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ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN
Garage, Glasgow, Fri 25 May.
Second comings don’t come along that often. So when the self-proclaimed ‘Best Band On The Planet’ re-constituted a few years back, Echo And The Bunnymen frontman lan McCulloch’s slurred ‘lt’s good to be back’ at Barrowland as the opening guitar refrain of ‘Rescue’ rang out, left ageing purveyors of scallydelica, with only the scraps of second-hand Brit-peppery for comfort, open-gobbed and dewy- eyed at the majesty of it all.
With their third album since their reformation, Flowers,’ just released The Bunnymen, now just the core of McCulloch and Will Sergeant, found their creative juices had far from dried up. ‘Everything came together really quickly. We wrote it over a couple of weeks in my house, but it actually took ten hours in all.’
Cut from the same familiar cloth as yore, Flowers finds Sergeant’s less is more policy, finally giving way to umpteen deliciously tasteful overdubs. ‘I think Will wanted to prove himself after the last album,’ according to McCulloch, ‘which
Mac says it with Flowers
Future plans include a McCulloch solo
he didn’t play much on, and I think he just had outing for Jeepster records, while a proposed
years and years of riffs in his head waiting to come out.’ Lyrically too, Mac The Mouth, The Liverpool
platter of Frank Sinatra covers is even further out on the Horizon. Which should allow time out too for Will Sergeant’s solo ‘psychedelic
Lip, still big of hair, voice and ego, is chock-a- tripscape’ project (ambient to you and me),
block with devils, angels, big skies, clouds, stormy seas and killing moons. Which, compared to some young bands, stick out a mile. ‘lt’s all a bit mundane, isn’t it. I dunno whether they just read sodding Janet and John books all their life and then leave school. But I’ve always liked that kind of metaphysical thing, metaphorical, meta- sodding-bollocks, whatever. But the music I grew up with, The Velvets and Bowie, it wasn’t just. I went down the sodding pub,
Glide, under which name he’s released two albums on Ochre Records. Of more lip- smacking archival importance is the forthcoming Crystal Days, a four-CD Box Set of Bunnymen material pre-dating their nine- year acrimonious hiatus. It was, McCulloch recalls, a painful but crucial period.
‘We just needed to recharge our batteries’ he says, ‘and I had to learn to write songs differently. If I’d carried on repeating Crocodiles, it would’ve been dead boring. I
tapped off with some act, and split up. A lot of couldn't just sing about sodding tortoise
it now is just boy next door stuff. And I am certainly not the boy next door.’
ROCK MARK EITZEL Venue, Edinburgh, Mon 4 Jun.
Mark Ert/el. Over the last fifteen years he has proved himself one of America's most consistent and skilled songwrrtms. Illllléill‘, with his much-unr‘lerrated band All‘Ol'lCElll Music Club and, latterly ‘.'.’llll his quartet of solo alburrrs.
The idea of a ‘solo' artist is a much mrs-attrrbuted. maligned concept; armies of producers. arrangers. session men. engineers are filtered through one 'artist’s’ '.'lSlOll. On his tit-B‘.‘.’(?Sl record, The lnr'rsibr‘e Man Mark Ert/el x'xas trulj. a solo flter: ‘I thought it was easier to do rt myself than to stand over s<.>meone's shoulder going "click that. moxe that".' So after some initial studio recordings toda\.' says Mark Ertz'el from the he holed up in his front room .‘.'llll kitchen sink of his house in San his Apple Mac and made his nex-r Fr'anCrsco. ‘wnich isn't great. I record. have a stinking hangover} Gill. en the nature of rts
Up to his elbows in soapsuds. in production. The /'>=."s b e is a state of domestic organisation. St.)'t‘(r‘:\‘.’ll£il different to Ertxel's is not the image that rnstanth previous recordings. Hrs acoustic springs to mind when thinking of countnprsh arrangements now
Disco with Mark Eitzel
‘lt's gonna be 80 degrees here
shells the rest of my life.’ (Neil Cooper) I Flowers is out now on Cooking Vinyl
enjoy a gentle sprinkling of electrorirca into the mix. ‘I was obvrously listening to too much Autechre' he admits.
Renowned for his confessronal. emotiorrally-draining performances — Eli/'8' has been known to stop mid-song. too upset to continue - he is the most entrancing of performers. lt's handy then. that he possesses of one of the most beautiful VOices ever. From the most mouse-like of whispers he can. lift a song to a gut-wrenching climax with a desperate wail.
A new live line-up wrth a sample player instead of keys and drums has spurred a number of changes. not only in Eitzel's SOund but also in his chOice of live songs to perform. ‘Last night l did a '.'{37'Sron of 'Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?‘ xerSron is pure disco.’ Once again. confounding his critics and fans alike.
‘Mark Robertsoni
Music
elk; MARILYN MAZUR Queen's Hall, Edinburgh, Fri 1 Jun.
lt .‘.as third tr"‘e‘- Mar Mastrr when He Danish r‘e't‘tissie'irst and compose' was tinallt. named as the recipient of the r"estitiieus International .Ja.'.'r‘a' P: .'e .‘t‘r She had been ner't'“ate-.t before, Ill 109:4 and WNW. arid
becomes the first 8 an. ii".t‘.an musician to var: the l‘ar‘riflr rrl
She was at‘tuallt, barn in Nev. \rork in was. but has l:‘.ed l'l llerrrrrark since she was s:\ llt-r irrislr at rear‘h recognises no national and tex‘. shlrstir‘, boundaries She unorkerl \.'.|lll Miles Oaxis in his lltillkl at the late he}; and wrth saXophonrst \‘.‘a‘,ne Shirtin (including a \rsit to l tllllltllltllli in 1987. but is proltalth best knot-.n as a member of the .Jan (iarl rarek (lieup rshe joined in 15,391 r. zahere her massive hr; of l‘t'lr‘l ssron rnstrurrients creates a striking ‘.It;lirll as \.‘\.'e|l as; musical effect.
Ma/ur formed her first hand. Zirenes. back in flir'h‘, and has led her own groups in various guises over the years. most recently as l’utrire Song, the group she brings to l drnburgh for her Scottish debut as leader. She has recorded a number of discs for labels like Storwille and DaOapo in Denmark and ECM in Gttl'lllélll\'. working on her own creative concepts and rncOrporating influences not only from 1612/ and (:lassmal music. but also rock and ethnic sources.
She bangs the drums
MaZLir conceived Future Song while working wrth Davrs. out of a need to create ‘a grOup playing the music of human feeling rather than of machines and money. The music is not intended to be polished, perfect and finished. but more like a liVing organism, expanding through specific dramatic sequences and more open structures. Each of the mUSicrans brings their own characteristic qualities to it. and they all have the ability to communicate closely with each other. and keep an openness towards the muSic.'
Mazur. who was a dancer as well as a mUSrCian. likens her own role at the centre of the band to a dance amid her array of drums. gongs. and bells. gurding and colouring the rritisical eprOrations. (Kenny Mathiesoni
2/. l/1a,—}' J'ir THE LIST 41