Heaven Up Here
Encyclopedia
Heaven Up Here is the second album by the British post-punk
Post-punk
Post-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...

 band Echo & the Bunnymen
Echo & the Bunnymen
Echo & the Bunnymen are an English post-punk band, formed in Liverpool in 1978. The original line-up consisted of vocalist Ian McCulloch, guitarist Will Sergeant and bass player Les Pattinson, supplemented by a drum machine. By 1980, Pete de Freitas had joined as the band's drummer, and their debut...

, released in 30 May 1981. In June 1981, Heaven Up Here became Echo & the Bunnymen's first Top 10 release when it reached number 10 on the UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...

. It was also the band's first entry into the United States albums charts when it reached number 184 of the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

. Heaven Up Here released the singles "A Promise
A Promise (song)
"A Promise" is the fourth single by Echo & the Bunnymen and was released on 10 July 1981. It stayed on the UK Singles Chart for four weeks and peaked at number 49...

" and "Over the Wall
Over the Wall
"Over the Wall" is a single by Echo & the Bunnymen which was released in 1981 in Australia and is from the 1981 album Heaven Up Here. The b-side of the single, which wasn't released in any other country, was the title track from the band's 1980 debut album, Crocodiles...

".

Recorded at Rockfield Studios
Rockfield Studios
Rockfield Studios, near Monmouth in Wales and just outside the village of Rockfield, Monmouthshire are where many of British rock music’s most successful recordings have been made.-History:...

 near Monmouth
Monmouth
Monmouth is a town in southeast Wales and traditional county town of the historic county of Monmouthshire. It is situated close to the border with England, where the River Monnow meets the River Wye with bridges over both....

 in Wales, Heaven Up Here was co-produced by Hugh Jones and the band. A generally well received album by fans in the United Kingdom and by critics, Heaven Up Here won the "Best Dressed LP" and "Best Album" awards at the 1981 NME Awards
NME Awards
The NME Awards is an annual music awards show in the United Kingdom, founded by the music magazine, NME .The first awards show was held in 1953 as the NME Poll Winners Concerts, shortly after the founding of the magazine....

. The album has also been listed at number 471 in Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

 magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Background and recording

After the public and press interest garnered from Echo & the Bunnymen's debut album, Crocodiles
Crocodiles (album)
Crocodiles is the debut album by the British post-punk band Echo & the Bunnymen. It was released on 18 July 1980 in the United Kingdom and on 17 December 1980 in the United States. The album reached number 17 on the UK Albums Chart...

, the band released the Shine So Hard
Shine So Hard
Shine So Hard is a live 12" EP released by the band Echo & the Bunnymen on 10 April 1981. The EP reached number 37 on the UK Singles Chart.-Overview:...

 EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

 which maintained their profile. Work then soon began on their second album, Heaven Up Here. Following musical differences between the band and Crocodiles producers
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

 Bill Drummond
Bill Drummond
William Ernest Drummond is a Scottish artist, musician, writer and record producer. He was the co-founder of late 1980s avant-garde pop group The KLF and its 1990s media-manipulating successor, the K Foundation, with which he burned a million pounds in 1994...

 and David Balfe
David Balfe
David Balfe is most notable for playing keyboards with The Teardrop Explodes, founding the Zoo and Food record labels, signing Blur and for being the subject of their number one hit - "Country House".-Biography:...

, Hugh Jones was brought in to produce Heaven Up Here. Jones had previously engineered
Audio engineering
An audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...

 Crocodiles and co-produced Shine So Hard with Drummond. Jones would later go on to produce the band's 2005 album Siberia
Siberia (album)
Siberia is the tenth studio album by Echo & the Bunnymen. The album garnered generally positive reviews, with some commentators calling it their best work since Ocean Rain, despite it being the first to not reach the UK Top 75....

. The band were also given an additional producer credit. The album was recorded as Rockfield Studios
Rockfield Studios
Rockfield Studios, near Monmouth in Wales and just outside the village of Rockfield, Monmouthshire are where many of British rock music’s most successful recordings have been made.-History:...

 near Monmouth
Monmouth
Monmouth is a town in southeast Wales and traditional county town of the historic county of Monmouthshire. It is situated close to the border with England, where the River Monnow meets the River Wye with bridges over both....

 in Wales during March 1981.

