Track Listing

1. King Of Kings
2. Supermellow Man
3. Hide & Seek
4. Make Me Shine
5. It's Alright
6. Buried Alive
7. Flowers
8. Everybody Knows
9. Life Goes On
10. An Eternity Turns
11. Burn For Me

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #26499 in Music
• Released on: 2001-05-14
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .23 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
Flowers is the third creditable instalment of Echo and The Bunnymen's second honeymoon period and finds the stylish, duopolistic musical nucleus of Ian McCulloch's vocal somnolence and the Eastern guitar mystique of Will Sergeant newly augmented by the work of bassist Alex Gleave, drummer Vinny Jamieson and keyboard player Ceri James. Subtle psychedelic touches of theremin, organ and backwards guitar pursue the colourisation of a few monochromic areas but, for the most part, Flowers is less the work of a new broom and more the affirmation of the Bunnymen's vintage vibe. Therefore, the opening "King of Kings" (think The Doors' "When The Music's Over") wouldn't sound out of sorts on Ocean Rain while the pronounced garage pop of "Make Me Shine" and "Life Goes On" both build on past endeavours with a newly insistent, radiant vitality. The album's centrepiece--the careworn, love-scarred lamentation of the title track--exudes hard-earned maturity. And maturity is beginning to suit Echo and The Bunnymen very well indeed. --Kevin Maidment

CD Description
Follow-up to 1999's 'What Are You Going To Do With Your Life' sees the Bunnymen return to the more upbeat style which characterized 1997's 'Evergreen'. Produced by Ian McCulloch and Will Sergeant, the only original members still in the group, it features the single 'It's Alright'.

Customer Reviews

Could be their best ever
In the 80s Echo and the Bunnymen released a series of acclaimed albums then split. They got back together in the 90s making three further albums, the last of which is this one, Flowers (released in 2001), the other two being Evergreen (1997) and What Are You Going To Do With Your Life? (1998). There seem to be a variety of views about how good these later albums are. Some people say they are as good as the 80s albums, some say they aren't. I now think this approach is fundamentally flawed.

The problem is that people are starting from the view that the 80s albums were great, so can these albums be as good? My suggestion is, forget the 80s Echo and the Bunnymen; they have little to do with later Echo and the Bunnymen. Instead think Coldplay or Snow Patrol: the more recent Echo and the Bunnymen have a different sound, it doesn't help to listen to these albums with 80s Bunnymen in your head, it would be better to imagine that the Bunnymen now occupy similar musical territory to Coldplay and Snow Patrol and set your expectations in that direction.

I'm not knocking groups like the 80s Bunnymen, the Cure and Siouxsie and the Banshees, they were great and made some fine tunes, but don't buy this CD and start thinking "is this as good as Ocean Rain?" because it just isn't the same. It would be like someone who liked early Beatles picking up Sergeant Pepper and thinking "have we got anything as good as 'Hard Day's Night' on here?" If you are going to buy this CD, expect it to sound more like Coldplay and Snow Patrol than anything from the 80s and you will find it easier to enjoy the music.

Which brings me to the point I really want to make, which is that after listening to the more recent Bunnymen albums I am now of the opinion that they are far superior to the 80s albums, and Flowers is probably the best of them all, although they are all very good. It took me a while to come to this opinion, at first I just couldn't decide if I liked them or not, and it was only when I stopped trying to compare them with the 80s albums and realised they had created a different sound that I could get into them and start to really enjoy the music.

One of the bunnymens finest releases, buy it now.
This is a fine outing from the bunnymen. The album is high quality from beginning to the end. Although there are no individual tracks that are life changing the overall standard is consistently high. The album appears to have been released with zero marketing amazing as it is the best album they have released since Ocean Rain. Great stuff.

BLOOMING GOOD STUFF
Okay so to expect the raw edged kick of 'Crocodiles' or the dramatic, orchestral beauty of 'Ocean Rain' would be unrealistic after all this time, but 'Flowers' does represent a return to a mood which befits all that is great in Bunnymen tradition. After the somewhat sickening sentimentality of its' predecessor, 1999's 'What Are You Going to do With Your Life', the lyrics on 'Flowers' are of the more subtly mystifying nature that set McCullough apart from so many of his contemporaries during the 80's. An altogether deeper, more powerful sound also exists here, suggesting that Will Sergeant had a far greater input this time around. At least the equal of their eponymous 1987 album and way better than the two since, honour is satisfied and credibility fully restored.