After he left The Bunnymen Ian McCulloch released the highly regarded Candleland, with songs about death and the passing of time, and a duet with Liz Fraser from Cocteau Twins. The press loved it. In 1992 he followed it Mysterio, which didn't receive anything like the same praise or sales. The lead single was this, a cover of Leonard Cohen's Lover, Lover, Lover. Pretty good it is too .
This being Leonard Cohen (I'm not a big fan, I love Tower Of Song though) there are some lovely lyrical touches- the second verse goes 'He said I locked you in this body, I mean it as a kind of trial, you can use it as a weapon, or to make some woman smile'.
I saw Ian McCulloch on the tour to promote Mysterio. He played what used to be called Manchester University Main Debating Hall but is now called Fizzy Lager Academy 2 or something. I saw Oasis there after Shakermaker came out and they were dull as ditchwater, but that's another story. I think I went to the McCulloch gig on my own which is never the best way to see a gig. Mac had rounded up a band of tracksuited musicians, who could play but looked like car thieves. The encore saw a ton of dry ice pumped out and Mac emerging from it to croon You'll Never Walk Alone. It was dramatic and this being Manchester it was pretty provocative too, but it wasn't a football violence kind of crowd- a few half hearted boos and he went into In Bloom, also from Mysterio, which sent everyone home happy. The album has a few moments but doesn't fare that well compared to the rest of his back catalogue. Looking back he was just killing time before the inevitable Bunnymen re-union, although before that happened there was an album recorded with Johnny Marr; apparently the mastertapes were stolen from a security van. It would've been interesting to hear.
Ian McCulloch - 06. Lover Lover Lover.mp3
This being Leonard Cohen (I'm not a big fan, I love Tower Of Song though) there are some lovely lyrical touches- the second verse goes 'He said I locked you in this body, I mean it as a kind of trial, you can use it as a weapon, or to make some woman smile'.
I saw Ian McCulloch on the tour to promote Mysterio. He played what used to be called Manchester University Main Debating Hall but is now called Fizzy Lager Academy 2 or something. I saw Oasis there after Shakermaker came out and they were dull as ditchwater, but that's another story. I think I went to the McCulloch gig on my own which is never the best way to see a gig. Mac had rounded up a band of tracksuited musicians, who could play but looked like car thieves. The encore saw a ton of dry ice pumped out and Mac emerging from it to croon You'll Never Walk Alone. It was dramatic and this being Manchester it was pretty provocative too, but it wasn't a football violence kind of crowd- a few half hearted boos and he went into In Bloom, also from Mysterio, which sent everyone home happy. The album has a few moments but doesn't fare that well compared to the rest of his back catalogue. Looking back he was just killing time before the inevitable Bunnymen re-union, although before that happened there was an album recorded with Johnny Marr; apparently the mastertapes were stolen from a security van. It would've been interesting to hear.
Ian McCulloch - 06. Lover Lover Lover.mp3
2 comments:
Some of those tracks written with Johnny Marr turned up on the Electrafixion album a few years later....
I love going to gigs on my own. You don't have to worry about someone else not diggin' the sounds, or if its shit you can just go.
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