Heaven Up Here (Deluxe Edition)

I love all Echo & the Bunnymen albums, but from beginning to end, this one stands out as a something truly powerful. As a fan of classic rock music, I can honestly say this album is comparable (if not even superior) to some of the best rock albums of the 70's. This album goes beyond even the pure rock sound and delves deeper into the darker corners of the mind. Ironically, No Dark Things is one of my personal favorites on this album and is the perfect track to follow All My Colours. Try keeping up with its relentlessly fast paced drumming, its shredding and crashing of steel guitars, and the haunting vocals of Ian McCulloch, and your head will surely explode. Seeing how this is a deluxe version, however, save a couple of dollars and stick to the original release also found here on iTunes. There's absolutely no need for the extra tracks on this version.

Heaven Up Here is THE classic Bunnymen album, and one of the most essential records of the post-punk era. Often confused with terms like "New Wave" or "Indie", post-punk (1978-1984) was firstly (as the name implies), the next wave of bands that came after the Sex Pistols and punk rock. Yes, the punk rock revolution saved rock and roll by scouring the airwaves of disco and lame pop (I'm looking at you "Seasons In The Sun" and "Wildfire"). But the very element that gave punk it's power…simplicity, repetition, anger, and lack of musical talent, also limited it to a very short run. Post-punk bands loved the adrenaline and balls of their punk forebears, but they really were in it for the art and to celebrate the music they loved. Their songs and lyrics were mostly dark and sarcastic, but the songwriting itself was crafted and memorable, the production filled with imagination. The guitar work was usually angular and scratchy or woven like a spider's web with cool, rippling arpeggios bathed in reverb. The backbeat was strong and filled with unexpected time shifts and the bass guitar often acted as the lead guitar and source of the main melody lines. The main influences on these bands were the Velvet Underground, The Doors, David Bowie (as Ziggy), and Roxy Music, as well as the psychedelic bands of the late sixties. Heaven Up Here, along with Unknown Pleasures, Psychedelic Furs, Entertainment and Boy, were the foundation and blueprint for this musical movement, one which would eventually give us some of the biggest bands of the modern era: U2, New Order, The Cure, The Smiths, The Pretenders, Talking Heads, The Cars, The Police and many more can all trace their roots, if not their own origins, to this fantastic and rejuvenating musical era. Back to the Bunnymen: Heaven Up Here eschewed the simple chord structure and midnight aura of their excellent debut record, Crocodiles, and instead…went darker. This album defined the Bunnymen sound, which is astoundingly personified by the front album cover photo. Yes, this album "sounds" like that photo: under a thick sky, bleeding blue, stand four dark mysterious figures, silently staring at the cold glassy merciless ocean before them. Inside this musical world, life is the most dangerous voyage, where nothing is offered, nothing is promised, except that it may yet get darker after the dawn. "Over The Wall", "A Promise", "Heaven Up Here" and especially "No Dark Things" take the adventurous listener down a glorious rabbit hole of sonic waves and macabre uncertainty. "My life's the disease, that can always change, just given the chance" from the ghost ship ballad "The Disease" sums up the main theme perfectly. But let me add one more thing: despite all the artsy-fartsy verbiage I just spewed, the most important reason to rush out and immediately buy or download Heaven Up Here…the album ROCKS. After 34 years, this record stills sounds as fresh, challenging and dangerous as they day I first dropped my stylus on my shiny new vinyl. And it still rocks.

This record Rocks. It rocks like Elvis Presly singing "Mystery Train." It rocks like the Stones "Gimme Shelter." As far as this being "Gothic?" No. You know what's the difference? It's not the music of self-defeating like so much of that genre. Again, this rocks. It rocks and roars back. You should to.

A best from Bunnymen. Awesome. Along with The Cure, The Chameleons(the UK real ones)........three of the best bands of this awesome sound zone.

This 1981 album by Echo & The Bunnymen is, IMO, their best. Perhaps not as "accessible" as the wonderful Ocean Rain but Heaven Up Here was a landmark album for its time and it holds up to today's musical standards remarkably well. Dark, moody looping basslines courtesy of Les Pattinson, phenomenal polyrhythmic and tribalesque drumming by Pete de Freitas, cutting, angular guitar chops by Will Sargeant and soaring vocals by a confident Ian McCullough makes this effort the jewel of their now extensive discography. It's hard for me to believe I have been listening to this album for 28+ years. For me, it has not lost one ounce of it's power and enjoyment. Echo & The Bunnymen were an exceptionally unique band and, rightly so, a subsequently influential band. They are in my all-time Top 10. Enjoy!

I loved all the Bunnymen stuff but this album still moves me the most. It takes many listens but it settles into your marrow and never leaves -it will never sound worn out or dated. Essential.

One of the reviewers, tho complimentary, called this album 'classic goth disco'. Um...which album are ya listening to? 'Cos it's not this one. If I heard someone describe any album as 'goth disco', I shan't listen. Be careful fans! No disco here and you shan't find disco on any Echo album for that matter (thankfully). Other reviewers get it right... not an easy listen. But wow does it grow. This deserves to sit along side either of the Joy Division albums as THE quintessential post-punk album. I'm rather sad they departed from the sparse genius of this album (tho I love all the Echo albums). Will is brilliant, the underrated rhythm section is front and center throughout most of it, and Ian has found his voice, and oh what a voice it is. 'No Dark Things' is a forgotten gem. Enjoy.

Look, one of the reviewers here suggests that this album sound too much like U2/Bono. Echo was going for a much more pyschedelic sound. Reality check is that U2's sound and style on their album Boy (1980) and October (1981) and War (1983) was much different then the later U2 albums that all sound like the same guitar riffs over and over. Echo & the Bunnymen's Heaven Up Here (1981) album is fairly dark and moody, but still with a clever smirk. All My Colors, Over the Wall are great. SO listen to U2's October and compare The Heaven Up Here album which was also released in 1981 on vinyl and you will see there is little similarity in the sound of these two bands. I was there saw them live at the time they were new... totally different.

True, this is their most experimental record, but at the same time it is their best. It features their best songwriting and harrowing melodies that make the soul feel desolate, yet warm.

I first listened to this album in college in the mid-80s. It's surprising to read that Heaven Up Here gets the "experimental/not their best" type of ratings. This one, with no disregard at all to the other albums, really is their best. The characteristic guitar work that is so identifying of Echo & the Bunnymen is really starting to find itself in many songs, such as "With a Hip", "It Was a Pleasure", and "Turquoise Days". Just about every song has a very distinctive personality, and a strong and unforgettable one at that. There are no personal favorites here, as most of the songs can be rated at the top. This album is about the group finding it's true voice; the others are good, but this one has to be in the collection of every Echo fan. If you're not a fan yet, maybe let "Killing Moon" take you in, and then move in for maximum Echo.