viernes, julio 18, 2025

Rocktrospectiva: The Appeal, Dark And Moody "Crocodiles" Turns 45

Released on 18 July 1980 "Crocodiles" was the debut album by the English post-punk band Echo & the Bunnymen.  The album reached number 17 on the UK Albums Chart. And spawned two singles "Pictures on My Wall" and "Rescue" had previously been released as singles. 
 
Echo & the Bunnymen formed in 1978 and originally consisted of Ian McCulloch, Will Sergeant, Les Pattinson 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. 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.
 
The music on Crocodiles is generally dark and moody: In 1980, the British music magazine NME described McCulloch's lyrics as "scattered with themes of sorrow, horror, and despair, themes that are reinforced by stormy animal/sexual imagery." The sound of the album was "pared and sparse." And the songs as being rooted in "doubt, anguish, despair" while the "tightness and brightness of their sound transmits contradictory sensations of confidence, vigour and euphoria."
 
The cover photograph is one of a series taken by photographer Brian Griffin in the woods near Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire at night. The photos show themes of introspection, despair and confusion. The album was originally released as an LP in the United Kingdom on 18 July 1980 by Warner Bros. subsidiary label Korova. Two tracks, "Do It Clean" and "Read It in Books", were included on the cassette but were initially omitted from the LP version of the album because the managing director of Warner Bros., Rob Dickins, mistakenly thought that they contained obscenities. After Dickins realised his error, the tracks were included on the American version of the album, which was released by Sire Records on 17 December 1980. 
 
Several critics described the album as "being probably the best album this year by a British band." The band delivered attractive melodies with dark and moody (but not obscure) personal lyrics, all turned into compulsive listening by a driving beat, ringing guitars and a hauntingly emotional voice." In the end, the band's sound still considered a pure nihilistic thrill, with Will Sergeant's desperate, mantra-like guitar summoning up a primal night of blinking hallucinations." 
 
Crocodiles Track List:  
 
1. Going Up
2. Stars Are Stars
3. Pride
4. Monkeys
5. Crocodiles
6. Rescue
7. Villiers Terrace
8. Pictures On My Wall
9. All That Jazz
10. Happy Death Men

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