The Psych Ward–Ocean Rain by Echo and the Bunnymen
The Psych Ward–Ocean Rain by Echo and the Bunnymen
Full disclosure: Ocean Rain by Echo & the Bunnymen is far and away this writer’s favorite Echo album so be warned. Clocking in at just under thirty-eight minutes for nine songs, Ocean Rain was a stylistic departure from their previous three albums in several ways. Where Crocodiles and Heaven Up Here were steadfastly in the post-punk mindset of spare guitars and drums and vocals, Porcupine paved the way for Ocean Rain with Middle Eastern instruments and the occasional horn part adding color and texture.
Recorded primarily in Paris in early 1984, Ocean Rain is made up of material written by the band during their 1983 tour. The album could easily have been called “Orchestral Rain“, but that would likely have been too great a departure. Recording took place with Gil Norton – who would go on to produce The Pixies, Pale Saints, Catherine Wheel, and most notably two Foo Fighters albums – along with a 35-piece orchestra. It is this instrumentation – including glockenspiel and xylophone – that justly qualifies the album for consideration as psychedelic.
The opening track, “Silver”, starts with four measures of a seemingly generic pair of acoustic guitars, only to be smothered in lush orchestration and reverb. Will Sergeant’s guitar cuts through the mix but only enough to leave room for galloping cellos. Paired with choral background vocals, McCulloch’s voice floats grandly above the music. This is not the Echo of yesteryear.
Each song on Ocean Rain digs deep into the sonic variety afforded by an orchestra – even a small one. “The Yo-Yo Man” (originally known as “Watch Out Below”) shuffles along in a Middle Eastern mode that prefigures the band’s later cover of “People Are Strange” by The Doors.
To this writer, the standout tracks are “The Killing Moon” (featured in the opening sequence of the original theatrical version of the 2001 film Donnie Darko) and the lush grandeur of “Seven Seas.” Featuring a prominent twelve-string guitar, “The Killing Moon” is awash in pizzicato strings and belted vocals. “Seven Seas” is a precursor to “Bring on the Dancing Horses” and features not only a tasteful twelve-string guitar solo but also gorgeous layers of vocals in jubilant harmony. Closing out with the mini-epic title track, “Ocean Rain”, sees the band in fine dramatic form. The only element missing is the creak of ropes on a wooden mast to complete the picture.
While their self-titled 1987 album Echo & the Bunnymen was more successful from a commercial perspective, Ocean Rain is largely recognized (not just by me) as the band’s magnum opus. Powering through the death of Pete de Freitas in 1989, and several label and lineup changes, Ian McCulloch and Will Sergeant remain the core of the band and played Ocean Rain in its entirety with a 16-piece orchestra at Royal Albert Hall in 2008 and continue to play in various lineup configurations to this day.
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