500 Greatest Albums of the 1980s ... Ranked! # 270 Echo & The Bunnymen - Porcupine

 

'Say we can. Say we will. Not just another. Drop in the ocean...'

1983 was a year of journey, discovery and becoming for me. And Echo & The Bunnymen were there. A band on a mission. Driven.  I bought Porcupine early in the year and though it was a bristly, ferocious and embattled record, it kept me going. They were a band that you looked to for leadership and guidance. Whenever a camera was pointed at me during those years I set my face in profile and gazed at the horizon. Imagining I was on a Bunnymen album sleeve, Inspired by their example.

Not everything works on the record though their's was a defiant and inspiring valour. But there was a sense that they needed to reset their compass which is what they proceeded to do.  By the end of December I'd discovered R.E.M and Murmur and embarked on a new journey of personal discovery. Ploughing through A Levels and fundamental experience and heading towards university.

Porcupine is still a fierce, utterly committed album forty years on. It's not one for compromise.. The band were sent back to the studio by WEA who demanded a more commercial and accessible approach. It was released to a slightly mixed reception. I recall a critical review from Richard Cook in the NME a paper that had previously garlanded them continually. From here they set their sails for the charts.And Smash Hits became just as important to them as The NME. A softer, lusher focus, Their Blue Period.