6 FEATURES
Thursday, November 27, 2008
★★★★
A history to die for and a future to live for Happy 30th Anniversary to
The Bunnymen and all our best to Mac & Will on their great acheivement love from Steve and all at X-ray
Supported by
Echo & The Bunnymen
1998
Following a highly successful European tour, the Bunnymen completed a short UK tour in February. They headlined a sold-out Brixton Academy and, as the NME reviewer points out, “they are, implausibly, as good as The Verve - or anyone out there - as a live force”. On Top Of The World, an Ian McCulloch song, originally written with Johnny Marr, is re-vamped and is chosen by the Football Association as the official England World Cup Song. It was recorded by the Bunnymen with The Spice Girls, Tommy Scott from Space and Simon Fowler of Ocean Colour Scene under the name England United. The single shot straight into the Top Ten and sold exceptionally well world-wide. For Ian McCulloch, it is still one of the proudest moments of his career.
1999
In March, the single Rust notched up another top 20 hit. The LP follows a month later. Sporting the longest ever Bunnymen LP title What Are You Going To Do With Your Life? and it earned even more critical plaudits than Evergreen.
2000
The Bunnymen record a mixture of covers – some of their own plus Tim Hardin’s Hang On to A Dream and Dylan’s Baby Blue for a
forthcoming online only release. It was a mini LP for ‘fans only’ really and was eventually made available for a limited period in October.
2001
The Bunnymen signed to a new label, Cooking Vinyl, releasing the first single It's Alright. Will and Mac were joined by three Liverpool based musicians for the self produced new recordings; Alex Gleave on bass, Vinny Jamieson on drums and Ceri James on keyboards. The new album, the band's eighth full length studio LP, Flowers was released to some of the best reviews
they'd had in their career. Reflecting a closer creative bond between Will and Mac, it was the Bunnymen's most guitar driven and 'psychedelic' record since the early eighties. A prestigious four CD, 71 track box set was released world-wide by Warners in April. Crystal Days: 1979-1999' featured two CDs of rare and unreleased material and was a major career retrospective that reaffirmed the Bunnymen's greatness. The band toured Flowers and Crystal Days with stints in the UK, Europe, America, a headline slot at The Fuji Rock Festival in Japan and finishing off with their first tour of Australia since 1981. On their return, they embarked on a sold out co-headline tour of America with The Psychedelic Furs.
Rob 2002 Gutmann Korova Corp
‘
Ocean Rain' and the Bunnymen have always stabbed at my sorry heart, and Ian has always been my favourite singer. I was honoured to be a part of the audience to witness their grand stand at the Royal Albert Hall, a few weeks ago. Ocean Rain is the soundtrack to their life and loves, and to those of the generation that basked in their glory, and followed in the wake of the good ship McCulloch. All hands will be on deck at the Dock on the 27th. Can't wait.
The year began with a small tour of the UK to promote the release of Live In Liverpool, the band’s first live album, recorded at LIPA on the 17th and 18th of August and the 17 song collection mixes tracks throughout the Bunnymen's career - from Zimbo and All That Jazz through to selections from Flowers. In May the band flew out to Brazil and played three headline shows, two in Sao Paulo and one in Rio De Janeiro, before returning to play a triumphant “greatest hits” set on the bill of New Orders’ show at Finsbury Park, London, with Coldplay’s Chris Martin guesting on vocals on Nothing Lasts Forever. In October, they won the coveted Q Inspiration Award in a year that their influence seemed to have come to the