Porcupine

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Wed Jul 12 2023

3

Dearest reader, As of this review, I’ve completed my 365th album in this ordeal. One year worth of albums, an anniversary of sorts - my first few weeks I wasn’t doing weekend albums, so it has, in fact, been more than a calendar year. In honor of my achievement, a retrospective, some takeaways and an airing of grievances from the past year: -I still think The Smiths are awful. This list has not changed that one iota and despite having completed all 3 Smith records, I still have 4 Morrissey records to listen to. That is the greatest injustice the list has served upon me. -These are the best albums I was introduced to via the list: Gil Scott Heron/Brian Jackson - Winter in America; Belle and Sebastian- Tigermilk; Todd Rundgren - A Wizard, A True Star; Little Simz - Grey Area; The United States Of America - s/t; Jean Michel Jarre - Oxygene; Milton Nascimiento/Lo Borges - Clube da Esquina -The Residents album isn’t as bad as you think it is. -Elvis Costello sucks, but in a way he also kind of doesn’t. That’s why he is the worst. -There’s way too much Britpop on this list. -There’s way too much mopey British alt-rock in general. -“Why isn’t Stereolab’s “Dots and Loops” on this list?” has pretty much become a mantra for me. -I can’t proofread worth a shit. -Most of your reviews are underwhelming: “meh…not for me”; “this punk rock record is repetitive”…step up your game kids, it’s embarrassing. Now, for the record at hand, “Porcupine” by Echo and The Bunnymen: God, living under Maggie Thatcher must have been fucking miserable. That much is papable when listening to these 80’s British alternative records: it’s like going spelunking in a pit of despair. “Porcupine” is definitely better than a lot of the others from its time; a little more experimental and psychedelic than the rest of the lot, so it gets some bonus points for that. With that said, and in the wise words of the reviewers on this site: “Meh…not for me”.

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Fri Jul 28 2023

2

I'm not saying <checks notes> Echo and The Bunnymen aren't a significant band, but do they really deserve a whopping 3 spots on the list? Is this really the best music humanity has to offer out of all the albums in the world?

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Mon Jun 19 2023

2

This album was fine but I just cannot listen to A Man Who Sounds Like That

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Fri Jun 30 2023

2

This is the third album by these guys here. They're relative nobodies but they keep turning up. You have to be fucking kidding me. They're not bad, they're just an inoffensive and bland cure knockoff. They shouldn't be in this list once, let alone 3 times. 2/5.

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Wed Jun 21 2023

5

This might indeed be the darker side of Echo & the Bunnymen and what really stuck out to me is how this psychedelic post-punk album really is shoegaze avant la lettre. The album is filled with oriental influences by the collaboration with Shankar (not Ravi, a different one) and quite uptempo and aggressive rhythmic material throughout the album. Songs like The Cutter, Back Of Love and Heads Will Roll are prime examples. But besides these there are also the steps sideways, like in My White Devil and Higher Hell, where the experiments with sounds and buildup work incredible. The more experimental Porcupine and Gods Will Be Gods might take an extra listen but when you do it's fully worth it and they turned out my favourites of this album. 4,5*

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Sat Sep 30 2023

5

10/10 god I need more Echo & The Bunnymen in my life

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Wed Jul 05 2023

4

Favourite track of the album The Cutter.

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Thu Jun 15 2023

3

Goths, man.

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Mon Jun 19 2023

3

Kind of like The Cure but less interesting and worse singing.

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Wed Jun 28 2023

1

Ever so marginally better than the other Echo & The Bunnymen album on this list I did already, but not by much. Still bland and did not enjoy a single song here

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Wed Aug 30 2023

5

One of my favorites!

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Tue Sep 26 2023

5

Strings are melodrama. No way around it, something like Porcupine seems to insist. The argument's a little too strong, but we can respect it without agreeing literally. Especially when the album acquires its palette by robbing both places and times. The instruments sit in arrangements that fill the volume approachably. The emotional paths are the tricky ones.

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Wed Oct 04 2023

5

Very dark, noisey, melodramatic post punk with wailing vocals - love this! I've been in a Bunnymen kinda mood, so this fit perfectly. The Cutter is my all-time favorite from the band & it's so in your face, it overstimulates the senses in the most gothy way possible. I've heard some of these songs live (seen the band twice), but I've never listened to the album in full - shame on me. Damn, this was jarringly good. I loved it so much, I listened to it five times. There are so many layers of instruments & sounds that you normally don't hear in rock music. It's intricate & reminded me of The Beatles Revolver mixed with The Cure Pornography. Wow...fucking brilliant.

