Echo & the Bunnymen “Songs to Learn & Sing” released on this date in the US, November 15th, 1985 (released on Nov. 11th in the UK). Songs to Learn & Sing is a compilation album from the band’s material up to ‘85, plus the new single “Bring on the Dancing Horses” which they recorded for the John Hughes movie Pretty in Pink (it reached #21 on the UK charts). I picked up this copy sometime in ‘86 at New Frontier Record Exchange, a resale record store at which I spent a lot of time after school and on weekends in downtown Appleton, WI and surprisingly only got kicked out of one time.

Songs to Learn & Sing tracks, in chronological order, selections from Echo’s four previous albums: “Rescue” from Crocodile; “A Promise” from Heaven Up Here; “The Back of Love” and “The Cutter” from Porcupine; “The Killing Moon,” “Silver” and “Seven Seas” from Ocean Rain.  It also includes three non-album singles: “The Puppet” (which also appears in Urgh! A Music War), “Never Stop” and my all-time favorite Echo track “Do It Clean,” though “Do It Clean” did appear on the US release of Crocodiles. According to Allmusic, the Sire Records rep heard on this song (which is an “homage to the underground sound of the 60′s…rippling with the menace of The Stooges, the jittery guitars of the Velvet Underground, and the wild abandon of garage heroes The Seeds”) a swear word which didn’t really exist and he therefore nixed its inclusion on the UK release. The controversy was cleared up but too late for the pressing’s release so instead Sire included a bonus 45 with the early British vinyl copies. “Do It Clean” would also be included later as the b-side to “The Puppet” and then again on the flip to “Killing Moon.”