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The Fountain

Echo And The Bunnymen

The Fountain

Album no.5 since their 1997 reformation from the Scouse post-punk legends, featuring Coldplay's Chris Martin

ADM rating[?]

5.4

Label
Ocean Rain
UK Release date
13/10/2009
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  1. 8.5 |   Independent on Sunday

    Sweeping, epic music that sounds almost as good as it did in the Bunnymen's pomp
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  2. 8.0 |   The Guardian

    Their most accessible offering in a long time sees Ian McCulloch at his most lyrically playful and cocksure
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  3. 6.1 |   Pitchfork

    The band's classic albums and best reunion discs (Evergreen and Flowers) have a cavernous darkness and intensity that McCulloch and Sergeant simply don't muster here. Ultimately, The Fountain is an echo of an echo, inessential to all but the band's most devoted followers
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  4. 6.0 |   Q

    Print edition only

  5. 6.0 |   NME

    Sorry, boys – we’ll burn a few crates of ‘No Line On The Horizon’ to even the karmic balance
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  6. 6.0 |   The Times

    John McLaughlin (Busted, 5ive) has kindled the kind of wing-spreading melodies that, while diehards weep behind their greying fringes, could win over a new generation.
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  7. 6.0 |   Observer Music Monthly

    Print edition only

  8. 6.0 |   The Sunday Times

    The Fountain has a sharper, smarter, more radio-friendly sound than we expect. At least, the first half does... but the album’s second half rapidly loses its way
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  9. 6.0 |   Blurt

    He sticks with mid-range talk singing. He doesn't sound bad, he just sounds.... average. That's just one of things working against this album
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  10. 6.0 |   Rave Magazine

    The acoustic-led closing double of Drivetime and The Idolness Of Gods commands attention, but even then, the poignant Nothing Lasts Forever from 1997’s Evergreen remains the last truly great Echo & The Bunnymen song
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  11. 4.0 |   Tiny Mix Tapes

    ...for all of their wonderful contributions to modern pop music, McCulloch and Sergeant aspired for too much this time around
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  12. 4.0 |   The Fly

    ‘The Fountain’ is a shower of shit
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  13. 4.0 |   PopMatters

    To avoid risking further embarrassment and degradation of their impressive legacy, McCulloch and Sergeant need to consider making The Fountain the final Echo & the Bunnymen album. Because on the evidence here, they don’t have another comeback in them
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  14. 4.0 |   musicOMH

    They feel like they're going through the motions without any real urgency.
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  15. 4.0 |   The Scotsman

    They now sound virtually interchangeable with all the poor Bunnymen imitators who have sprung up lately under the guise of early 1980s revivalism
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  16. 4.0 |   Uncut

    Print edition only

  17. 4.0 |   Mojo

    Print edition only

  18. Back to main chart

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Echo And The Bunnymen: The Fountain

  • Download full album for just £9.49
  • 1. Think I Need It Too N/A
  • 2. Forgotten Fields N/A
  • 3. Do You Know Who I Am? N/A
  • 4. Shroud of Turin N/A
  • 5. Life of 1,000 Crimes N/A
  • 6. The Fountain N/A
  • 7. Everlasting Neverendless N/A
  • 8. Proxy N/A
  • 9. Drivetime N/A
  • 10. The Idolness of Gods N/A
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