{"id":1661,"date":"2014-07-03T09:52:42","date_gmt":"2014-07-03T13:52:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/?p=1661"},"modified":"2014-07-29T11:08:40","modified_gmt":"2014-07-29T15:08:40","slug":"echo-and-the-bunnymen-meteorites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/echo-and-the-bunnymen-meteorites\/","title":{"rendered":"Echo and the Bunnymen <br>Meteorites"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/bunnymen-meteorites.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-1662\" src=\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/bunnymen-meteorites.jpg\" alt=\"Echo and the Bunnymen, Meteorites\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" srcset=\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/bunnymen-meteorites.jpg 250w, https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/bunnymen-meteorites-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" \/><\/a>If you were to listen to Echo and the Bunnymen frontman Ian McCulloch, each record the band has released since reforming in 1997 has been the best they\u2019ve made since their 1984 magnum opus, <i>Ocean Rain<\/i>. As such, if one were to take him at his word, each of those five albums has been better than the last and the band has inched ever closer to reaching the pinnacle of their prime. However, truth is, while the band certainly hasn\u2019t tarnished its legacy, only 2001\u2019s <i>Flowers<\/i> came anywhere near those heights, and their last record, 2009\u2019s lackluster <i>The Fountain<\/i>, made Mac the Mouth\u2019s boasting ring particularly hollow.<\/p>\n<p>But with <i>Meteorites<\/i> (429 Records) McCulloch may have something. Produced by Youth and beginning with the brooding mid-life lament that is the title track, this album bears the kind of gravitas that\u2019s been largely absent from the catalog of the Bunnymen mach two. Throughout, McCulloch turns the kind of plays on words that were once his specialization, bending religious allegory to his own use on \u201cHoly Moses\u201d and playing around phonetically on \u201cConstantinople.\u201d On both of those songs, McCulloch and guitarist Will Sergeant divine big hooks upon which they layer atmosphere and texture. As they were no doubt assisted in this task by Youth, perhaps he\u2019s the difference, but whatever the case, <i>Meteorites<\/i> is grandiose in a way similar to past glories like \u201cSeven Seas\u201d and \u201cOver the Wall.\u201d But that grandeur is more measured now. \u201cLovers on the Run\u201d surges with a mix of strings and Sergeant\u2019s inflected guitar playing, while \u201cNew Horizons\u201d allows McCulloch to show off his vocal prowess, only now youthful gusto has been replaced by a matured sense of self.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s safe to say that for however long the Bunnymen choose to continue that they will never match the glory of the first four records of their heyday. (For my money, <i>Heaven Up Here<\/i> is every bit the masterpiece as <i>Ocean Rain<\/i>.) But with <i>Meteorites<\/i>, they have proven they don&#8217;t have to in order to still make something astounding.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you were to listen to Echo and the Bunnymen frontman Ian McCulloch, each record the band has released since reforming in 1997 has been the best<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[711,34,558],"class_list":["post-1661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-reviews","tag-429-records","tag-album-review","tag-echo-and-the-bunnymen"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - 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