The remixes of the 80’s era singles are brilliant. “Rescue (Mindwinder’s Remix)” is an extended instrumental variation of their 1980 single and, as the title suggests, is glistening, icy and hypnotic. Equally great and super-psychedelic is “A Promise (Lo Fi Lullabye #1)” – that single originally released in ’81 – which is slowed down and mellowed out. Also excellent are live recordings of two of my favorite Echo tracks: “Killing Moon” and “Lips Like Sugar,” both from the Reading Festival in 2005. I’m not sure where the live version of “Villiers Terrace” is from (it originally appeared on their 1980 album Crocodiles) but it is totally rocking and then evolves into The Doors’ “Roadhouse Blues” which is awesome and hilarious: Echo’s never-ceasing Jim Morrison fascination.

The later-era material featured on B-sides & Live comes from Flowers (2001) and Siberia (2005). Like earlier Echo songs, it’s heavily neo-psychedelic, with lots of shimmer and swirl. My top picks from Flowers: “Marble Towers” (only available on the Japanese pressing), “Supermellowman (Instrumental Version)” and the cover of the Beatles’ “Ticket to Ride” which was a b-side to “Make Me Shine.” “Make Me Shine (Live Acoustic Version)” makes an appearance on B-sides as well; the original version was second single from Flowers. From Siberia “In the Margins (Instrumental Version)” is simply beautiful, as is the live version (also from Reading, 2005), its guitar melody very Johnny Marr-esque.

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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.”

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