Christgau, Robert (30 March 1981). "Consumer Guide". The Village Voice . Retrieved 21 January 2013.

Following a PR campaign that proclaimed it "the greatest album ever made" according to McCulloch, [25] 1984's Ocean Rain reached No.4, and today is widely regarded as the band's landmark album. [26] Single extracts " Silver" (UK No.30) and " Seven Seas" (UK No.16) consolidated the album's continued commercial success. In the same year, McCulloch had a minor solo hit with his cover version of the Kurt Weill standard " September Song". According to Sergeant: “It’s all pretty dark”. He wasn’t wrong, but it didn’t matter – with Ocean Rain, the Bunnymen became music immortals, confirming their place in the gloomier recesses of British pop.But it was fantastic. We just started messing about and the next thing is we’ve got a chorus for The Killing Moon.”

Their fifth studio album, the self-titled Echo & the Bunnymen (1987), was recorded with Palmer, but when de Freitas returned in late 1986, it was largely re-recorded. [28] Released in mid-1987, the record sold well (UK No.4), and was a small American hit, their only LP to have significant sales there. It is also significant as the final album to be recorded with the original lineup. Children of Nuggets : Original Artyfacts from the Second Psychedelic Era 1976-1995 CD 3-CD 4 V.A (1) Favourite fingers, cavemen singing, fresher feeling, burning bridges, smashing mirrors – all strange life is here, as Ian McCulloch pronounces proudly, gladly on the refrain, “Seven seas/ Swimming them so well/ Glad to see/ My face among them/ Kissing the tortoise shell”. We had this mate who kept suggesting all these names like The Daz Men or Glisserol and the Fan Extractors. Echo and the Bunnymen was one of them. I thought it was just as stupid as the rest. [11]There’s a contemplative tone about the collection, especially on Parthenon Drive, and echoes of once-upon-a-time modest greatness ( All Because Of You Days and Everything Kills You). Siberia is also where Mac confronts his depression in a more overt way than before. a b Roberts, David, ed. (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19thed.). HIT Entertainment. ISBN 1-904994-10-5. Like Porcupine, the making of the album proved to be a difficult and protracted process. Early sessions with Gil Norton took place at the famous Cologne studio of German producer Conny Plank, but both band and label were unhappy with the results and these recordings were shelved. They began re-recording material from the Cologne sessions with Laurie Latham in Brussels, but the sessions were grueling, with Latham spending up to a month on a single song, and tensions within the band were being inflamed by McCulloch's increasing alcohol use, and the star treatment he was being accorded. Matrix / Runout (Side B runout, variant 4): KODE 1 B-1 F/2 WITH FLOWERS A̶̷̲̅N̶̷̲̅D̶̷̲̅ IИ THEIR HAIR ARUN Echo & the Bunnymen formed in 1978 and originally consisted of Ian McCulloch (lead vocals), Will Sergeant (lead guitar), Les Pattinson (bass) and a drum machine. They released their debut single, "The Pictures on My Wall", in May 1979 on the independent label Zoo Records. The band then signed with WEA subsidiary label Korova and were persuaded to employ a drummer. [4] Pete de Freitas subsequently joined the band, and in early 1980 they recorded their second single, "Rescue". The single was recorded at Eden Studios in London and produced by fellow Liverpudlian and ex-member of Big in Japan Ian Broudie. [5]