All At Sea Again...

If you are going to proclaim to the world that your band have released "the greatest album of all time" then hopefully you have the tunes to back up that rather grandoise statement. Not really sure if there is such a thing as the greatest album and I'm pretty sure that Ian McCulloch had his tongue firmly in his cheek when he made his proclamation upon the release of album that rounds off my Top 10 rundown of my personal favourite albums.

Ocean Rain was released at a time when the band were at their creative peak and, for me, is their masterpiece. It is an album that still splits opinion amongst Bunnymen fans, with some having the same opinion I have, and others not too keen on the orchestration throughout. Unlike many other albums released in the mid 80's, this album does not sound dated at all and finds the band in full command of their craft. The contrast of cheery ballads, like Silver and Crystal Days, alongside the more epic, brooding tracks like Nocturnal Me and The Killing Moon just works to perfection. It is one of those rare albums without a weak song, with Mac delivering the best vocals of his career. The band set out to record the ''perfect album'' and they delivered, producing an evocative, mystical masterpiece that has a sweep and grandeur to it rarely matched in popular music.

I love the rawness of Crocodiles, my other favourite Bunnymen album, but Ocean Rain is quite simply exquisite and contains possibly the finest closing track on any album that I own.

Next week sees me heading along to see The Bunnymen perform live again, here's hoping this time that Mac is sober and we don't have a repeat of the Ocean Rain gig debacle from a few years back.

Ocean Rain