Sunday, October 18th, 2009

"The Killing Moon"

Pavement cover Echo & The Bunnymen

Photo ByWikipediaOh reunions are funny things, aren’t they? Intellectually, it’s hard not to be cynical about them – they’re usually more fiscally motivated than anyone would care to admit, rarely capture the magic of their heyday and usually feature principals balder and paunchier than their fans really want to remember. And if the outfit tries to tread down the “still artistically relevant” path of new material, the results usually pale in comparison to what came before. But emotionally, the idea of seeing a favourite band thought lost to the ages in the flesh again can overwhelm reason.

One on side, you have Echo & The Bunnymen – after dissolving in 1988, original members Ian McCulloch, Will Sergeant and Les Pattinson reunited in 1997, well before reunions were all the rage, and though Pattinson would leave again in 1999, with the release last week of The Fountain, they have released as many albums in their second go-around as they did in the first (ignoring the McCulloch-less Reverberation) – no mean feat, especially considering that the new records have been uniformly pretty decent. And on the other side, Pavement. After much whispering and rumouring, the indie heroes recently announced they were ending a decade-long hiatus with a world tour next year that would not feature any new material or continue on past the dates tied to the 2010 jaunt, which at present starts in March in New Zealand and ends in September in New York City, but promises to hit most every major market with fans willing to pony up for the opportunity to sing along with, “Cut Your Hair”.

And the two did intersect both when Pavement covered the Bunnymen classic, “The Killing Moon” as a b-side on Major Leagues, their final EP and in live sets, replacing the overt drama of the original with their own distinctive brand of disaffected emotion. Those who prefer the grandeur of the original or would like to hear it with even more grandeur won’t want to miss one of the orchestral Ocean Rain shows the band is putting on during their current tour, including this Tuesday night at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Toronto.

MP3: Pavement – “The Killing Moon”
MP3: Pavement – “The Killing Moon” (live)
Video: Echo & The Bunnymen – “The Killing Moon”

By : Frank Yang at 9:51 am
Category: Chromewaves Radio

Tags: ,

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  1. 10/18/09 1:40 pm

     Mike says:

    Perfect timing with this post. I expect the Echo and the Bunnymen show to be spectacular. I picked up their post-Reverbation releases over the year or so and realized how consistent they’ve been. Supposedly they’ll perform some non-Ocean Rain tracks at the show this Tues… Hope they play “stormy weather”.

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