This 1984 release comes in at number 76 currently at the Best of the 80's list. These guys were a part of the post punk movement in the early 80's. They brought in influences from psychedelia and The Doors and really perfected this combination of sound with a post punk feel on this their fourth album. I'm a big fan of this album. It has a solid set of songs with a good pop sense and a very unique sound. In some ways it's hard to think that this album had a big cult following in the US the same year the Van Halen released 1984.
About once a year I throw this album on. Usually in the spring, so it worked out well that I reviewed it now.
Following the Rhapsody rating method I give it 3 out of 5 stars for Pretty Good.
To me, 1984 is when the whole concept of "alternative" music starts to take off. Pop music was splitting between hair bands like Van Halen and post-disco dance music like Madonna. And that left a big opening for angst-ridden Holden Caulfield types, so they started listening to alternative music. So I'm not surprised that Echo and the Bunnymen became a cult fave at the same time "Jump" was on the charts. It's not that different from Bob Dylan developing a cult following while most people were listening to the Beach Boys.
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