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Tue Oct 10 2023

5

Loved this

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Mon Oct 30 2023

5

This really is a great album that doesn't really qualify as post-punk anymore since it is not that much punk left anymore - and that is very much a good thing! I thoroughly enjoyed these dreamy (but not too dreamy) landscapes of music.

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Wed Nov 01 2023

5

¡Qué chulo! Parecido a James. The Cutter se parece a canción de LHR, el estribillo.

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Sat Nov 04 2023

5

John Webster was one of the best there was. He was the author of two major tragedies. The White Devil and the Duchess of Malfi-O. You've either already bailed or you're on board. The lyrics are abstract to the point of absurdity, but the Bunnymen are perhaps one of the ultimate atmosphere bands. And this one is perhaps their densest, least user-friendly vibe. Singles The Cutter and The Back of Love are ridiculously catchy, but its perhaps their gloomiest album. Every time I listen to it it gets better and better, whereas Ocean Rain sounds a bit thinner, a bit more calculated. I will go to my grave convinced that Bono stole the world-conquering crown that was the Bunnymen's by right.

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Wed Jun 14 2023

4

Loved it, 80's gold, sounds like early cure

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Fri Jun 30 2023

4

Parempi ku edellinen Echo & pupu 4/5

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Sun Jul 09 2023

4

Solid stuff IMHO.

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Wed Jul 12 2023

4

expected it to sound different. i enjoy this, it's got some interesting stuff. i like ripeness and the cutter the best, i think.

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Sat Jul 15 2023

4

Definitely makes it into the top rank of the ubiquitous British post-punk/new wave presence on this list - smart lyrics and solid music. Still a bit of that British alt-pop guy vocal style that just ain't my favorite.

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Thu Jul 20 2023

4

Great 80 with a the Doors and pixies twist i feel like, i really enjoyed it

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Tue Aug 01 2023

4

Like a goth U2.

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Fri Aug 18 2023

4

blood for the bunny god

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Fri Aug 18 2023

4

Delta and the Bunnygirls. Surely a 1960's B-movie. Would watch.

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Tue Aug 22 2023

4

I enjoyed this. Strong start. I even listened to some of the alternative mixes.

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Tue Aug 22 2023

4

Echo and the Bunnymen have such a unique sound and The Cutter and Back of Love are just really great tunes. While not my favorite record by them, it’s pretty strong in terms of music, lyrics, performance.

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Fri Aug 25 2023

4

Favourite tracks: cutter; back of love; clay; god's will be gods

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Sat Aug 26 2023

4

The more I listened, the more I appreciated it. Pleasantly miserable.

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Mon Aug 28 2023

4

Fun fact: SHACK eats lamb chops for breakfast

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Sat Sep 02 2023

4

I'm sympathetic to these goths. 7/10

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Sat Sep 02 2023

4

7/10. Second album in a row that was better than I expected

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Mon Sep 11 2023

4

Echo en z'n Bunnymen kunnen bij mij een behoorlijke pot breken.

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Sat Sep 16 2023

4

This was a great new wave album containing gothic rock, rockabilly, and pop influences. What impressed me most always the diversity of instrumentations and the diversity of synth sounds used. This have the album a textured feel where it easily could have relied too heavily on stereotypical 80s synth presets.

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Thu Sep 21 2023

4

Cool album. Track 2 is my favorite. They sound so much like Arcade Fire that I looked them up to see if they're Canadian - they're British.

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Sun Sep 24 2023

4

Fun listen!

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Thu Sep 28 2023

4

Better than I remember

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Mon Oct 02 2023

4

These guys transcend the general distaste I have for a lot of British rock from this era that this list has exposed me to. I like the kind of gothic, epic scale of some of the songs. Cool band for sure.

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Sun Oct 08 2023

4

pretty fun and dancey. 4 stars.

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Tue Oct 24 2023

4

This just snags a 4th star to get above the other Echo and the Bunnyman albums here, just barely. It had some cool dark vibes and really fun work on the bass.

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Wed Oct 25 2023

4

Deserves all the adoration The Cure gets.

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Thu Oct 26 2023

4

Really good stuff.

