guitarplayer on here too wrote:Who would buy further re-issues now? The Peel Sessions (complete) would be nice, but anything else (DVDs, reissues and remasters) is not going to appeal to anyone other than maybe the really diehard Bunnymen fan. There is pretty much everything out now, re-released, repackaged, etc. In all fairness, I don't think that lot is the fault of the band or the management because Warners have control out of re-releasing anything from their back catalogue. But they do have control over what they perform at gigs and how their newer stuff sounds like. The bluegrass idea, funny as it seems, would not be that far off from making the Bunnymen sound a bit more refreshing. I have said it before, as it seems the Bunnymen are unlikely now to even emulate the success they had in 1997-99, being a bit more experimental and trying different things rather than churning out the samey jingly-jangly guitar pop songs might make them more interesting musically if they are going to keep the Bunnymen Plc brand going.
The Bunnymen need to try some new stuff musically. The thing with the first 4 albums is they're all pretty different but yet still have that Bunnymen sound on them. That's one big thing that's been missing largely from the newer stuff, but at the same time, when bands have been around that long they tend not to really try newer or more experimental stuff, there's no aggression, etc. Maybe we're all expecting too much, most bands that reach the age of the Bunnymen are largely irrelevant outside of the hardcore fan base, and that's pretty much the case with the Bunnymen, I doubt that'll change. And when I say relevant I'm talking about the new material. I can't think of too many bands that have remained musically relevant past 10+ years or 5 or 6 albums.
I think I read or heard someone say that great bands are good for 4 albums, which I think is true for the most part. There are exceptions of course.
As far as the re-issues go, the last ones I bought were the re-issues of the first 5 albums, which were good deals considering the extra tracks. One thing that pissed me off a little though was that Way Out And Up We Go was excluded from the Porcupine re-issue. Why? That's one of my favorite Bunnymen songs (I like it more than some of the album tracks) and it's one of only a few B-sides from Porcupine. That made no absolutely no sense. I see no reason to buy any of the newer re-issued, it's just the same songs that have been re-issued a number of times.