Albums by this artist

What Are You Going To Do With Your Life? (1999)

Reverberation (1990)

Echo And The Bunnymen

Reverberation

---

» BRADLEY SMITH | STAFF WRITER

Echo And The Bunnymen Reverberation Sire, 1990 RiYL: The Smiths, Psychedelic Furs, The Church

Imagine if Mick Jagger were to quit the Rolling Stones to pursue a solo career and "Keef" Richards, desperate to keep the band together, decided to continue using the band's name. Then imagine if he went and acquired some random yahoo to sing and co-write all the songs.

Sure, they're still called the Rolling Stones, but what's in a name? Without Jagger there is no Stones, right? Well, back in 1990, Will Sergeant of Echo and the Bunnymen did something equally absurd. Ian McCulloch, lead singer and co-songwriter, decided that he was tired of being a Bunnyman and left the group for solo rewards. Sergeant then called in Noel Burke, a good singer mind you, but no Ian McCulloch, to carry on the Bunnymen name. It's no surprise, though, that the album released by the "new" Echo and the Bunnymen was greeted pretty unfavorably. Which is really quite a shame because Reverberation is a wonderful album full of great pop tunes.

Sergeant and Burke don't stray far from the classic Bunnymen pattern: cool guitar hooks, nice melodies and some strings and other odd instruments thrown in occasionally. None of these songs would be out of place on an earlier Bunnymen album, but I suppose somewhere in the back of the mind one keeps longing for McCulloch to magically appear. Granted, Burke does a pretty good McCulloch impersonation, but McCulloch had a certain phrasing that Burke lacks. And as dumb as McCulloch's lyrics were at times ("Bedbugs And Ballyhoo"???) they could at least be counted on to intrigue the listener. Burke's lyrics, while competent, are nowhere near as interesting.

But enough bad mouthing. Some of these songs are fantastic. "Gone, Gone, Gone" and "Enlighten Me" are just about as good as the Bunnymen get. I suppose the best advice one can give when approaching this album is to ignore the name of the band. Had Sergeant done the smart thing and simply come up with another name, maybe this album would have fared better than it did.

BRADLEY SMITH |