Like most nerds, I am a huge fan of the film Donnie Darko. Imagine, then, how excited I was to discover that 20th Century Fox was due to release the “Director’s Cut” last spring.
When the DVD came out, I drove down to my local movie store the day of its release. I came home and popped it into my DVD player. As you know because you’ve seen the film, the first song we hear over the opening sequence is Echo & the Bunnymen’s “The Killing Moon.” So there was Jake Gyllenhaal lying on the street...Jake Gyllenhaal getting on his bike...and “Never Tear Us Apart” by INXS?!
I was shocked. I was so shocked, in fact, that I immediately restarted the movie with the director’s commentary on. Sure enough, there was Richard Kelly, telling the audience that he had wanted “Never Tear Us Apart” all along but that he couldn’t afford to put it in the film and had to “settle” with Echo and the Bunnymen. Yes, folks. Echo and the Bunnymen had, yet again, come in second place.
In a parallel universe not unlike Donnie Darko’s, Echo and the Bunnymen would be bigger than U2. Both bands certainly started out in the same place. However, unlike U2, Echo kept churning out albums that did what they do best. Their latest release, Siberia, is no different, and it reminds me why I’m so disappointed that they haven’t become a bigger band. Ironically, they sound more like U2 than U2 does, the jangling guitars and vocal harmonies that have been their trademark staying in place, not being replaced. Ian McCulloch’s voice is a bit huskier than usual, but that’s not a bad thing; as the single “Stormy Weather” attests, the band remains committed to dark music with a light touch. My favorite track, “Parthenon Drive,” sounds like it was recorded in 1984. It’s got all the punch and weirdness of an early Echo song. I like that.
The rest of the tracks, whether slow like “Everything Kills You” or sing-alongy like “Sideways Eight,” roll along, as Echo has always done. Maybe they can’t fill stadiums or keep their songs in motion pictures, but I’ll always have a place for them in my heart. |