Echo & The Bunnymen: Flowers (2001)
But the post-reunion work is surprisingly great. Ok, fine, I can't say they have any stand-alone singles as memorable as, say, "The Killing Moon" or "The Cutter." But as an album band, they're arguably as good as, if not better than, they ever were.
2001's Flowers is particularly strong. It sounds great, McCulloch's distinctive new wave croon and Sergeant's alternately jangly and boomy atmospherics meshing perfectly. And, yeah, there are some pretty terrific songs. "Make Me Shine" has a lovely, Byrdsy jangle; "It's Alright" is a massive Britpop anthem; "Everybody Knows" is thoroughly rousing, one of their best post-80s tracks. But the quieter pieces make an impact as well, like the languid, psychedelic groove of "Buried Alive," with its Frippy guitar line revisiting Bowie's "Heroes."
Personally, I think one can enjoy their second run even without a reverence for the first; sonically and musically, a newbie could easily mistake them for a new band that grew up on the Stone Roses and Oasis and the Charlatans, rather than some new wave-era leftovers trying to relive past glories. (The band's most recent proper album came out in 2014; 2018's release was an odd and inessential (albeit perfectly pleasant) set of reworked, heavily orchestrated versions of older material.)
Here's "It's Alright":
...and "Everybody Knows":Here's a live version of the title track:
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