Ocean Rain

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ocean Rain
Ocean Rain cover
Studio album by Echo & the Bunnymen
Released 8 May 1984
Recorded Les Studio des Dames in Paris, Amazon Studios in Liverpool, Crescent Studio in Bath and Studio Davout in Paris
Genre Post-punk
Length 36:36
Label Korova
Producer Gil Norton, Henri Lonstan, The Bunnymen
Professional reviews
Echo & the Bunnymen chronology
Porcupine
(1983)
Ocean Rain
(1984)
Songs to Learn & Sing
(1985)
Singles from Ocean Rain
  1. "The Killing Moon"
    Released: 20 January 1984
  2. "Silver"
    Released: 13 April 1984
  3. "Seven Seas"
    Released: 6 July 1984

Ocean Rain is the fourth studio album by the British band Echo & the Bunnymen and was first released on 8 May 1984 (see 1984 in music). Ocean Rain reached number 4 on the UK Albums Chart,[1] number 87 on the U.S. Billboard 200[2] and number 22 on the Swedish chart.[3] As of 1984, it has been certified as gold by the British Phonographic Industry.[4] Ocean Rain included the singles "The Killing Moon", "Silver" and "Seven Seas".

Originally released as an LP and a cassette in May 1984, Ocean Rain was reissued on CD later that year in August. The album was again reissued on CD in 2003, along with the other four of the band's first five studio albums, having been remastered and expanded. Ocean Rain was primarily recorded at Les Studio des Dames in Paris, with other recording sessions taking place at Amazon Studios in Liverpool, Crescent Studio in Bath and Studio Davout in Paris. The album was produced by Echo & the Bunnymen, Gil Norton and Henri Lonstan.

Contents

[edit] Background and recording

Echo & the Bunnymen spent the Christmas and New Year period of 1983 and 1984 writing new songs for the album. They recorded and self-produced "The Killing Moon", which was released on 20 January 1984, at the Crescent Studio in Bath, Somerset. After catching a cold, Ian McCulloch completed the recording of the vocals for the song at Amazon Studio in Liverpool, where Pete de Freitas also completed the drumming parts. The band then decided to record the album in Paris at Les Studios des Dames and Studio Davout.

Henri Lonstan, the engineer at des Dames, assisted on the string passages and Adam Peters provided the arrangements, cello and piano. McCulloch was not happy with the lead vocals he had recorded in Paris and re-recorded most of them back at Amazon Studio. The rest of the band were all happy with their contributions. de Freitas included xylophones and glockenspiels to his percussion whilst Les Pattinson used the old reverb machine at des Dames. Will Sergeant's solo on "My Kingdom" was played using a Washburn acoustic guitar.

Talking about album, Sergeant said:

We wanted to make something conceptual with lush orchestration; not Mantovani, something with a twist. It's all pretty dark. "Thorn of Crowns" is based on an eastern scale. The whole mood is very windswept: European pirates, a bit Ben Gunn; dark and stormy, battering rain; all of that.[5]

The album was marketed as "the greatest album ever made" and McCulloch later said that it was because they believed it was.[5]

[edit] Releases

Ocean Rain was first released as an LP and on cassette by Korova in Europe on 8 May 1984. It was subsequently released by Sire Records in the United States on 14 May and on CD in Europe and the United States on 24 August 1984. The original album had five tracks on side one and four tracks on side two. As with their previous albums, the album cover was designed by Martyn Atkins and the photography was by Brian Griffin.[6] The photograph used on the front cover of the album is of the band in a rowing boat inside Carnglaze Caverns, Liskeard, Cornwall.

Along with the other four of the band's first five albums, Ocean Rain was remastered and reissued on CD in 2003 — these releases were marketed as 25th anniversary editions. Eight bonus tracks were added to the album: "Angels and Devils", which had been recorded at The Automatt in San Francisco, was the B-side to the single "Silver" and was produced by The Bunnymen and Alan Perman; five Life At Brian's – Lean and Hungry tracks ("All You Need Is Love", "The Killing Moon", "Stars Are Stars", "Villiers Terrace" and "Silver") which had been recorded for the Channel 4 program Play At Home; and two live tracks ("My Kingdom" and "Ocean Rain") which were recorded for A Crystal Day, a Channel 4 special for The Tube. The Life At Brian's – Lean and Hungry track, "Silver", and the two A Crystal Day tracks had previously been unreleased.[7] The reissued album was produced by Andy Zax and Bill Inglot.

[edit] Release history

Ocean Rain was released in various countries in 1984 and 2003–04.

