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New-wavers

Hook and the Bunnymen are back

by Tristram Lozaw

In the early '80s, New Order and Echo & the Bunnymen established important and influential post-punk beachheads in the pre-alternative world. New Order foreshadowed contemporary electronica with their disco-rock mash; Echo's orchestrated neo-psychedelic pop provided a teenage soundtrack for the generation of Courtney Love and Billy Corgan. Nevertheless, time and the overdriven guitars of alternative rock weren't kind to these Brits. The last time we caught up with them on tour, a pathetic Ian McCulloch-less Echo were visiting the frat bars of America and New Order couldn't stomach being in the same bus with one another (that was 1993). But with grunge's Marshall stacks losing their commercial power and relevance, Echo & the Bunnymen have regrouped, and New Order bassist Peter Hook is back doing what he does best in Monaco, who come to Avalon this Monday.

Monaco aren't quite New Order -- it's Hook and young guitarist David Potts, who played in another one of Hook's side projects, Revenge. But it's hard to tell the difference after listening to "What Do You Want From Me?" and several other tracks on Music for Pleasure (Polydor), which picks up where New Order left off. Hook sings with the same reedy tone as New Order's Bernard Sumner and employs New Order's well-programmed discoid rhythms, floating synths, and, especially, high-fret bass melodies. Although it's nice to hear his signature bass playing prominently featured after a decade of guitar dominance, that's not Hook's chief contribution to Monaco, or even to the realm of modern rock. (Despite the numerous press clippings that suggest otherwise, Hook was neither the first nor the only scruff to let a bass guitar carry the melody line.) Instead, give thanks that Hook has retained custody of New Order's most significant gift to pop music -- reminding rockers that it's okay to dance.

Next to, say, the Chemical Brothers, Monaco's mechanized groove is pretty mild-mannered stuff. Where the Chemicals shape beat collages that flash by like fireworks, Monaco's modern rhythm poems are the kind you hum while looking into the mirror in the morning -- bright, simple, catchy. True to the CD's title, Hook's new songs reflect a newly positive outlook, not just about freely pursuing his New Order inclinations, but about exploring brave new worlds of pop.

"Sweet Lips" lays subtle electronica sequences over Potts's almost Motown-funky lines before "Buzz Gum" zags off into Beatleland. "Blue" features an acoustic guitar with chamber accompaniment, "Billy Bones" rides mostly successful electro-ethno experiments, and "Under the Stars" buzzes along atop glide-rock beats. The CD's standout, "Junk," is a nine-minute byte of techno-mix glee, with a lush Tangerine Dream pulse laid over New Order's . . . excuse me, Monaco's superior beat box. The lyrics could kindly be called lightweight vehicles for Hook's hooks. But the balance provided by the unjaded, eager Potts makes for a good partnership -- and makes Music for Pleasures a winning album. Besides, who wants to have to stop and think when you're on the dance floor?

Staging a comeback isn't quite as easy for Echo & the Bunnymen, whose best work was best listened to late at night in darkened rooms where (often substance-aided) brains plugged into the music's every breathy vocal and glimmering rustle of notes. On the new Evergreen (London), the re-formed group (without late drummer Pete de Freitas) match and, in some spots, actually improve on the kind of lush atmospheres they've always excelled at. Broad melodic textures are delivered with an understated melodrama rich with symphonic strings and ever-percolating drums. McCulloch's voice still swaggers in the manner of a limey Jim Morrison, only smoother, more melodically accomplished, and (now) less moody. But the first six songs of Evergreen are silvery fluff in need of musical anchors: more time seems to have been spent on studio production than song development. With a little further work the single, "I Want To Be There (When You Come)," could have been up to the level of the Bunnymen's classic "Do It Clean."

Skipping to what would be side two if the Bunnymen were still living in the age of the vinyl album, the disc opens up, the stiffness subsides, and the orchestrations are integrated better. On "Baseball Bill," Will Sergeant's sparkle-fuzz guitar and Les Pattison's unfussy bass work dovetail nicely with a spacy middle break. Sergeant burns a psychedelic hole into "Altamont." McCulloch even makes the sing-songy chorus of "Too Young To Kneel" sound poignant. But the group are back to square one on the weak-kneed hymn "Forgiven," a disappointing finale. In the age of the CD, Hook and the Bunnymen may never be as important as they once were. But at least their new discs show why they were once so influential.