hissclub

Heaven Up Here (1981)

★★★★ Jun 28, 2026

This is the sound of a band getting moodier and meaner without losing their sense of drama. The guitars have that wet cold post punk shimmer, but the rhythm section is what really sells it for me because everything keeps pushing forward even when the songs feel half buried in fog. Ian McCulloch is fully in love with his own intensity here and somehow it works. I get why people see this as the point where Echo and the Bunnymen stopped being just promising and became properly huge in spirit. Dark record, but very alive.

For Your Pleasure (1973)

For Your Pleasure | 1973 | UK | Island Records | ILPS 9232 | Vinyl LP, Album

★★★★ Jun 28, 2026

This feels like glam rock getting bored with just being glamorous. You still get all the drama and attitude from Bryan Ferry, but there is something stranger happening underneath and that is the part I keep coming back for. Eno leaves these odd little textures and slippery details around the songs so the whole thing feels stylish and unstable at the same time. The UK Island LP also fits the album well because it keeps that rough art school edge instead of smoothing everything out. I get why people treat it as one of the key early Roxy records because it sounds ambitious without pretending to be serious in a dull way. Messy, theatrical, and a lot more adventurous than it first appears.