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Echo & the Bunnymen's dark, swirling fusion of gloomy post-punk and -inspired psychedelia is driven by the majestic voice and outsized persona of singer and the frequently brilliant guitar work of Will Sergeant. The band started off as an angular post-punk group on their first album, 1980's Crocodiles, but by the time of 1984's Ocean Rain they had become cinematically Baroque. After stripping their sound down to basics for 1987's self-titled album, which produced the deathless hit "Lips Like Sugar," the band ran into problems and experienced tragedy (like the death of drummer Pete de Freitas), but eventually and Sergeant cemented a musical bond that cracked but never shattered over the course of a lengthy careers -- leading them to release introspective gems like 1999's What Are You Going to Do with Your Life?, 2014's Meteorites, and 2018's The Stars, the Oceans & the Moon) that illuminated their mysterious, dramatic spark.
"The Killing Moon" became the group's second Top Ten hit at the beginning of 1984 and the album that followed in May, Ocean Rain, was released to great critical acclaim; peaking at number four in Britain, the record became the Bunnymen's first album to chart in the U.S. Top 100. The following year was a quiet one for the band as they released only one new song, "Bring on the Dancing Horses," which was included on the compilation Songs to Learn & Sing. De Freitas left the band at the start of 1986 and was replaced by former drummer ; by September, de Freitas rejoined the group.
For the next few years they continued to remain active on the live circuit, most notably playing as the touring support act for a re-formed in 2013. They weren't strangers to the studio either, working with producer on their 12th album, Meteorites. The record recaptured the majesty and mystery of much earlier Echo albums and was released in 2014 by . It was the first album by the band in many years to crack the U.K. Top 40 album chart, peaking at number 37. The band continued to tour and their success caught the attention of , which offered them a contract. The first fruit of that partnership was 2018's The Stars, the Oceans & the Moon, an album of old classics redone, some with orchestra, some in stripped-down fashion. It also featured two new songs written by and Sergeant. The duo played sporadic live shows over the next few years, and in late 2022 embarked on a tour of North America, roughly around the time of a deluxe reissue of Evergreen was released. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi
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