Songs to Learn & Sing

Songs to Learn & Sing
Greatest hits album by Echo & the Bunnymen
Released 11 November 1985[1]
Recorded 1979–1985
Genre Post-punk, new wave[2]
Length 40:09
Label Korova, Sire
Producer Ian Broudie, Bill Drummond, David Balfe, Hugh Jones, Echo & the Bunnymen, Laurie Latham
Echo & the Bunnymen chronology
Ocean Rain
(1984)		 Songs to Learn and Sing
(1985)		 Echo & the Bunnymen
(1987)
Singles from Songs to Learn & Sing
  1. "Bring on the Dancing Horses"
    Released: 14 November 1985
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic link
Robert ChristgauC+[3]

Songs to Learn & Sing is a compilation album by Echo & the Bunnymen which was released on 11 November 1985 and featured all of the singles the band had released up to that point. Released on LP, cassette and CD by Korova, WEA and Sire Records, the album received good reviews and reached number six on the UK Albums Chart[4] and number 158 on the US Billboard 200.[5]

Releases

Songs to Learn & Sing was first released as an LP, a cassette and a CD by Korova in the United Kingdom, WEA in Germany and Sire Records in the United States on 15 November 1985. The LP and cassette versions of the album have six tracks on side one and five tracks on side two. The album was also available as a limited edition picture disc and a limited edition album with a copy of the "The Pictures on My Wall" single. The album was reissued on 17 October 1990 by WEA.

The tracks included on the album are in chronological order and taken from the four studio albums that had been released up to that point as well including two non-album singles: "Rescue" from the Crocodiles album; "The Puppet", a non-album single; "Do It Clean", the B-side to "The Puppet"; "A Promise" from the Heaven Up Here album; "The Back of Love" and "The Cutter" from the Porcupine album; "Never Stop", a non-album single; "The Killing Moon", "Silver" and "Seven Seas" from the Ocean Rain album; and "Bring on the Dancing Horses" a new single.

Release history

Region Date Label Format Catalogue number
United Kingdom 11 November 1985[1] Korova LP KODE 13
LP picture disc KODE 13P
Cassette CODE 13
Germany 15 November 1985 WEA LP 240,767-1
CD 2292-40767-2
United States 15 November 1985 Sire Records LP 1-25360
CD 25360-2

Singles

Although the album is a compilation album it included one previously unreleased single — "Bring on the Dancing Horses" which was released on 14 November 1985. The single reached number 21 on the UK Singles Chart[4] and number 15 on the Irish Singles Chart.[6]

Reception

Allmusic rated the release four and a half stars out of five and describes the album as "a solid and comprehensive collection of the band's material".[7] The album was listed in Rock Compact Disc magazine's list of 45 classic "British Indie Guitar Rock" albums.[8] The album was also reasonably successful with the fans which was shown by the album reaching number 6 on the UK Albums Chart.[4]

Chart positions

Chart (1985) Peak
Position
UK Albums Chart[4] 6
Billboard 200[5] 158

Track listing

All tracks written by Will Sergeant, Ian McCulloch, Les Pattinson and Pete de Freitas.

Note: track timings taken from original LP's labels.

  1. "Rescue" – 3:46
  2. "The Puppet" – 3:05
  3. "Do It Clean" – 2:43
  4. "A Promise" – 3:40
  5. "The Back of Love" – 3:13
  6. "The Cutter" – 3:55
  7. "Never Stop" – 3:29
  8. "The Killing Moon" – 5:46
  9. "Silver" – 3:17
  10. "Seven Seas" – 3:19
  11. "Bring on the Dancing Horses" – 3:56

Personnel

Musicians

Production

References

  1. 1 2 "Certified Awards Search". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 27 August 2009. Note: User needs to enter "Echo & The Bunnymen" in the "Search" field, "Artist" in the "Search by" field and click the "Go" button. Select "More info" next to the relevant entry to see full certification history.
  2. ↑ MacKenzie Wilson (15 November 1985). "Songs to Learn and Sing – Echo & the Bunnymen | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 2013-08-22.
  3. ↑ Christgau, Robert. "Echo & the Bunnymen". Robert Christgau.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Roberts, David, ed. (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). HIT Entertainment. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  5. 1 2 "Echo & the Bunnymen > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums". Allmusic. Retrieved 2008-04-03.
  6. ↑ "The Irish Charts – All there is to know". IRMA. 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-30.
  7. ↑ Wilson, MacKenzie. "Songs to Learn and Sing - Review". Allmusic. Retrieved 2008-05-19.
  8. ↑ Patterson, Sylvia (April 1993). "State of Independents: British Indie Guitar Rock". Rock Compact Disc. Retrieved 2008-05-19.

External links

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