gets to call the shots.

Same old song and dance - record the album, the label doesn't like it - you re-record it until you get it right.

If the label isn't happy with the output, they won't release squat, the band will owe the label even more money for their advance and for the studio time, and the album will never see the light of day.

If the label were really serious about the Bunnymen, they wouldn't have shit-canned the Korova imprint and you'd see a professionally-produced band website

[fat cherry]

Problem is, going back to Warner, the label gets to call the shots.

If the label were really serious about the Bunnymen, they wouldn't have shit-canned the Korova imprint and you'd see a professionally-produced band website

I think youre letting the bee in your bonnet over the website cloud your occasionally sensible judgement. The label (korova) and the website are irrelevant in the scheme of things. The real problem is (and has been since the mid eighties) that the band dont have any real management (peasy may be ok as the ciggie roadie but as macs gofer but is he really a manager in the traditional sense?), hence all the farting around, and no strong voice liaising with the parent label. It may be true that the album has been put back to coincide with the RAH gig, and it may be coincidence that this fits in nicely with the fact that our two favourite current bunnymen cant agree on anything and it may be that its just not very good. Might be a classic just waiting for the right moment. And dont give me any crap about sandboxes and IP addresses. DOnt understand em.

Chez

[Frank The Bunny]

Actually, what I meant when I mentioned the website and Korova imprint is that these would be first online indicators that the label were paying attention to and supporting the Bunnymen.

The fact that the Bunnymen don't show up anywhere on Warner's site, that they didn't even show up on the short-lived Korova website are good evidence that the Bunnymen are a non-entity from the label's standpoint.

Warner pulled the Bunnymen back into the fold as an accellerated collections measure.
The band still owe them a ton of money from the 80's. By pulling them back in, the label regains total control of the product. That's why we're seeing a million new repackagings of old product - from budget line to boxset. It's cheap to throw out there, doesn't require promotion and some sucker's gonna grab onto at least one of these.

New releases are a different ballgame. New releases cost cost cost. Studio time, mastering, pressing, promotion - no major label is going to put out a new release without having at least a moderate level of control over the process.

A major label A&R or marketing rep is not going to risk his/her job by letting the band call the shots. The label will reject the album if they deem it unsuitable for release. Anybody familiar with the Bunnymen's history knows this has happened at least twice previously.

You're absolutely right about the lack of good management. But, fact is - good management costs money. Some good managers are willing to take a gamble on up-and-comers... but what top- or even mid-level manager is going to take the risk on a the Bunnymen? Just doesn't make sense.

[zabird]

Actually, what I meant when I mentioned the website and Korova imprint is that these would be first online indicators that the label were paying attention to and supporting the Bunnymen.

The fact that the Bunnymen don't show up anywhere on Warner's site, that they didn't even show up on the short-lived Korova website are good evidence that the Bunnymen are a non-entity from the label's standpoint.

Warner pulled the Bunnymen back into the fold as an accellerated collections measure.
The band still owe them a ton of money from the 80's. By pulling them back in, the label regains total control of the product. That's why we're seeing a million new repackagings of old product - from budget line to boxset. It's cheap to throw out there, doesn't require promotion and some sucker's gonna grab onto at least one of these.

New releases are a different ballgame. New releases cost cost cost. Studio time, mastering, pressing, promotion - no major label is going to put out a new release without having at least a moderate level of control over the process.

A major label A&R or marketing rep is not going to risk his/her job by letting the band call the shots. The label will reject the album if they deem it unsuitable for release. Anybody familiar with the Bunnymen's history knows this has happened at least twice previously.

You're absolutely right about the lack of good management. But, fact is - good management costs money. Some good managers are willing to take a gamble on up-and-comers... but what top- or even mid-level manager is going to take the risk on a the Bunnymen? Just doesn't make sense.

just wondering ... is this still how the major labels operate in 2008? what with sagging album sales and other turmoil in the recording business? i.e. is Warners spending any money on the Bunnymen ... for their next album, promotion, what have you? esp. if the band still owes them money from the past?

[Grumpy_Jimbo]

Actually, what I meant when I mentioned the website and Korova imprint is that these would be first online indicators that the label were paying attention to and supporting the Bunnymen.

