Villiers

Echo and The Bunnymen - Crocodiles (1980) {2003 Warner Remaster}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC+CUE+LOG -> 472 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 159 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 33 Mb
© 2003 Sire / Rhino / Warner | 2564-61161-2
Rock / New Wave / Neo Psychedelia / Post Punk

Emerging from Liverpool, England in 1980, Echo and the Bunnymen were hailed as the vanguard of a new psychedelic-rock movement. While vocalist Ian McCulloch's cryptic lyrics and Will Sergeant's colorful guitar arrangements do evoke the dark, brooding intensity of '60s groups like the Doors, Echo and the Bunnymen owed more to English post-punk than '60s rock. Featuring songs that range from the supercharged three-chord garage rock of "Do It Clean" and the crashing album opener, "Going Up," to the hazy neo-psychedelia of "Villiers Terrace" and "Pictures on My Wall," CROCODILES is a remarkably good debut, one that established Echo and the Bunnymen as one of most creative and charismatic English rock bands of the '80s.

Hyperion has brought together two fetching, large-scale pieces by Charles Villiers Stanford for its “The Romantic Violin” series. Both are mature works, written in 1888 and 1899 during Stanford’s “high noon”, when the Cambridge-based Irishman was winning acclaim at home and abroad as a leading British composer. The earlier Suite was written for his mentor, the great German violinist Joseph Joachim. It’s a piece of considerable beauty, both an homage to past musical styles and a tune-filled example of highbrow populism that repays multiple hearings. It begins with a nod to Bach’s solo violin music, and the titles of some movements (as well as their music)–such as Allemande and Tambourine–continue the Baroque-style tribute. Though longish (just shy of half-an-hour), it never overstays its welcome.