Echo & the Bunnymen - Porcupine

Written By: Moti Kupfer

Release date - 4.2.1983

“I plan on not dying, but if I have to, I want to die in Liverpool.” (Ian McCulloch)

He was born in Liverpool, and he is a devoted supporter of the local football club. Some would say fanatical enough that in 2010, during the protests against then-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett, he publicly raised his voice against them in a YouTube video, demanding they leave the club. So is it really surprising that Ian McCulloch, the frontman of "Echo & the Bunnymen", lives and breathes the city of Liverpool?

By early 1982, the Liverpool post-punk band had already released their first two albums, and it seemed that a third record could be the one to propel them toward wider growth and recognition. Behind the scenes, however, things were far from smooth. After releasing two albums within the span of just ten months, the band struggled to write new material, despite rehearsing five days a week at “The Ministry”, their rehearsal space in Liverpool.

McCulloch aspired for them to become the best band in the world. Bassist Les Pattinson was growing tired of the music industry. Drummer Pete de Freitas appeared as the drummer on the debut single of a new Liverpool band called “The Wild Swans”. Guitarist Will Sergeant recorded an instrumental solo album titled “Theme for Grind”. And as if that wasn’t enough, after completing the recordings for "Porcupine", released on February 4, 1983, Warner Bros. informed the band that they were unhappy with the album, claiming it wasn’t commercial enough, and sent all four members back into the studio to re-record it.

With little choice, they returned to the studio. Bill Drummond (later of “KLF”), who had produced their debut album “Crocodiles”, brought in Indian violinist and composer Lakshminarayana Shankar to add string arrangements. By this point, tensions within the band had escalated to near total breakdown in communication between the members.

“this one was like we had to drag it out of ourselves,” Pete de Freitas later admitted. The dark, brooding atmosphere conveyed by the music aligned perfectly with the album cover, which features the band photographed on and beside the frozen Gullfoss waterfall near Reykjavik, Iceland.

Not everything worked against them, though. “The Back of Love”, the album’s debut single, produced by Ian Broudie (formerly of “Big in Japan”, later of “The Lightning Seeds”), became "Echo & the Bunnymen’s" first song to break into the UK Top 20. The following single, “The Cutter”, became their first true hit, reaching number eight and paving the way for the album itself, which sold over 100,000 copies in the UK and climbed to number two on the British Albums Chart.

McCulloch may at times sound almost wailing, but when he chooses to, his vocal delivery can also echo the spirit of Jim Morrison. The repeated recording sessions ultimately turned “Porcupine” into a densely layered album, built from sound stacked upon sound, where each track gains an additional dimension through a tightly unified and carefully constructed mix.

For Listening: Spotify, Apple Music

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