Region Date Label Format Catalogue number
Europe 8 May 1984 Korova LP KODE 8
Cassette CODE 8
United States 14 May 1984 Sire Records LP 1-25084
Europe 24 August 1984 Korova CD 2292-40388-2
United States Sire Records 9 25084-2
Europe 3 November 2003 Warner Music UK Remastered CD 2564-61165-2
United States 27 January 2004 Rhino / Sire

[edit] Singles

There are three tracks from Ocean Rain which have been released as singles. The first of these was "The Killing Moon" which was released on 20 January 1984 and which reached number nine on the UK Singles Chart[1] and number seven on the Irish Singles Chart.[8] The second single was "Silver" which was released on 13 April 1984 and reached number 30 on the UK Singles Chart[1] and number 14 on the Irish Singles Chart.[8] The final single to be released from the album was "Seven Seas" which reach number 16 on the UK Singles Chart[1] and number 10 on the Irish Singles Chart.[8]

[edit] Reception

In a review of the original release on Allmusic, Ocean Rain was described as Echo & the Bunnymen's "most beautiful and memorable effort" and went on to describe "The Killing Moon" as the band's "unrivalled pinnacle".[9] When reviewing the 2003 remastered edition Allmusic added "the bonus material is nothing less than superb, and makes the band's best album even better".[10] Blender described the album as "a portrait of splendid derangement with spectacular orchestrations".[11] Mojo said the album had "effervescent songs, sympathetically orchestrated".[12]

Pitchfork Media described the album as being "stuffed with queasy midtempo tracks and bizarre orchestration" although they did say that the album was not impenetrable.[13] Rolling Stone was perhaps harshest in its criticism of the album as being "too often a monochromatic dirge of banal existential imagery cloaked around the mere skeleton of a musical idea". Although saying that the album had some nifty choruses and nice atmospheres, the review went on to say it "evinces too little melodic development and too much tortured soul-gazing".[14]

[edit] Track listing

All tracks written by Will Sergeant, Ian McCulloch, Les Pattinson and Pete de Freitas except where noted.

Note: Track timings taken from 2003 remastered CD.

[edit] Original album

  1. "Silver" – 3:22
  2. "Nocturnal Me" – 4:57
  3. "Crystal Days" – 2:24
  4. "The Yo Yo Man" – 3:10
  5. "Thorn of Crowns" – 4:52
  6. "The Killing Moon" – 5:50
  7. "Seven Seas" – 3:20
  8. "My Kingdom" – 4:05
  9. "Ocean Rain" – 5:12

[edit] 2003 bonus tracks

  1. "Angels and Devils" – 4:34
  2. "All You Need Is Love" (Lennon/McCartney) (live) – 6:44
  3. "The Killing Moon" (live) – 3:27
  4. "Stars are Stars" (live) – 3:07
  5. "Villiers Terrace" (live) – 6:00
  6. "Silver" (live) – 3:22
  7. "My Kingdom" (live) – 4:01
  8. "Ocean Rain" (live) – 5:18

[edit] Personnel

[edit] Musicians

[edit] Production

  • The Bunnymenproducer, mixed by
  • Gil Norton – producer, engineer, mixed by
  • Henri Lonstan – producer, engineer
  • Jean-Yves – assistant engineer
  • Adam Peters – orchestral arrangements
  • David Lord – recorded by ("The Killing Moon")
  • Brian Griffin – photography
  • Martyn Atkins – cover design
  • Andy Zax – producer (reissue)
  • Bill Inglot – producer (reissue), remastering (reissue)
  • Dan Hersch – remastering (reissue)
  • Alan Perman – producer ("Angels and Devils")
  • David Frazer – engineer ("Angels and Devils")
  • Rachel Gutek – cover design (reissue)

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d Roberts, David, ed. (2006), British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.), HIT Entertainment, ISBN 1-90499-410-5 
  2. ^ Echo & the Bunnymen > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums. Allmusic. Retrieved on 2008-04-03.
  3. ^ Discography Echo & The Bunnymen. swedishcharts.com. Retrieved on 2008-04-01.
  4. ^ Statistics: UK Bestsellers. Retrieved on 2008-05-14.
  5. ^ a b Bell, Max (2003). Album notes for Ocean Rain by Echo & the Bunnymen [CD booklet]. Warner Music UK (2564-61165-2).
  6. ^ (1984) Album notes for Ocean Rain by Echo & the Bunnymen [LP sleeve notes]. Korova (KODE 8).
  7. ^ (2003) Album notes for Ocean Rain by Echo & the Bunnymen [CD booklet]. Warner Music UK (2564-61165-2).
  8. ^ a b c The Irish Charts - All there is to know. IRMA (2008). Retrieved on 2008-03-28.
  9. ^ Ankeny, Jason. Ocean Rain > Review. Allmusic. Retrieved on 2008-05-19.
  10. ^ Sendra, Tim. Ocean Rain [Bonus Tracks] > Review. Allmusic. Retrieved on 2008-05-19.
  11. ^ Harrison, Andrew. Echo & the Bunnymen (various reissues). Blender.com. Retrieved on 2008-05-16.
  12. ^ Mojo: 129-30, December 2003, <http://www.buy.com/prod/ocean-rain-bonus-tracks/q/loc/109/60624168.html>. Retrieved on 19 May 2008 
  13. ^ Tangari, Joe (3 March 2004). Echo & The Bunnymen : Crocodiles / Heaven Up Here / Porcupine / Ocean Rain / Echo & The Bunnymen. Pitchfork Media. Retrieved on 2008-05-16.
  14. ^ Puterbaugh, Parke (19 July 1984). Album Reviews. Rolling Stone. Retrieved on 2008-05-19.

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: