Echo & the Bunnymen | The Puppet | Promo | 1980

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Description

The Echo & the Bunnymen single, The Puppet, was released forty years ago on or around this day, the 12th of September 1980. To commemorate, here’s a new imaginary promo video for it. It is made from live footage shot at The Lyceum in 1980, as featured in the 1981 film, “Urgh! A Music War”, recut to the original studio version of The Puppet.

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The Puppet was released just two months after the release of the Bunnymen debut album, Crocodiles. The album had been an immediate critical and commercial success. It was decided to swiftly follow up with a single, but the band did not want to release an existing album track.

Like Crocodiles, The Puppet was produced by Bill Drummond and David Balfe and recorded at Rockfield Studios in Wales. It’s not clear to me if the song/the recording hails from the Crocodiles album sessions at Rockfield, or was from a subsequent visit.

On September 7th, a week prior to the release of The Puppet, the band played their first show for several months, at The Lyceum in London. The Puppet was debuted at that show, and that is the footage we have here.

I’m uncertain of the exact date The Puppet was released. It is generally stated as 14th of September 1980. But that date was a Sunday, so I think it must be incorrect.

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The consensus seems to be that The Puppet is not one of the Bunnymen’s finer moments. “…lacks versatility… They need a good fight-it’s no use being angry in a corner”, concluded The Puppet review on NME singles page, in September 1980. "Their third single, from 1980, remains the only misfire in a glorious heyday…”. claimed The Guardian in a recent gig review. Even the band themselves don’t seem to like it: During said show, it was reported that McCulloch berated an audience member who called for the song; “We're not playing The Puppet! We played it once and it was crap!" (the Bunnymen actually played it about a dozen times).

I disagree, I think it’s a great record. It has Will Sargeant’s catchy riff, Pete DeFritas’ super crisp drumming, Les Patinson’s driving bass, and a great vocal from Ian McCulloch. I love the way the song builds into the multi-tracked vocal, topped off with a subtle descending synth line.

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This video was very problematic to produce. I’ve been tinkering away at it, on and off for a couple of years. The original footage presented a lot of difficulties mostly because several scenes fade into random shots of people hanging around outside the Lyceum. Still, some parts had worked out straight away, and they looked great to me. But then the massed multi-tracked vocals in the latter section was a nightmare of coordination, and I just couldn’t seem to get right. Then with some down time from my day job in these recent months, I have been able to put in a lot of hours, and finally get it worked out to my satisfaction.

Thanks for watching, hope you dig it!

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Credits

Video:
Echo and the Bunnymen live at The Lyceum, September 7th 1980 • From the 1981 film “Urgh! A Music War” • Directed by Derek Burbidge.

Audio:
Echo & the Bunnymen • The Puppet • Recorded 1980 • Produced by The Chameleons (Bill Drummond and David Balfe) • Released September 1980

Musicians:
Vocals, Guitar • Ian McCulloch
Lead Guitar • Will Sergeant
Bass • Les Pattinson
Drums • Pete de Freitas
Keyboards • David Balfe

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Always more videos to follow, so please keep your electric eye on me babe!I don't own the rights, and I'm not making any money out of this etc. Just a fan making videos for other fans.

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