Echo & the Bunnymen, Echo & the Bunnymen

Currently doing one album for each year, 1960-2020. Today: 1987. 

Echo & the Bunnymen, Echo & the Bunnymen, 1987, :46

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Echo's Porcupine is somewhat a mixed effort.  Ocean Rain, "the greatest album ever made," is a five-star album.  This eponymous album, the followup, leans far more toward the greatest side of the spectrum.  From the voluble and musically shifting opener "The Game," everything just clicks.  It's beautiful ornate pop-rock.  It was met with a rather frosty reception upon its release by those who loved Ocean Rain, but I can't see why.  To me they have the same ambitious orchestral reach.  A candidate for a revisit to determine a fifth star.  Favorite tracks: "The Game," "Over You," "Bedbugs and Ballyhoo," "Bombers Bay."

2 x 4, Guadalcanal Diary

2 x 4, Guadalcanal Diary, 1987, :43

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

I honestly have no idea why I picked this album.  I think I was looking for something similar to Tragically Hip or the Rembrants or something.  Like, what was going on in the 1980s that wasn't Husker Du?  Anyway, this album was... okay.  Decent jangle rock.  Best tracks: "Litany (Life Goes On)," and the cover of "And Your Bird Can Sing."