Theme Park Rockers

Another mid-80s leftfield guitar band with big hair tribute to Alton Towers. Rollercoaster was one of the last songs recorded by the original Echo And The Bunnymen line-up of Ian McCulloch, Will Sergeant, Les Pattinson and the late Pete de Frietas. This was a B-side to their 1987 single Lips Like Sugar. The Bunnymen understood, like all the great bands of the period, that good/interesting B-sides were as important to the fans as the A-side. Resurrected from earlier sessions Rollercoaster is untypical Bunnymen- the band kick up a load of sturm and drang while McCulloch screams and shouts about God knows what. It has more in common with earlier Bunnymen songs and a chorus reminiscent of the Cutter, and some impressively loud drumming. RIP Pete de Freitas.

12 Rollercoaster [#].wma

Through The Fog We'll Keep On Beaming

Here it is, the song that's been in my head all day- The Game by Echo And The Bunnymen. It's the last great Bunnysong by the original line-up, released in 1987 as the first single ahead of their self-titled fifth album (otherwise known as the grey album). The album was panned, the band didn't like it, or each other. Result? The US loved it, it sold half a million, they did a tour of enormo-domes, and later co-headlined the Monsters Of Alternative Rock (ugh) tour with New Order.

01 The Game.wma#1

C C C Cucumber

I woke up this morning with Echo And The Bunnymen's The Game playing in my head- not sure why, maybe it's September becoming October and that stuff in The Game about changing seasons and everybody having their own good reason why their favourite season is their favourite season. Maybe not.

I've just realised I don't have The Game on the hard drive, so it'll have to wait until later in the week. In the meantime, here's a crackers remix of Thorn Of Crowns. Go Home Productions Mark Vidler has produced many wonderful mash-ups, including Ray Of Gob and How Soon Is Independance, both featured previously at Bagging Area. This isn't a mash up. It's Thorn Of Crowns (possibly my least favourite track from Ocean Rain 'the greatest album ever made', the one where McCulloch goes 'c c c cucumber, c c c cauliflower, c c c cabbage') remixed with an in-yer-face electronic backing. The band apparently loved it. I imagine Bunnymen purists will hate it. I'm somewhere in between. See what you think.

Thorn Of Crowns (Go Home Productions remix).mp3

To Make Some Woman Smile

After he left The Bunnymen Ian McCulloch released the highly regarded Candleland, with songs about death and the passing of time, and a duet with Liz Fraser from Cocteau Twins. The press loved it. In 1992 he followed it Mysterio, which didn't receive anything like the same praise or sales. The lead single was this, a cover of Leonard Cohen's Lover, Lover, Lover. Pretty good it is too .

This being Leonard Cohen (I'm not a big fan, I love Tower Of Song though) there are some lovely lyrical touches- the second verse goes 'He said I locked you in this body, I mean it as a kind of trial, you can use it as a weapon, or to make some woman smile'.

I saw Ian McCulloch on the tour to promote Mysterio. He played what used to be called Manchester University Main Debating Hall but is now called Fizzy Lager Academy 2 or something. I saw Oasis there after Shakermaker came out and they were dull as ditchwater, but that's another story. I think I went to the McCulloch gig on my own which is never the best way to see a gig. Mac had rounded up a band of tracksuited musicians, who could play but looked like car thieves. The encore saw a ton of dry ice pumped out and Mac emerging from it to croon You'll Never Walk Alone. It was dramatic and this being Manchester it was pretty provocative too, but it wasn't a football violence kind of crowd- a few half hearted boos and he went into In Bloom, also from Mysterio, which sent everyone home happy. The album has a few moments but doesn't fare that well compared to the rest of his back catalogue. Looking back he was just killing time before the inevitable Bunnymen re-union, although before that happened there was an album recorded with Johnny Marr; apparently the mastertapes were stolen from a security van. It would've been interesting to hear.

Ian McCulloch - 06. Lover Lover Lover.mp3