Why is Ocean Rain such an impossibly great album?

[isamu]

....I would like to know, because for the life of me I simply can't stop listening to it, even after the billionth time.

What is it about OR that grabs me, and pulls me back in, and makes me neglect all the other albums in my mp3 player?

Can someone sum up the ingredients that make this such an impossibly good album?

Also, what is your favorite cut from OR?

[JackT]

Don't know what it is, but it is there.

I'm a "My Kingdom" man myself.

[isamu]

I'm a "My Kingdom" man myself.

Same here. I would have said Silver or OR before, but MK is just unbelievably magnificent.

Too bad the lyrics don't make any sense :(

[withahip]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvvL0rFC6Pc[/youtube]

[withahip]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIVIqJAVVp4&feature=related[/youtube]

[Frank The Bunny]

....I would like to know, because for the life of me I simply can't stop listening to it, even after the billionth time.

Welcome to the forum, Mr. McCulloch.

[JackT]

Same here. I would have said Silver or OR before, but MK is just unbelievably magnificent.

Too bad the lyrics don't make any sense :(

The live tracks of OR and MK on the 25th Anniversary reissue are just spectacular. (I think they are from the Crystal Day show.)

[black francis]

I'll have to re-read them when I get home but Wayne Coyne's summation regarding the Bunnymen in the liner notes of the box set is the best summation I've seen about the Bunnymen and it can easily be applied to Ocean Rain as well. For me the album has lost none of its mystery and still can be read into differently with each listening.

My favorite song on the album and my favorite song ever by anyone is The Killing Moon.

[JackT]

My favorite song on the album and my favorite song ever by anyone is The Killing Moon.

I love how bf pretends like he's all into good old fashioned rock and roll, and it's Pixies this, and Danzig that, but then you find out his favorite song is Killing Moon and he has Candleland permanently stuck in his truck CD player.

[black francis]

It's actually a mix of Candleland, Mysterio, Slideling and the Grey Album.

[JackT]

I'm picturing you rolling through the bario with your Misfits bumper sticker, windows rolled down, stereo full blast and the tra-la-la strains of

"from start to finish
I was proud to fall
And I fell so deep within it
I got lost inside it all"

letting everyone know that Mr. Rock & Roll is patrolling the streets.

[black francis]

I treat the neighborhood to "Playgrounds and City Parks"

light up my lonely

I actually really like that song and it was great live.

[withahip]

I love how bf pretends has Candleland permanently stuck in his truck CD player.

Traumatizing is more like it.


http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/ ... 908533.ece

When Ocean Rain came out, the only exposure we in the American Midwest had to the British music scene was occasional videos on MTV by the Cure or Haircut 100. But without really knowing anything about them, there was something special about Echo & the Bunnymen. They had a cool name and they sang about cool, existential stuff . . . it was good enough for us!

Even the style of production on this album, the string arrangements and reverb, gives it an epic, grand colouring. Only a year or so previously they had been doing choppy, visceral, punky songs, yet suddenly they’ve delved into this bigger, lush, more expressive abstraction of themselves.

And the lyrics, which could sound precious or pretentious in another context, are delivered with this confidence . . . you get the sense that Ian McCulloch had fallen in love with someone, and he’s enjoying the power and freedom that comes when your mind is occupied with bigger things.

[JackT]

I hear they are going to release an Ian McCulloch compilation album entitled, "Songs to Listen to Whilst Skipping and Twirling One's Parasol."

[withahip]

A recently pitched idea was to have Ian tour with a CGI Bing Crosby.