Echo & The Bunnymen “Porcupine” 1983. We visited family for Easter this past weekend and finally visited Top Spins, an indie/used record store in Appleton, WI and found several great records, including this one. Fortunately the snow from last week’s minor blizzard in Appleton was mostly melted so our walk into downtown did not much resemble this album cover, shot at the Gullfoss waterfall near Reykjavík, Iceland.

Porcupine is Echo’s third LP release, reaching #2 on the UK album chart and #137 in the US. Heavily influenced by 60′s psychedelia, the album swoops in big icy open spaces with bendy guitars, a tense interplay between minor and melodic and Ian McCulloch’s signature howling vocals. The entire record is strong, but my favorite tracks are “The Cutter,” “Back of Love,” “Porcupine,” and “Gods Will Be Gods.” Both “The Cutter” and “Back of Love” were released as singles, the former reaching #8 on the UK singles chart and the latter hit #19.