Echo & the Bunnymen Album: “Heaven Up Here”

First and foremost, I'm familiar with a lot of the Bunnymen's music; however, this is the only CD of theirs I will own. The rest of their music is bland, for my tastes. With that said, this is a great CD.

There is a mood that is haunting; it's engaging. The songs have energy in a subdued way, and the lyrics are powerful. I dare say that this is a "must have" CD for any collector of rock/punk music.

Even though there is not one mediocre song on this CD, I absolutely recommend "Over the Wall" and "The Disease."

These musicians have created a virtually unrivaled collection of songs in "Heaven Up Here."

One review of another Bunny disc described this one as "messy." My question is: What were you listening to--a bad bootleg of Heaven Up Here? This is possibly the greatest album ever made. Of course, I'm prejudiced being a Bunnymen fan and all but it's as close to perfect as any album ever released by any artist period. Here's a tip, turn off all your lights in your home and listen to this album in the dark and then tell me it isn't magical. That voice of Ian McCulloch is in top form and the guitar shards slashed out by Will Sergeant esp. on Heaven Up Here are intense, manic and beautiful all at the same time.

This is the pinacle of a great band. While I like every Bunnymen album, I feel Crocodiles is a bit too amateurish, Porcupine a bit forced, and Ocean Rain a bit too accessible. Heaven Up Here finds the Bunnymen at a point of beautiful darkness, ethereal wondering, and passionate thundering. If all Bunnymen albums were this good I wouldn't hesitate to call them the greatest band ever.

Heaven Up Here is still (more than 10 years after listening to it) one of my favourites. It is one of the best recordings of post-punk and new wave I've ever heard. I was big fan of The Cure, Siouxsie And The Banshees, Joy Division (recordings from the first half of eighties) and "Heaven Up Here" was one of a few other recordings I've used to listen to.

All songs are great, impressive, full of energy. Some of them are still in my head (and in my heart). It's worthy to try it (for me the best of their recordings). Bye.

P.S.: Sorry for my poor english.

Echo & The Bunnymen were the first "cool" band I fell in love with. The album art is incredible, the name was cool and "strange", and most importantly the music was awesome, from the lyrics to the atmosphere. I love all their work and this one took the longest to get into, but became my favorite, right next to the brilliance of Ocean Rain. Porcupine was my favorite on first listen and Crocodiles is always fun so there is a lot of competition. This is the darkest of the 4 and maybe that is why I love it. It also rocks out as powerfully as any album I own so maybe that is what pushes it over the edge. The CD starts with "Show Of Strength", edgy and powerful, setting you up for a fight with the outside world and personal demons, this song transitions to "With A Hip", a really cool song that carries the flag filling you with a rush of adrenaline. Next is "Over The Wall", a powerful song you can't escape, drawing you into a magical world and not letting you up. The next two songs do let you relax a bit until "Heaven Up Here". This is one of my favorite songs ever. Ian's demons are all exposed and he is giving everything to escape this world while at the same time giving into its dark pleasures. He fails to escape and acknowledges his pain in the truly sad "The Disease". One of the darkest tracks to be written about the futility of life. The Bunnymen aren't afraid to expose the pain of reality and this is another reason this CD is so powerful. This atmosphere builds until "Turquoise Days" where the tension builds to the most incredible adrenalin rush of all time recorded on CD where you feel like you can grab the world by the balls and crush it. The CD than lets up a bit allowing the listener go to a world where we must take pleasure in the simple things to find any comfort at all in "All I Want". A work of genius.