Why is Ocean Rain such an impossibly great album?

[Kounelaki]

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

Any excuse to use "whilst".

[JackT]

Any excuse to use "whilst".

You know it.

[Mr. Brian]

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.

Milk just came out of my nose and I don't drink milk!

[isamu]

Hehe...

So...... can anyone offer a serious answer to what makes OR so special and sets it apart from all other albums?

Also what the hell is the meaning to My Kingdom's lyrics? And The Killing Moon for that matter? Someone mentioned TKM is about rape, but naturally I have serious doubts about that claim.

[JackT]

Hehe...

So...... can anyone offer a serious answer to what makes OR so special and sets it apart from all other albums?

Also what the hell is the meaning to My Kingdom's lyrics? And The Killing Moon for that matter? Someone mentioned TKM is about rape, but naturally I have serious doubts about that claim.

Ooooh, serious answers aren't our specialty around here. I tried to start a discussion about the hidden beauty of the universe with a picture of Saturn and all I got was fart jokes.

Anyway, OR is great because of:
-completeness & coherence among the tracks
-Will's guitar playing is awesome
-orchestration
-mixture of light and dark
-cool lyrics
-good melodies
-Mac's voice at peak
-creative leap from previous work
-4 brilliant musicians believed what they were doing was probably pretty cool

I think a better question is "Why is Porcupine so good?" That is actually a much more suprising outcome. You start a project like OR, you kind of expect good results. Porcupine must have seemed like a disaster in the making.

Killing Moon is about breaking up with a cruel woman. What else would it be about?

[withahip]

I think Heaven U p Here is more cohesive.

Enjoy Mac's lyrics for what you make of them. He has said many times that he just sang what felt right or what came to mind.

[JackT]

I think Heaven U p Here is more cohesive.

Could well be. I think the first 4 are all pretty good in that regard.

[JackT]

Holy crap I just realized we are talking about Echo & the Bunnymen. This is why we should not allow new members.

[withahip]

Could well be. I think the first 4 are all pretty good in that regard.

I will admit that it is so because the songs sound a lot alike.

I really got sick of Silver and Seven Seas from listening to them on Songs To Learn and Sing.

I say Gil Norton had something to do with the magic of OR. His choice to stay analog and not o digital.




Norton became a digital convert about two years ago. “Until recently, digital wasn't very good,” he explains. “I used the Mitsubishi X850 digital 32-track recorder with Echo and the Bunnymen, and that sounded okay in the beginning. But the more I added, the more I could hear the digital processing, and it sounded harsh. I was still using analog when I did Recovering the Satellites with Counting Crows, and ended up filling 100 reels of 24-track tape because we had recorded the preproduction as well. Then, when producing Jimmy Eat World's Futures album in 2004, we did a big A/B shoot-out at Cello Studios in L.A. and compared a 2-inch, 16-track Ampex machine with Pro Tools HD 96/24. We all felt that the Pro Tools sounded better, especially for rock music. That was a bit of a shock.

[black francis]

I used to think the Killing Moon was about waiting for your true love no matter how long it took because that was the person you were meant to be with but I'm pretty sure it's about death. When I told the old lady I thought it was now about death she said "Then Ian McCulloch really is a genius"

Sometimes when I'm feeling nostalgic I go back to explanation 1-A.

[rimmel65]

...

Also, what is your favorite cut from OR?

It's Thorn of Crowns

[In The Margins]

I think it's obvious the song (TKM) is about death. I remember reading that Ian laughs to himself when people tell him what a great love song it is.

[withahip]

I once was part of a killing moon on the back of my bus in middle school.

rim shot - oh gross - anyway


The number one reason is the band at the time - but I am going to stand by Gil Norton for the sake of something new being brought to the table - he was young and hungry and that kind of excitement is needed in all areas of a major record product.

BF - is Norton the link from the Pixies that turned you onto the Bunnymen or just coincidence?

[black francis]

Coincidence. I was a Bunnymen fan before the Pixies. Back then I wasn't concerned with producers as I had no idea what they brought to the table until I was a bit older. Now I bang on the Bunnymen bringing in Nick Lowe, Steve Albini or Kevin Sheilds to produce.

[rimmel65]

About TKM Ian said:"It was about God,or,if you're going downstairs ,about the devil.And people thought it was a love song about two dudes under a lamplight..." or "...it was about predestiny and the fact that even when you think you've made a choise ,it was the one that you were always going to make.."....anyway ermethic lyrics