After years of departures, solo albums, strange alliances, and rapprochement, Echo & the Bunnymen returned with Ian McCulloch at the helm for 1997's Evergreen. It's clear from the first song that the re-formed band is back in all its mysterious, uplifting, and graceful glory. "Don't Let It Bring You Down" features the best elements of the group -- Will Sergeant's soaring, biting guitar work, McCulloch's majestic vocals and yearning lyrics, Les Pattinson's rock-solid bass -- and applies them to a deeply felt midtempo ballad ...
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After years of departures, solo albums, strange alliances, and rapprochement, Echo & the Bunnymen returned with Ian McCulloch at the helm for 1997's Evergreen. It's clear from the first song that the re-formed band is back in all its mysterious, uplifting, and graceful glory. "Don't Let It Bring You Down" features the best elements of the group -- Will Sergeant's soaring, biting guitar work, McCulloch's majestic vocals and yearning lyrics, Les Pattinson's rock-solid bass -- and applies them to a deeply felt midtempo ballad that's as heart-tugging as it is melodic. It's a fine start, and the rest of the album follows suit. The sound of the record bypasses the cold exteriors and machine-bolstered slickness of Echo & the Bunnymen in favor of a more organic approach that puts Sergeant back out front and adds orchestral textures to many of the songs. It's a more mainstream, less operatic take on Ocean Rain that finds room for uptempo rockers -- "I Want to Be There (When You Come)," "Baseball Bill" -- and melodramatic ballads -- "I'll Fly Tonight," Just a Touch Away" -- while sounding like nothing less than a great rock & roll band on the title track and "Altamont." Like most of the rock and pop world in the mid- to late '90s, Echo had their "Wonderwall" moments; both "Nothing Lasts Forever" and "Forgiven" are plaintive, classically structured big ballads that aim for the rafters and achieve their goal magnificently. The twist the band delivers is that it isn't uplifting and laddy, it's painfully sad and deeply felt. There is a gravity and power to these songs that Oasis can't measure up to, and the rest of the album has enough of each of those two elements to knock any Brit-pop contenders to Echo's throne sideways. Evergreen is a strong, sometimes stunning, comeback for the band, one that stays true to the sounds that made them so spectacular while also adding contemporary elements in a totally organic manner. ~ Tim Sendra, Rovi
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