This came out in 2001 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Too many bands break up long before they get a chance to grow up.
Back at the end of the ’80s, neo-psychedelic post-punks Echo & The Bunnymen looked like they were headed for that ignoble end when singer Ian McCulloch quit and the band ploughed on without him. Thankfully, everybody wised up and made up eventually. Their ninth studio album Flowers continues the progression that the Bunnymen (now down to McCulloch, guitarist Will Sergeant and some hired hands) have made since 1997’s Evergreen and ’99’s What Are You Going To Do With Your Life. Rather than cling to the teeth-grinding, acid-washed post-punk of their youth, the boys opt once again for swirling, woozy pop psychedelia filled with fleeting synthesizer effects, shimmering guitar jangle and McCulloch’s druggy, Jim Morrisonian tones. Sure, the gentle Big Star-ish pop and worldly wise perspective of Life Goes On are a long way from the barely restrained angst of their magnificent debut album Crocodiles. But I doubt you’ll be exactly the same 20 years from now, either.
