WAS's Awesome New Wave Song Of The Week #32: Echo & The Bunnymen - The Cutter, & The Alarm - The Stand

The Awesome Song this week comes as a pair of songs with the similarity that they both start off with a bang !

Echo & The Bunnymen hit Top 200 paydirt at #121 with “The Killing Moon”.  A great song off what is likely their best album, "Ocean Rain". However, the first song of theirs I ever heard, and also my favorite by the the band, is “The Cutter” - off their 1983 album “Porcupine”.  "The Cutter" is one of those songs that grabbed me from the moment it begins, with that whirling dervish of an intro reminiscent of what you would hear in a New Wave club located in a hidden corner of a distant Moroccan casbah.  Love how it kicks off the song, which is a manic rant with opaque lyrics and odd references. Lead singer Ian has a field day with the tune, and I never get tired of hearing it.  Epic 80s New Wave at its finest.

Around the same time "The Cutter" came out, a Welsh band named the Alarm released their own song that opens with a harmonica and drum blast!   When I first heard "The Stand” I loved the explosiveness of the opening and how it grabs your attention.  The song is anthemic and enduring and once again, we have a situation where the band’s first release is likely their best work.  It was voted “Screamer of the Week” by listeners on legendary radio station WDRE on July 2, 1983, and 3 more songs off the first Alarm album also got that honor over the following months.   But to me “The Stand” was the best of the lot by far.

As a DJ at the time, I used to play both “The Cutter” and “The Stand”, often on the same show - or even back to back!  And still love both of them today!

Enjoy !

 

-WAS