Echo and The Bunnymen (EP) (1983) Review | I’ve Got a Handful of Hits, What Do I Do With It?
Kronomyth 3.5: A brief history of the bunnymen.
In a vast cosmos, inconsequential, yet, for the novitiate, the discovery of a new world populated by exotic creatures, a Jem in the making, glimpsed through a 12-inch telescope. EPs like these were often the entrypoints to new faces. Nina Hagen, Gang of Four, Fleshtones, and Oingo Boingo were each introduced to me through inexpensive EPs that allowed me to taste their wares without committing to the full entrée. If you had missed Echo and The Bunnymen up to this point, Echo and The Bunnymen was a perfectly curated platter of their most appetizing bits. There is, first and foremost, the new single, Never Stop, fragrant and foreign. The earlier diamond, Rescue, is unearthed, followed by the canon classics, The Cutter and Back of Love. Any one of these songs might make a fan or you. All four together prove irresistible. If you picked up this and their next, Ocean Rain, well, there was no turning back. Lest the faithful feel cheated by what might appear a largely unnecessary exercise, an unreleased live version of Do It Clean is included at the end, its whispered promise of love a kiss at the end of all this troubled music. Exotic elixirs, innuendo and individuation, served with a shock of glue-brushed hair, all this and more awaits. The timid and their telescopes are invited, their arrival anticipated and inevitable.
The Product
A1. Never Stop (4:44)
A2. Rescue (4:30)
A3. The Cutter (3:55)
B1. Back of Love (3:12)
B2. Do It Clean (live) (5:36)
All songs written by Will Sergeant/Ian McCulloch/Les Pattinson/Pete de Freitas.
The Players
Pete de Freitas (drums & drums), Ian McCulloch (vocals & words), Les Pattinson (bass), Will Sergeant (guitar). B2 produced by Bill Drummond and David Balfe.
The Plastic
Released on EP in 1983 in the US (Sire, 1-23987), Canada (Korova, 92 39871) and Japan (Warner, P-6195).