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Fri Nov 03 2023

4

Good stuff. Love Echo and the Bunnymen,

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Tue Nov 07 2023

4

One of the things I've been struck by while going through this list is that there was this entire hidden world of music waiting just under the surface of pop music. I can understand how this album was made in 1983 (it shares some similarities with U2 albums from later in the decade), but I wouldn't have picked a date that early listening to this album. This is another one of those bands that the bands I was listening to when I was young was listening to (what?). Just a really cool post-punk album that makes really good use of guitar effects on the music to create a really big sound. The production is excellent and really lets you hear all the different textures built into the music 4/5

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Mon Nov 13 2023

4

A band that deserves way more recognition. Great album

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Tue Nov 14 2023

4

Solid offering top to bottom... i think Gods Will be Gods is the only skippable one, but the rest keep a general melancholy/haunting vibe, with tracks like Porcupine, Back of Love and the Cutter truly being exceptional. Definitely enjoyable.

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Tue Nov 14 2023

4

Really nice. I'd listen to again!

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Thu Nov 23 2023

4

Was quite nice - sound reminded me of The Cult

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Sat Jun 17 2023

3

Not particularly exciting

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Sun Jun 18 2023

3

A fine album with one song I knew a bunch felt samey but good and a few others were saved to a post punk playlist, nothing amazing but pretty good.

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Mon Jun 19 2023

3

Decent. Better than Ocean Rain. Still, not all of it clicks but I can tell it influenced many artists.

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Tue Jun 20 2023

3

Post punk albums like this might as well be white noise to me at this point. I felt absolutely nothing throughout this entire album and struggled to even pay attention to it when I was driving home from my parents (I was really trying to focus on the music but just kept spacing out).

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Fri Jun 30 2023

3

Tykkäsin tästä yllättävän paljon! En ihan neloseen saakka mutta kuitenkin.

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Sun Jul 02 2023

3

Very nice

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Wed Jul 05 2023

3

Meh

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Fri Jul 07 2023

3

This period was too melancholy for me.

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Tue Jul 11 2023

3

Echo & the Bunnymen are one of those bands, like Psychedelic Furs or Simple Minds, who are immediately recognizable by their vocalist. The Cutter is a great starter. The first 30 seconds are amazing. But it doesn't take long for the songs to start sounding like one another, and even like songs from the prior release, due to Ian McCulloch's phrasing, maybe.

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Wed Jul 12 2023

3

When I was in school, there was a kid who got called "echo" because he had buck teeth (he was a "bunny man"). Anyway, Cutter is a solid song, as are a few others on this album. It does get a little samey though.

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Thu Jul 13 2023

3

Mix van de baslijntjes van the Cure, de duistere drumfills van Joy Division/New Order en de zang van U2. Ik ken eigenlijk alleen het nummer Killing Moon, maar dat staat blijkbaar op het album hierna. De sound is onmiskenbaar hetzelfde. Het heeft iets duisters en treurigs, maar ook iets melancholisch en aanstellerigs. Zal wel typisch new wave zijn.

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Thu Jul 13 2023

3

I wanted to like it a lot more than I actually did. Maybe I need a re-listen.

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Fri Jul 14 2023

3

Interesting, but don't love these vocals.

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Thu Jul 20 2023

3

Smiths-esque, but eh

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Mon Jul 24 2023

3

A few misses but overall I thought it was fine. Not spectacular. 5/10.

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Tue Jul 25 2023

3

Not remarkable. Not bad.

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Wed Jul 26 2023

3

Neo-Psycehdilic, Post-Punk,, ok je ne pensais que ce genre de musique pouvait être considéré comme Punk... mais bon. Psychédelic oui par exemple. Cependant, je trouve cela un peu plus weirdelic, je n'ai pas adoré mais ca s'est bien écouté et j'ai eu quelque vents d'artiste de cette époque à l'écoute de cet album. (The Cure ?). 3.15

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Sun Jul 30 2023

3

For some reason I always think of this bad as a 50s group (think Buddy Holly and the Crickets) and am always surprised when they don’t have that sound. Enjoyable enough album but a bit samey.

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Mon Jul 31 2023

3

Yet another post punk album, although probably one of the better ones, narrowly missing the upgrade to 4 stars

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Mon Jul 31 2023

3

Just another new wave post-punk album.

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Tue Aug 01 2023

3

I wanna like Echo And The Bunnymen more than I do.

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Mon Aug 07 2023

3

Interesting new wave album, I liked the first few songs better than the second half. A mix of the cure, talking heads. It was all right

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Wed Aug 09 2023

3

Is this goth-rock or rock that goths like? Anyway, it's solid 80s dark, atmospheric guitar music.

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Wed Aug 16 2023

3

Pop. Intrascendente.

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Mon Aug 21 2023

3

Was alright.

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Mon Aug 21 2023

3

It was a very distinct sound and I really enjoyed their most famous track but I felt the rest of the album was quite samey. However, enjoyable enough for 3*

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Tue Aug 22 2023

3

I liked it fine. Didn't love it, though. Seems like something I should like more than I did?

