Ian McCulloch – Candleland (1989) Review | Mac the Mouth Lightens Up
Kronomyth 1.0: The horse’s head on the door.
Admit it: As much as you enjoyed The Cure’s early records, Robert Smith’s decision to soften the band’s gloomy outlook on The Head on the Door and after satisfied a hunger you didn’t know you had. Ian McCulloch’s debut album, Candleland, is just as satisfying. The melodies bubble to the surface, the edginess of Echo & The Bunnymen is smoothed over, and the whole thing feels like the Bunnymen on holiday. (The Cure’s Boris Williams even appears on two tracks for good measure.) McCulloch still has heavy thoughts in his head, notably the recent death of his father, but thesemeditations on mortality have a ray of sunshine in them. It would be tempting to point to Ray Shulman (ex-Gentle Giant) as that source of sunshine, who produces the album and provides bass, keyboards and rhythm programming on these tracks. He reigns in McCulloch’s dramatic tendencies and gives the songs a familiar pop structure. As a result, McCulloch seems approachable, almost vulnerable, for the first time in his career. Candleland is a very human album from an artist who was heretofore regarded as a prickly human being. Ironically, it’s during a song like You Know Me Well when you realize that maybe you didn’t know McCulloch so well as you thought. If you’ve longed for a more intimate portrait of the artist, you’ll find it on The Flickering Wall, Start Again and the title track, a duet with Cocteau Twins’ Elizabeth Fraser that’s as lovely as you’d think. In between are melodic songs driven by Ian’s dramatic voice, including White Hotel, Proud to Fall and Horse’s Head. Gone is Will Sergeant’s wall of guitar and the pounding rhythms of Les Pattinson and Pete de Freitas. In their place are Ian’s modest acoustic and electric guitar with Ray Shulman filling in the rest (including a drum machine which, considering the band’s origins, seems oddly appropriate). Given the lukewarm reception that his next album, Mysterio, received, Candleland seems the logical place to start if you’re looking to burn a candle to the memory of the Bunnymen. Or you could check out Reverberation, which was a perfectly good record in my opinion.
The Product
A1. The Flickering Wall (3:35)
A2. The White Hotel (3:15)
A3. Proud to Fall (3:57)
A4. The Cape (4:09)
A5. Candleland (3:18)
B1. Horse’s Head (4:47)
B2. Faith and Healing (4:36)
B3. I Know You Well (4:06)
B4. In Bloom (5:02)
B5. Start Again (5:00)
All songs written by Ian McCulloch.
The Players
Ian McCulloch (vocals and guitars), Ray Shulman (bass, keyboards and programming) with Elizabeth Frazer (Fraser) (backing vocals on A5), Michael Johnson (bass on A1/A2), Billy McGee (string arrangement on B1), Henry Priestman (string arrangement on B3), Olle Romo (programming on B1/B5), Boris Williams (drums on A2/A3). Produced by Ray Shulman; engineered by Gary Bradshaw, Gerard Johnson; A5 remixed by Dave Bascombe.
The Pictures
Design by Ryan Art. Photography by Andrew Catlin.
The Plastic
Released on elpee, cassette and compact disc in September 1989 in the UK, Canada and Germany (WEA, WX303/246225), the US (Sire, 26012) and Japan (WEA, WPCR-10233) with lyrics innersleeve. Reached #18 on the UK charts and #179 on the US charts.
