Consumer Guide Album

Echo and the Bunnymen: Echo and the Bunnymen [Sire EP, 1983]
In a desperate attempt to market Ian McCulloch's crumpled shirts and skin problems (two of the most likable things about him, I'd say), Warners pulls two top cuts off Porcupine, counted by some a step in the right direction. Revealingly, they're the two worst things here, though where "The Cutter" is a pretentious dog (quills sticking out all over the little bugger), "Back of Love" is merely more histrionic than the competition. Suggested motto: "Do It Clean," which here builds to a casual vocal rave-up in a seven-minute concert version that could almost make you believe these spaced-out student existentialists were rock-and-rollers. B+