Outtakes, B-Sides, and Rarities #2: Echo & the Bunnymen "Angels and Devils"

Echo & the Bunnymen was, without question, my favorite band in high school. That, right there, should be enough to make you stop reading. Click away, quick! I won't mind. Hell, I won't even know.

So, granted, the fact that I'm writing about my favorite band from high school twenty-plus years on means I'm incapable of rational consideration of the band's music. Enough has been said elsewhere about the Bunnymen's trailblazing, its passion, its updating of sixties rock sounds, and its rollicking live performances. A couple of the old guys (singer Ian McCulloch and guitarist Will Sargeant) are still going strong--if by "going strong" I can mean "showing occasional flickers of the brilliance that once roared like a bonfire on their records." And I mean just that. They still call themselves "Echo & the Bunnymen," but without Les Pattinson on bass and Pete DeFrietas on drums, they'll never be half as good as they once were. McCulloch could help things along by singing like he gives a damn, but I'll save that rant for another day. You can hear clips from four of their newest songs ("Think I Need It Too," "Do You Know Who I Am?,"Proxy," and "Drivetime") at the band's official MySpace page. These come from their upcoming October release, The Fountain. None sounds particularly exciting, but it's hard to judge from snippets. I'll include the best song from their most recent album below, for good measure.

In any case, here's a B-side the Bunnymen tossed off in some studio in San Francisco while on tour supporting the Ocean Rain album. The song is "Angels and Devils." Rather than describe it, make pronouncements of its genius, or tell you what the song means to me, I'll say only this: The guitars on "Angels and Devils" are exactly the guitar sounds I'd make in my wildest art-rock-star dreams, if only I could play.

DOWNLOAD: "Angels and Devils" by Echo & the Bunnymen
ALSO: "Scissors in the Sand" from the 2005 album Siberia

Here's a performance of "Angels and Devils" from 2001, when they made it a staple of their live shows:


And here's the original band, circa 1985, in a live-acoustic-on-camera performance of the still new single that was backed with "Angels and Devils," "Silver":