The fact that the Bunnymen don't show up anywhere on Warner's site, that they didn't even show up on the short-lived Korova website are good evidence that the Bunnymen are a non-entity from the label's standpoint.

Warner pulled the Bunnymen back into the fold as an accellerated collections measure.
The band still owe them a ton of money from the 80's. By pulling them back in, the label regains total control of the product. That's why we're seeing a million new repackagings of old product - from budget line to boxset. It's cheap to throw out there, doesn't require promotion and some sucker's gonna grab onto at least one of these.

New releases are a different ballgame. New releases cost cost cost. Studio time, mastering, pressing, promotion - no major label is going to put out a new release without having at least a moderate level of control over the process.

A major label A&R or marketing rep is not going to risk his/her job by letting the band call the shots. The label will reject the album if they deem it unsuitable for release. Anybody familiar with the Bunnymen's history knows this has happened at least twice previously.

You're absolutely right about the lack of good management. But, fact is - good management costs money. Some good managers are willing to take a gamble on up-and-comers... but what top- or even mid-level manager is going to take the risk on a the Bunnymen? Just doesn't make sense.

Frank .......

Warners already owned the back catalouge, they did not need to sign the Buunymen for that purpose......

Jimbo

[black francis]

Maybe Mac needs to try this tactic.

[Frank The Bunny]

Jimbo & Zabird -

You both bring up valid points

Zabird, I dunno if that's how labels work anymore. I do know that they still sign tons of artists, and a relative few actually see an album released.

Jimbo.
Yeah, you're dead right.
But, the London era stuff wasn't showing up on any Warner releases before their renewed relationship. I wouldn't be surprised if they get complete control of the Cooking Vinyl product as well

Also, being signed, the Bunnymen can't put out any more product without their past and current masters getting a chunk. Thing is, it's the same addicted, obsessive small group buying up all the re-releases remasters reissues and regurgitations. We're slaves to the Bunnymen and the Bunnymen are slaves to Warner. The label may as well just send a bill to each of us for our portion of the debt, rather than getting us all riled up about the band's repackaged past and uncertain future.

But I do get points for steering the conversation back away from IP addresses and that other forum, don't I?

;)

[guitarplayer on here too]

There was actually some activity on the Korova website at the time. But it was bizarre.

Not soon after the label returned, a sparkling new website with flash and other magic things appeared. And then the Bunnymen were listed with their own page. Shortly afterwards, it kind of looked like someone had hacked into it with all the text being messed up. I remember I raised this on the official forum, and then the site vanished within days, leaving only the hosting company's webpage in its place, which remains there to this day. You'd have missed it if you had blinked as it moved so fast.

But as you say, the official Warners and Reprise Records site has not a thing on there. In fact, apart from a few frontpage updates mentioning REM's new album and some streaming of a band called Against Me, it looks like it hasn't really been updated since last year.

[Dave Smith]

Personally-I can wait for the new album if the two new songs at Xmas are anything to go by.Much better to buy the same compilation for the fifteenth time.At least you know it will have Show of Strength on it as opposed to 'Whatever you w--aaaa--nt,whatever you n--eee---eee---d'.

[guitarplayer on here too]

He's behind you
He's behind you

wah wah wah wah wah wah

ding dinga ling
ding ding ding ding
ding dinga ling ding ding ding ding
ding dinga ling ding ding ding ding
dinga ling ling....

[tonywojo]

Some good stuff on the other stuff finally.

Worth a look.

May stop me posting a bit more.

[black francis]

Personally-I can wait for the new album if the two new songs at Xmas are anything to go by.Much better to buy the same compilation for the fifteenth time.At least you know it will have Show of Strength on it as opposed to 'Whatever you w--aaaa--nt,whatever you n--eee---eee---d'.

At the very least I hope they change the song title before it's actually released. "I Think I Need It Too" (or "Think I Need It Too")?

I still think "Epic" can be a good song if it isn't produced to death but the "chimey-jangly" sound on the YouTube videos doesn't make me optimistic. Never a good sign when a song sounds over-produced live. It's not too late, maybe Nick Lowe is available.