Coachella Reviews etc.

[DivaDiana77]

I agree. Flowers was too slow per se. Another one I quite liked on Flowers is Everybody Knows but it needed to be faster, heavier, more rockier. Siberia's louder sound drowned out some of the songs on that album, but Flowers would have benefitted from the same production techniques. Even if they had no money, they were still signed to a label and it could have been done much better than it was.

Flowers sounded the most like Will really put alot of thought into it. I think that's why he was so disappointed it didn't sell better. It may seem slow for some, but psychedelic music is making a comeback. Some bands are more interesting at it than others. Now would be a far better time for Flowers than when it came out. The most challenging thing about the album is Ian's vocals--they are decidedly some of the most bland ever.

[the ghost of guitarplayer]

I had nothing against the psychedelic sound - there's alot going on in terms of some of the weird effects on some of the songs that were obviously Will's doing - generally though most of the songs plodded slowly along. There were quite a few songs that would have been better louder and at a faster tempo.

[Voodoo Billy]

I had nothing against the psychedelic sound - there's alot going on in terms of some of the weird effects on some of the songs that were obviously Will's doing - generally though most of the songs plodded slowly along. There were quite a few songs that would have been better louder and at a faster tempo.

I think the latter is also relevant to The Fountain. The tracks I've heard live have a rockier and angrier feel and are all the better for it, but on the album they can sound a bit quiet and staid.

[Dr Evil]

Supermellow Man - fine song, but not a classic. The instrumental version is even more plodding. I can't think of a really great song off that album. Burn For Me for the chorus and Will's guitar bit. The b-sides, Marble Towers and Scratch The Past I liked as the band seemed to be a little more inventive. Funnily enough Flowers' and The Fountain reviews on Amazon (worth reading as they come from the joe buying public rather than music journalists) might as well as be the same album. The Fountain seemed to attract more negative views, however.

There is no accounting for taste. I was as impressed with SuperMellowMan as when I first heard the "Crocodiles" LP. The vocals could have been more dynamic, but with such a great song even that was irrelevant. If Mac was still capable of operatic yelps and it was released as a single, it would have been a world-wide hit. Perhaps someone with a decent voice will cover it one day. Apart from Bedbugs and Ballyhoo, it's probably the only great Bunnymen song Mac could get away with live these days-it suits a limited dynamic and tonal range. I heard it live at the Brighton Concorde II during the Flowers tour-until recently the best gig I had ever attended.
Though the title track has good lyrics, on the whole I find the Flowers album depressing, and not in a good way-particularly the florid and sickly "Burn for Me." like some awful rehash of the great "Ocean Rain" rebuilt as an Existenz style degenerate nightmare matrix. SuperMellowMan and King of Kings excepted, Flowers is a pitcher plant reeking of decay, defeat and death.

[the ghost of guitarplayer]

Why is there no accounting for taste? I didn't say that I didn't like SuperMellowMan. It was one of the stand-out tracks on Flowers, but if it had been done like how it was performed live it would have been better. I actually prefer Flowers to The Fountain - there were more noticable touches from Will with all the weird Sgt Fuzz effects and lots of guitar. Mac having the operatic yelps still, well, I doubt we would have heard most of the songs that they have written over the last 13 years. Be a different band and there would probably be a couple or more albums released by now that would have held up to or surpassed their earlier works.

[DivaDiana77]

I had nothing against the psychedelic sound - there's alot going on in terms of some of the weird effects on some of the songs that were obviously Will's doing - generally though most of the songs plodded slowly along. There were quite a few songs that would have been better louder and at a faster tempo.

Thank Mac for that.