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Thu Aug 24 2023

3

Post-punk, hey? Interesting. The sound reminded me of Joy Division a little bit, but it wasn't my favourite. Vocals felt like they were in the background, drum beats were pretty static, so were the melodies really.

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Fri Aug 25 2023

3

Without looking I could have told you this was a UK 80's album. We've had one or two from this group already and this doesn't really push the needled. I think I might like this one the most but that still doesn't make it something I needed to listen to.

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Sun Aug 27 2023

3

Echo and The Bunnymen ne restera célèbre que pour son review de l'intrusion chez Robert, rien de plus.

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Sun Aug 27 2023

3

Malheureusement, et comme l'a dit eltrapeze, l'éventuelle qualité des albums d'Echo And The Bunnymen sera toujours éclipsée par l'épisode de l'intrusion chez Robert.

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Mon Aug 28 2023

3

EAT SHIT, IAN. YOU STOLE MY UNDERWEAR AND TOOK A PISS ON MY FATHER'S GRAVE.

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Mon Aug 28 2023

3

i wanted this to be better than it was. in the end it spaffed it's load after the first song and then proceeded to be the same sound for a whole album.

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Tue Aug 29 2023

3

Cool dark post punk Hard to tell my absolute feelings, I'll need to return

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Tue Aug 29 2023

3

It was good. It didn't really keep my attention and it was forgettable. I can't remember anything really standing out to the point where I'd want to listen again.

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Mon Sep 04 2023

3

Pop anglosajón sin grandes estridencias. Voz poderosa y, en ocasiones, un tanto guitarrero y con algo más de intensidad.

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Wed Sep 06 2023

3

I bought Heaven up Here after hearing them on John Peel's show and played it to death. These guys had a unique sound and vibe. However, listening back now they went on to repeat the formula several times I feel. It's still fresh here though and a good album. I still think Heaven up Here is better.

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Thu Sep 07 2023

3

Interestingly to learn that Echo from Echo and the Bunnymen is a drum machine. Also interesting to learn that this album was produced by 'Kingbrid' who is Ian Broudie. This does not sound like Lightning Seeds. As per Crocodile, this album is urgent and jarring post punk. I quite like it and can see the influence, but I don't think I'll revisit it. Rating: 3/5 Playlist track: The Cutter Date listened: 06/09/23

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Sun Sep 10 2023

3

Makes me feel like I'm in a John Hughes movie. On an unrelated note, there is WAY TOO MUCH brit pop bullshit on this list. I find it incomprehensible that when presented with a catalog of all albums in the world, that this one somehow didnt have 1001 albums better than it. 3/5

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Mon Sep 11 2023

3

Ik begon enthousiast en de plaat ook, maar dat zakte weer in.

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Fri Sep 15 2023

3

Pretty unremarkable compared to the other better Brit Rock on this list. 3/5

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Sun Sep 17 2023

3

Gostei do álbum, mas preferi a faixas bônus da versão deluxe. Acho que a maioria das faixas do álbum original são meio mais do mesmo.

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Thu Sep 21 2023

3

Wasn't wowed, but wasn't turned off either. A "meh" sort of album

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Thu Sep 21 2023

3

Sure

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Thu Sep 21 2023

3

Didn't love it, but I could hear how it likely influenced many bands to come after them, so credit for the groundbreaking sound.

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Fri Sep 22 2023

3

I enjoyed this album but it didn't make me feel any real love or hate towards it. There didn't feel like a coherent theme between the tracks, but they weren't terrible. Pretty much a mediocre album. Stand out tracks are track 1 and track 3.

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Mon Sep 25 2023

3

3.5 - I listened to this record a handful of times hoping all of the individual elements, each excellent in their own ways, would come together to give me some grand post-punk vision. I’m afraid I came up short. I like the operatic vocals, the minimal drums, the soaring guitars. But I struggle to connect with these songs on any emotional or cerebral level.

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Mon Sep 25 2023

3

Alright

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Wed Sep 27 2023

3

Pretty good album

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Fri Sep 29 2023

3

I’ve always enjoyed The Cutter and the next two songs were also quite good indie pop, but it all gradually fades into similar textures and Ian Mcculloch’s wailing. Overall disappointing having expected a corker from the opening few songs. Very low three.

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Mon Oct 16 2023

3

Listened to this Friday. It's Monday. I remember liking it, but not sure exactly why. Whatever it was, it didn't stick with me over the weekend.

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