Ocean Rain:Collector's Edition

4thアルバムのコレクターズ・エディションが登場。UKロック界きっての伊達男、イアン･マッカロク（vo）によるジム・モリスン直系のエモーショナルなヴォーカル・スタイル、エッジィでささくれ立った先鋭的なバンド・サウンド、耽美かつデカダン趣味の詞世界…などエコバニの魅力がギュッと詰まった名盤にして、80年代UKロックを代表する一枚。本作において特筆すべきは、何といってもバンド・サウンドとオーケストラとの見事なコラボレーション。ストリングスの響きを効果的に配した、ポップでありながらもサイケデリックかつダイナミックなサウンド・プロダクション/アレンジは紛れもなくワン・アンド・オンリーなシロモノだ。また「Silver」「The Killing Moon」「Seven Seas」といったヒット・シングルも収録されているところも嬉しいところ。なおコレクターズ･エディションには、1984年の英ロイヤル・アルバート・ホールでのライヴ音源他が追加収録。『Ocean Rain』のナンバーはもちろん、「Cutter」「Back Of Love」「Porcupine」など『Porcupine』収録楽曲のライヴ・ヴァージョンも堪能できる。

Mojo - 4 stars out of 5 - "Effervescent songs, sympathetically orchestrated..." Mojo - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Pushing acoustic guitars to the fore on three songs...the band employed a far more direct compositional approach, with Ian McCulloch's lyrics eschewing doomy portent for universal human connection." Record Collector - 5 stars out of 5 -- "A disparate, one-off masterpiece in an already amazing oeuvre, OCEAN RAIN was an album of unparalleled scope and ornateness..." Uncut - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[P]sychedelic sex shanties, crooned beneath a Sinatra moon and swathed in the Parisian strings of Piaf and Brel." Paste - "Cleverly chaotic, the album capitalizes on the rolling blankets of warmth that soon follow an ocean rain."

OCEAN RAIN was modestly described as "the greatest album ever made" during its promotional campaign. While it doesn't quite live up to this rash claim, it remains Echo and the Bunnymen's most ambitious and cohesive '80s release--a stepping stone that really should have led the band to world-wide fame. This is where the band left any traces of post-punk shambling behind and reached for the stars. The majestic mood of the album is heightened by the extravagant string arrangements that underpin Ian McCulloch's plaintive croon. On "The Killing Moon", one of the band's finest moments, the orchestra is deployed to spectacular effect. McCulloch gives the performance of his life, while the group's often overlooked guitarist Will Sergeant plays with imaginative dexterity. Things turn spookily psychedelic during "Thorn of Crowns", with its memorable refrain "c-c-c-cucumber, c-c-c-cabbage, c-c-c-cauliflower". It's hard to tell whether McCulloch is exorcising some inner demon or just trying to remember his shopping list. Somehow, in the context of the sparkling OCEAN RAIN, it doesn't really matter.|