I used to be really into Echo & The Bunnymen when I was in high school, but I wasn't able to connect the dots until now on exactly why I liked them so much. In a lot of ways they can come off as a more boring version of The Cure and The Smiths, especially in this record, but the vocals and "haunting" sound also feels a lot like The Doors too. And like it or not they're kind of the blueprint for bands like Radiohead and early Coldplay that I really liked in junior high. They don't sound far off from the rest of '80s jangle pop or even Madchester either. They're just somehow adjacent to... basically all of alternative rock music without sounding derivative of any of it. This would've been a 5 for me once but I think my tastes changed. They're a very pompous and indulgent band, and I used to actually find that endearing in the same way I can find the flamboyant bravado of The Smiths endearing, but I guess the more into punk I got the more this record has started to bore me a little bit, particularly the slower songs. Now I like Crocodiles more because it's more angular and dark and more of a post-punk record, but this is still good too.