Echo & the Bunnymen: Heaven Up Here [RHINO]

Why you'll love it

This remastered 180g LP brings back the album that gave the Bunnymen their first UK Top 10, peaking at No. 10. It won Best Album and Best Dressed LP at the 1981 NME Awards and sits on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums.

This edition

• Remastered
• 180g vinyl

About the album

Ian McCulloch said he wanted to make a soul album, with the Velvet Underground's "What Goes On" playing on a loop in the back of his head. What came out of Rockfield Studios in Wales in March 1981 is anything but conventional soul: it's cavernous, moody post-punk, all ringing guitars and restless drums, with McCulloch's voice swooping over the top like he owns the place.

Hugh Jones, who had engineered the debut Crocodiles, stepped up to co-produce with the band. Les Pattinson said they rented rehearsal space at the Ministry in Liverpool to force themselves to work harder, and it shows in the rhythm section's tight, rolling grooves. Will Sergeant's guitar does the heavy lifting on "Show of Strength" and "With a Hip," "Over the Wall" builds into a slow storm, and "A Promise" is one of the band's finest singles. Pete de Freitas keeps the whole thing pushing forward.

It was also their first entry on the American charts, and McCulloch has said he thinks of it as Sergeant's album because the guitarist was bossy during the sessions. Sergeant, we assume, has taken this as a compliment.

Also at Kops: more Echo & the Bunnymen on vinyl · browse Alternative

Tracklist

Listen

On Korova / Rhino (cat# KODE 3), a reissue of the 1981 album.