The Cutter, Echo & The Bunnymen

Spare Us The Cutter

Brewing Alternatives

Punk and Post Punk from Liverpool back in the day seemed to be delicately intertwined there were many bands that seemed to be linked to one another via one band breaking up and joining another. 

I loved Echo & The Bunnymen as soon as I first heard 'The Cutter', I kind of knew this was going to be a band I would be engrossed in. So, I brought 'Porcupine' back in '83 and I have treasured it ever since. I love the album cover, snow and all kind of invokes maybe the time of year I purchased it.

Not Just Another Drop In The Ocean

I have fond memories of playing it to death in my bedroom as a 'teen' and my dear old Dad may he rest in peace passing by the doorway and saying 'I like the spaces between the notes myself son'. When he asked what exactly I was listening to he laughed himself silly when he heard the name Echo and the Bunnymen, I think his response was something like 'Echo and The Bloody Who?'

...To me it was something different. Alternative, psychedelic and sometimes brooding and really quite dark in places.

Pining For The 'Pork' Of The Porcupine

I brought the album 'Porcupine' when it came out and it immediately became one that you could put on the turntable and leave running, all the tracks were good. The album itself was released on the Korova Record label, as was much of their material, it was an independent label which also released records by other bands such as The Sound and The Residents.

I guess 'The Cutter' and 'The Back Of Love' were the two major singles released which were probably deemed to be the most likely be commercially successful, the latter reaching #19 in the UK Singles Chart whilst 'The Cutter' hit the highs of #8 in '83. The album itself did well reaching #2 in the UK Album Charts in that year.

Track Listing

In truth all the tracks on the album are my favourites, but I have put some links into the track listing so you can have a listen.

Band Members At Time Of Release

As I said earlier the punk and post punk scene were quite delicately inter-twined in Liverpool. The production of the album renewed their association with Ian Broudie (The Lightning Seeds) who had produced their first album 'Crocodiles', he was previously in Liverpool post punk band 'Big In Japan' which featured many of the well known names such as David Balfe (Teardrop Explodes), Bill Drummond (The KLF), Holly Johnson (Frankie Goes To Hollywood) and Budgie (Siouxsie & The Banshees). It just so happened that Ian Broudie was housemate with Will Sargeant.

Evidently the album was highly anticipated by the music press, but for the band 'hard yards' to get done, apparently there was a lot of tension within the band at the time. It certainly didn't sound that way when it was released. They were:

  • Ian McCulloch - Vocals
  • Pete De Freitas - Drums
  • Will Sargeant - Guitars
  • Les Pattinson - Bass

The album also included additional strings provided by Tamil Indian violinist Lakshminarayana Shankar who has worked with many of the greats including Frank Zappa, Bill Laswell, David Byrne and Peter Gabriel to name a few.

Concert Memories

Finally, many, many years later I got to see them at Brixton Academy on the 'Evergreen' Tour. I have to put it down as one of my favourite concerts of all time in that unlike many bands who tour to push a new album, The Bunnymen chose to play a solid mix of old favourites as well as slipping in 'new' material. To be honest concerts can be a bit wearing sometimes when just all the newer material is played. They looked and sounded really good I have to say.

Oh! and while we are on the subject of Echo & The Bunnymen you can check out 'Do It Clean' on my other post entitled 'Happy Indie Head' at the link.

Video & Photo Thanks Go To:

huntylch@dailymotion

Photo by Joshua Earle on Unsplash