Echo & the Bunnymen Album: “Dancing Horses”

OK, what's missing here are the details on the set. For a live music DVD, the track listings are critical. Amazon seems to forget these sometimes. So, from another site, (dvdtalk dot com) which has an excellent review, here are some missing details:

Track/Chapter listings:

Going Up

With a Hip

Stormy Weather

Show of Strength

Bring on the Dancing Horses

The Disease

Scissors in the Sand

All That Jazz

The Back of Love

The Killing Moon

In the Margins

Never Stop

Villiers Terrace

Of a Life

Rescue

The Cutter

Nothing Lasts Forever

Lips Like Sugar

Ocean Rain

Visual aspect is 16:9, audio options include PCM stereo and Dolby 5.1.

---- Now I'll have to pick this up and give a proper review.

This is a low-key concert video following Echo's undervalued Siberia album. It has a good selection of tracks from that Britpop-flavored cd plus intense renditions of some classics. Ian McCulloch is a bit hoarse at times, but it doesn't detract from the performances. Ian and Will Sargent make the songs sound fresh and intimate. "Stormy Weather" and "Ocean Rain" are particularly good. I would have liked to see "A Promise" and "It's Alright," but you can't please every fan's particular taste.

Maybe the real treat here is the long, rambling interview with McCulloch and Sargent. Relaxed and leisurely, they talk about their whole career from the present album to the early days to various friends and associates. Mac's famous ego is intact, as he constantly says that E&B are the coolest band in the world.

He ends the concert by saying, "Thank you - you've just seen the best band of all time." Their sales have been modest lately, but this isn't such an outrageous claim. Certainly they are one of the most distinctive British bands to come out of the '80s new wave scene.

This 2005 Shepherds Bush concert does not represent the original lineup of Echo and the Bunnymen, of course, but it comes much closer to achieving their alchemic power than did 2002's LIVE IN LIVERPOOL. This is a magnificently sequenced and played performance, with a powerful and fully unified group presence. This lineup may actually be equal to the original. The concert includes four songs from the Bunnymen's then-new SIBERIA album, which ought to have been properly hailed as equal to their finest work. From the opening "Going Up" through a riveting melding of "The Disease" and "Scissors in the Sand" to a sublime closing performance of "Ocean Rain," this represents yet another Bunnymen "comeback" of the first order. The supplementary Ian McCulloch/Will Sergeant interviews are quite generous, too.

One more thing: Be sure to select the rip-roaring PCM audio option because the Dolby 5.1 option really sucks (which gets this release docked by one star).

Really great sound here. The setlist represents all the eras of the band also, something I truly appreciate. Will's guitar sounds are killer. There are some decent length shots of his hands if you are a guitarist and are interested in technique and his licks and chord shapes. The interviews are cool also. I'm glad I bought it. I have viewed it three times, and just put it on for the music (like it was a CD) a few times also.