What Are You Going to Do with Your Life?

Echo & The Bunnymen

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 22, 1999)
• Original Release Date: June 22, 1999
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sire / London/Rhino
• ASIN: B00000JC6Q
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #36,907 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Track Listings

1. What Are You Going to Do With Your Life?

2. Rust

3. Get in the Car

4. Baby Rain

5. History Chimes

6. Lost on You

7. Morning Sun

8. When It All Blows Over

9. Fools Like Us

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

It's a fair question, and one that is equally fair to ask of the band: What have they done with their lives? If this album is any indication, they have grown up. While it is great to hear Ian McCulloch's voice again, don't expect the cracked squeal and bark that helped to establish the band as a bastion of early alternative music. Here, his voice is tamed, deep, steady, and a little weary. Fans of older Echo albums will hear this and think of a reunion with an old friend who, once excitable and angry, has become worldly and reflective. The tracks are unhurried and swirling, like a strong river current. Ringing rhythm guitar replaces naked post-punk melody. String and horn accompaniments are so mellow that removed from the context of these songs they are nothing short of Muzak. This is still the Echo and the Bunnymen you know and love, but the album rallies against the one thing you shouldn't do with your life: live in the past. --Beth Massa

Product Description

Full title - What Are You Going To Do With Your Life? Originally released in 1999, this great album is pared down to just McCulloch & Sergeant. London.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Get in the Car, taking a ride..., November 19, 1999

By A Customer

After a few stagnant years (IMHO), Ian and Will are back with a fantastic album. Although hardly a "true" Bunnymen reunion, this effort is far better than "Evergreen" and the Electrafixion era. Harkening back to "Ocean Rain" (my favorite song and Bunnymen album), the strings and orchestral touches are a bit more understated, and there are some surprising arrangements that initially make you wonder if this is really a Bunnymen recording. A bit older, sadder and wiser (judging by the lyrics), this ain't your father's Bunnymen.

Will Sergeant (a vastly underrated guitar player IMO) comes through with some of his finest work to date, and Ian McCullough's weary vocals add to the elegance of the songs.

Songs like Rust, Get in the Car and Baby Rain are pure pop gems. They make me want to pick up that dusty acoustic guitar and play along. In fact, that's just what I'm going to do.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally, the true follow-up to "Ocean Rain.", July 26, 1999

By A Customer

It's been a long, dry 15 years since the grandiose gorgeousness of "Ocean Rain": the horribly compromised 1987 "grey album", a pair of so-so Ian McCulloch solo albums, Will Sergeant's noble-but-doomed "Reverberation," the good-but-not-great Electrafixion and 1997's decent-if-uninspiring comeback "Evergreen." By rights, "What Are You Going To Do With Your Life?" should have been another by-the-numbers piece of product destined to please no one but a dwindling group of hard core fans. Somehow, though, it's anything but. McCulloch & Sergeant have finally risen to the occasion and delivered an album that stands as their first tangible sign of musical greatness since the closing seconds of "Ocean Rain." Improbable as it sounds, this is an utterly ravishing album that completely recaptures the Bunnymen magic of yore. What a pity they didn't release something like this in 1987; they'd have conquered the earth with it. For skeptical, long-suffering Bunnyfans like me, this album is nothing short of a miracle. See you at the barricades...

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Bunny-est album in 15 years, February 7, 2001

By	kett (California) - See all my reviews

Following up their excellent reunion album, 1997's Evergreen, with this lush little gem, What...? proves that Echo & The Bunnymen are back for good. Whereas Evergreen found the band brash and playful in its "we're-back" sound, the new album recalls their 1984 masterpiece, Ocean Rain, in its brooding, introspective moodiness and orchestration. The nine tracks, however, clock in at only 38 minutes, and while that may have been acceptable in the days of vinyl, it seems downright stingy now. Especially considering that the 4 b-sides available on the 2 "Rust" cd-singles could have easily been incorporated into this release. Fortunately, these nine tracks have clearly been chosen for their cohesiveness and quality, leaving the listener with little to sequence or edit.

The opening title track sets the tone for what will follow - melancholy strings punctuated by laid-back guitar strumming and Ian McCulloch's trademark yearning vocals. Reminiscent of the song "Ocean Rain", the placement of this track at the beginning is a hint that this album is more candlelight than glitterball. This is followed by the single, "Rust", which has a similarly orchestral sound built around yet another melancholy lyric line borrowed in part from one of Ian's last solo b-sides, "Ribbons And Chains". The pace picks up with "Get In The Car", a soothingly upbeat radio-friendly tune, and "Baby Rain". After the lush orchestration of the preceding tracks, "History Chimes" gleams elegantly - a simple, soulful combination of Ian's voice accompanied only by piano, and arguably the best track on the album. "Lost On You" is another remodeled Ian b-side originally titled "Birdy". "Morning Sun" recalls the Evergreen sound, with heavier drums and guitars and a catchy chorus. "When It All Blows Over" provides a short retro respite before the concluding shimmer of "Fools Like Us" brings the album to a close with an onslaught of violins and guitars.

While not quite the masterpiece that Ocean Rain was, What...? earns the distinction of being the Bunny-est album in 15 years. Highly recommended despite its short length - sometimes big things do come in small, elegant packages.