[Review] Echo & the Bunnymen: Songs To Learn & Sing (1985)

The best of the Bunnymen so far, or songs to hare and enjoy.

Kronomyth 5: An echo through the ages.

A wrote a review of this more than a decade ago that more or less said Songs to Learn & Sing wasn’t a very good album. That’s right: I said the greatest hits from Echo & The Bunnymen weren’t great. Sometimes, even I don’t understand myself. This album is, of course, pretty great. It includes the most tuneful moments from albums that could honestly be a little dry and difficult. Crocodiles, Porcupine, they were prickly albums. If you’re new to Echo & The Bunnymen, Songs to Learn & Sing is the perfect place to start. The Rescue, A Promise, The Back of Love, The Cutter, those are some great songs. As a bonus, you’ll get two hard-to-find singles: The Puppet and Bring on the Dancing Horses. (Never Stop had appeared on an earlier EP.) The three tracks from Ocean Rain are also awesome. I think the reason I was initially bored with this compilation was I’d heard it all before. Songs to Learn & Sing was one of the last Echo albums I purchased. So, few discoveries awaited. If I had it to do all over, I’d buy this album first, sweetly oblivious to the ups and downs of their earlier albums (Ocean Rain notwithstanding, since there isn’t a bad track on it). For example, Standing on a Beach was one of the first albums by The Cure I owned (I think I bought The Head on the Door first). That experience made it easier to experience Pornography or Faith with fewer expectations of finding a hit single hidden in its grooves. I’ve found Echo & The Bunnymen have grown better with age, in the sense that I appreciate their music more now than I did when I was young. I suspect I’m not the only one for whom their music went sailing over my head. Whenever you’re ready, Songs to Learn & Sing is waiting. It’s a wonderful entrypoint into a complex musical world that can hold its own with The Cure, U2, Siouxsie and the Banshees and those other “smart” alternative bands.

Original LP Version

A1. The Rescue (4:27)
A2. The Puppet (3:05)
A3. Do It Clean (2:45)
A4. A Promise (4:03)
A5. The Back of Love (3:12)
A6. The Cutter (3:54)
B1. Never Stop (4:44)
B2. The Killing Moon (5:48)
B3. Silver (3:19)
B4. Seven Seas (3:20)
B5. Bring on the Dancing Horses (3:59)

All songs written by Will Sergeant/Ian McCulloch/Les Pattinson/Pete de FReitas.

The Pictures

The cover photograph is from Anton Corbijn.

The Plastic

The album was originally released on November 1, 1985 on elpee and picture elpee in the UK and France (Korova, KODE13/KODE13P), on elpee, CD and cassette in the US (Sire, 25360) with a lyric sleeve, and on elpee and cassette in Germany (Korova, 240 767). The album reached #6 on the UK charts and #158 on the US charts.