Ocean Rain [Extra tracks, Original recording remastered]

Part of our Two CDs for £9 offer*

Ok, it's been released/remastered before and this version, whilst adding the extended 12" versions of Silver and The Killing Moon and a whole live CD from the Albert Hall on 19th July 1983, lacks the "Life At Brian's" E.P. tracks and the two Crystal Days live tracks from '84.

So why buy? Simple answer is that live CD. It WAS the greatest gig ever. There was a long period of gestation for what was to become the "Ocean Rain" album. In June '83, nearly a year before the album's eventual relaease, the Bunnymen unveiled Silver, Seven Seas and The Killing Moon on a Radio 1 John Peel Session. This whetted the appetite even more for the upcoming tour. The Bunnymen had been touring pretty solidly since December '82 and were at the very peak of their live form - tight, octane fuelled, McCulloch full of passion and fire, Sergeant jangling, jarring snapping and sniping on guitar, Pattinson a fluid rhythmic presence on bass and behind it all Pete de Freitas, the greatest drummer.

I can't remember what the weather outside was like that night, only that inside the Albert Hall, in the back row of the balcony, it was hotter than hell. It's hard to believe, listening to the raw energy of this gig, that most of the audience downstairs remained seated for most of the show; every attempt at dancing being suppressed by over zealous security. After "Never Stop" McCulloch says "You can stand up again if you want...no one's holier than thou." The bouncer baiting continued, the atmosphere built and built until by the time Crocodiles and the encores arrived the Albert Hall was shaking and heaving to the Bunnybeat.

McCulloch out of tune? Maybe now and the end, but only for a moment and no way does this make it unlistenable! At the end of the long slow first part of Porcupine, McCulloch alters the lyrics to croon/wail "There are no comparisons with Echo And The Bunnymen". There weren't, there never will be.

Do yourself a favour; buy this (and the Crystal Days boxset if you want to complete the gig by adding the two encores of Heroin and Do It Clean), turn the lights down, turn the heating up, put on a pair of vintage Italian Army parachute trousers (with knee pads and ankle zips) and dance your socks off.

I nearly didn't buy this. I already own the shorter so-called 25th anniversary edition (anniversary of the band, not the record, I take it?). This new one looked to me like a cash-in - and it probably still is. But something compelled me, maybe sixth sense.

Now, I don't like to harp on about mastering (boring!), nevertheless I'm going to talk about...mastering. The vinyl release of "Ocean Rain" was not a loud enough pressing. The subsequent CD, perhaps surprisingly, was still too quiet and even more surprisingly so was the aforementioned "25th anniversary" edition. The sound quality was never bad enough to spoil the music of course, just slightly puzzling given the semi-classical feel of the album and the many quiet passages. Miraculously, on this edition, that problem has at last been rectified. The sound is amazing. So good in fact that I noticed bits on the record I've never noticed before and this is a record I know inside out, back to front, all the way round. Sorry, had to get that one off my chest. Anyway this is why this edition of Ocean Rain was worth the price of admission (shop around though - you'll get it for less than a tenner, maybe not now, but in the post-Christmas sales almost certainly).

Moving on to the music, well this is really a five star LP, no doubt about that. One of the greatest LPs of all time etc but it's easy to understand why a fan might not feel it's a worthwhile edition to his collection. However anyone new to the Bunnymen would do well to start here: you get their best LP plus the live disc gives you the full flavour of what the band sounded like pre-Ocean Rain - bearing in mind that O.R. broke the mould and was not really a typical Bunnymen LP sound-wise. (Note: this release most assuredly IS a 2 disc collection - at time of writing Amazon's tracklisting makes no mention of the bonus disc.)

Call me superficial, but it's also the best packaged of any of the previous editions, even the original vinyl edition. In these days of MP3s it's still nice to have a proper sleeve.

That's the last time I'll talk about mastering.

May the cool refrain of ocean rain echo off your head for many years to come.

9 Tracks. 8 Brilliant 1 Poor The Yo Yo Man, is my only Bunnymen bad moment. This album on its release was dubbed, the best album ever. Doesn`t quite make it for me, but a classic none the less.

The title track 'Ocean Rain' and 'The Killing Moon', could easily have been covered by Frank Sinatra. 'Silver', 'Crystal Days' and 'Seven Seas' showed the rest of the industry how to write 3 minute pop records. OK 'Crystal Days' is only 2:25 but its brilliance alone gives it an extra 30 seconds. Dark melodic types will jump with joy, (or maybe stand and mope) at the excellence of 'Nocturnal Me', 'My Kingdom' and the MASSIVE 'Thorn Of Crowns'.

If you ever want to listen to 9 YES 9 tracks and feel as if you have lived a lifetime in heaven, buy this album and have answered all you music prayers.

It equates to sitting in the sun, listening to nothing but bird song and the sound of the waves moving majestically over cobbles. Go on enjoy, you know you want to.