THE BARGAIN BUY: Echo and the Bunnymen: Original Album Series (Rhino)

 |   |  1 min read

Echo and the Bunnymen: Villiers Terrace (from Crocodiles)
THE BARGAIN BUY: Echo and the Bunnymen: Original Album Series (Rhino)

Call it what you will -- nostalgia, history, the collector mentality -- but filling gaps in your archives or just rediscovering an artist or album just got a whole lot cheaper with the Original Album Series.

Here, for example, are the first five Echo albums -- Crocodiles from '80, Heaven Up Here, Porcupine, Ocean Rain and their self-titled release from '87 -- which sell at $20 in New Zealand.

Okay, they aren't flash remasters or have added tracks (seriously though, who needs either?) and yes, aside from The Cutter and a couple of other tracks Porcupine isn't much cop, but at $20 for five albums you can hardly complain.

Here is their terrific debut and Ocean Rain, and Heaven Up Here also has more than a few moments. And this was the classic period for the band: their stunning drummer Pete de Freitas (killed in '89) quit before that final album and singer Ian McCullough left in '88.

Listening across these albums you can hear a band move from heroic and dramatic declamatory songs (Rescue on Crocodiles) to more crafted pop hits (The Killing Moon on Ocean Rain). The production echo also got turned off along the way.

At $20 this is a bargain. Through JB Hi-Fi stores hereJB_HZ_CHEAP_long

Also in this series are collections by Little Feat (which includes their Essential Elsewhere Dixie Chicken), Dr John (Essential Elsewhere album Gris Gris), the Pretenders, Warren Zevon, the Monkees, Otis Redding, Jesus and Mary Chain, Rickie Lee Jones, Rod Stewart, Duke Ellington . . .

Elsewhere and history, on the cheap!

Share It

Your Comments

post a comment

More from this section   The Bargain Buy articles index

THE BARGAIN BUY: Otis Redding; The Original Album Series (Atco)

THE BARGAIN BUY: Otis Redding; The Original Album Series (Atco)

It seems remarkable that for such an influential figure in soul and popular music, Otis Redding's recording career was actually a few months short of just four years, the time between his 1964... > Read more

THE BARGAIN BUY: The Who; Quadrophenia, Deluxe Edition

THE BARGAIN BUY: The Who; Quadrophenia, Deluxe Edition

Some argue -- its creator Pete Townshend among them -- for the superiority of the Who's Quadrophenia over its predecessor Tommy. Certainly it has a more coherent and grounded narrative, but... > Read more

Elsewhere at Elsewhere

PRINCES AMONGST MEN: JOURNEYS WITH GYPSY MUSICIANS by GARTH CARTWRIGHT

PRINCES AMONGST MEN: JOURNEYS WITH GYPSY MUSICIANS by GARTH CARTWRIGHT

London-based author Cartwright made his name in New Zealand in the late 80s/early 90s as an opinionated and often contentious art and music critic, and an award-winning journalist. His... > Read more

Henry Rollins: The power and the passion

Henry Rollins: The power and the passion

There are some musicians you don't want to meet. For me Neil Young is the never-again category for rudeness, and Henry Rollins just as matter of personal safety. He was a nice guy actually, but he... > Read more