Porcupine (1983)

Porcupine is the third studio album by the English post-punk band Echo & the Bunnymen. It was released on 4 February 1983 through the label Korova. It became the band's highest-charting release when it reached number two on the UK Albums Chart despite initially receiving poor reviews. It also reached number 137 on the American Billboard 200, number 85 on the Canadian RPM 100 Albums and number 24 on the Swedish chart. In 1984, the album was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry. The album includes the singles "The Back of Love" and "The Cutter".

Porcupine was recorded at Trident Studios in London, Rockfield Studios in South Wales and Amazon Studios in Liverpool. It was produced by Ian Broudie (credited as "Kingbird"), who had produced their second single, "Rescue". After being rejected by the band's label, the album was re-recorded with Shankar providing strings. It was originally released as an LP in 1983 before being reissued on CD in 1988. The album was reissued as a remastered and expanded CD in 2003, along with the other four of the band's first five studio albums. A VHS video called Porcupine – An Atlas Adventure was also released, containing six promotional videos of tracks from the album.

Production

Background and recording

Following the release of Heaven Up Here in 1981, Echo & the Bunnymen had difficulty writing new material. Lead guitarist Will Sergeant has stated that extensive touring during this period had limited the band's ability to work on new songs, and, while lead singer Ian McCulloch still wanted them to be the best band in the world, other projects were opening up for them as individuals. Drummer Pete de Freitas produced and played drums on Liverpool band the Wild Swans' debut single "Revolutionary Spirit", and Will Sergeant recorded a solo album of instrumental music titled Themes for 'Grind' (1982), which had been intended as a soundtrack to a film. To add to the tensions, bass player Les Pattinson was expressing his weariness with the music industry.

On 27 January 1982, Echo & the Bunnymen recorded their fourth session for British disc jockey John Peel's radio show on BBC Radio 1. Two of the tracks recorded for Peel went on to appear on Porcupine, re-recorded and retitled: "An Equation" (retitled "Higher Hell") and "Taking Advantage" (retitled "The Back of Love"). Ian Broudie, Sergeant's flatmate and the co-producer of 1980's Crocodiles, was chosen to produce "The Back of Love" single and the Porcupine album, which had a working title of The Happy Loss. The single, which became the band's first UK Top 20 hit single, was recorded in early 1982 at Trident Studios in Soho, London, though the band's manager Bill Drummond had previously tried to keep the band away from the temptations of the city. During the recording session for "The Back of Love" the relationship among the band members was strained, so Drummond arranged an April 1982 tour in Scotland in an effort to make the band work harder, write songs and communicate with each other. His plan failed; following the tour, tension persisted among the band members. Two other album tracks, "Clay" and "My White Devil", were first played during the Scottish tour.

Following the release of "The Back of Love" on 21 May 1982, the band played at the inaugural WOMAD festival and then at various European music festivals throughout the summer. The band then resumed recording the album at Rockfield Studios in South Wales, which had been used for the band's first two albums, and also at Amazon Studios in Liverpool. According to de Freitas, recording the album was a slow process: "Porcupine was very hard to actually write and record [...] Heaven Up Here was pure confidence, we did it really quickly; we had a great time doing it – but this one was like we had to drag it out of ourselves." McCulloch later said that when recording the album, the mood among the band members was "horrible".

When presented with the finished album, WEA rejected it as "too uncommercial". The band agreed to rerecord the album despite Sergeant's complaints. Using the original version of the album as a blueprint, the follow-up recording sessions went more smoothly. Drummond brought Shankar back to add strings to the other tracks on the album. These sessions produced the band's next single "The Cutter", which was released in January 1983 and went on to become the band's first Top 10 hit.