In the liner notes
Liner notes
Liner notes are the writings found in booklets which come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for vinyl records and cassettes.-Origin:...

 to the 2003 remaster
Remaster
Remaster is a word marketed mostly in the digital audio age, although the remastering process has existed since recording began...

ed version of the album, lead singer Ian McCulloch
Ian McCulloch (singer)
Ian Stephen McCulloch is an English singer, born in Liverpool, and is best known as the frontman for the rock group Echo & the Bunnymen.-Career:...

 said that he constantly had the American rock band The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City. First active from 1964 to 1973, their best-known members were Lou Reed and John Cale, who both went on to find success as solo artists. Although experiencing little commercial success while together, the band is often cited...

's song "What Goes On" in the back of his mind. He also stated that the band wanted to record a soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...

 album. In the same liner notes, bassist Les Pattinson
Les Pattinson
Les Pattinson is an English musician, best known for his work as the bassist and co-writer of the Liverpool based band, Echo & the Bunnymen....

 said that the band was often lazy and hence had hired rehearsal space at the Ministry in Liverpool. He said this made them work harder and develop "language" in the rhythm. According to guitarist Will Sergeant
Will Sergeant
Will Sergeant is an English guitarist, best known for being a member of Echo & the Bunnymen. Born in the centre of Liverpool, he grew up in the suburb of Melling and attended nearby Deyes High School...

, McCulloch considers Heaven Up Here to be Sergeant's album because he was bossy and a control freak during the recording.

Music

In 1981, music magazine the NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...

 described the album as darker and more passionate than 1980's Crocodiles. The Record Mirror
Record Mirror
Record Mirror was a British weekly pop music newspaper, founded by Isadore Green and featured, news articles, interviews, record charts, record reviews, concert reviews, letters from readers and photographs. The paper became respected by both mainstream pop music fans and serious record collectors...

 also said that the band sang the blues and devoted themselves to existential sadness. They went on to note that the album offered "an anatomy of melancholy, resplendent with the glamour of doom". Melody Maker
Melody Maker
Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...

 disagreed when in 1981 they said "the Bunnymen are continuing to play majestic, uplifting music that will shine through the dark days ahead of us". In the 2002 book Turquoise Days: The Weird World of Echo & the Bunnymen, author Chris Adams said that in 1995 McCulloch had said, "That spikey edge [of the album] still stands up." In relation to their style of music, in 1980 McCulloch had said, "I always say 'We're a rock band'. Because I'm proud of that." He added, "I like rock music [...] I prefer being good or great within that basic format [...] I just prefer basic songs."

In his 2005 book Rip It Up and Start Again: Post Punk 1978–1984, British music journalist Simon Reynolds
Simon Reynolds
Simon Reynolds is an English music critic who is well-known for his writings on electronic dance music and for coining the term "post-rock". Besides electronic dance music, Reynolds has written about a wide range of artists and musical genres, and has written books on post-punk and rock...

 described the sound of Heaven Up Here as having been filled out with "guitar overdubs, keyboard glints, vocal multitracking and atmospheric vapours". Comparing Heaven Up Here with Joy Division
Joy Division
Joy Division were an English rock band formed in 1976 in Salford, Greater Manchester. Originally named Warsaw, the band primarily consisted of Ian Curtis , Bernard Sumner , Peter Hook and Stephen Morris .Joy Division rapidly evolved from their initial punk rock influences...

's 1980 album Closer
Closer (Joy Division album)
Closer is the second and final studio album by the English post-punk band Joy Division, released , two months following the suicide of lead singer Ian Curtis. The album was originally scheduled to be released on . The record was originally released on the Factory Records label as a 12" LP and...

, Reynolds said they are "harrowed by the same things [...] hypocrisy, distrust, betrayal, lost or frozen potential". However, he said that "Closer shows Ian Curtis
Ian Curtis
Ian Kevin Curtis was an English singer and lyricist, famous for leading the post-punk band Joy Division. Joy Division released their debut album, Unknown Pleasures, in 1979 and recorded their follow-up, Closer, in 1980...

 fatally mesmerised by his own dread visions, Heaven Up Here ultimately turns its face towards the light" with the tracks "No Dark Things" – which he describes as renouncing "death-wishful thinking" – and "All I Want" – which he describes as "a blasting celebration of desire for desire's sake" and "pure intransitive exhilaration".

Cover

The photograph used on the front and back cover of the album was taken by photographer Brian Griffin. The picture shows the band on a wet beach in the south of Wales; there are dark clouds in the sky and the sun is low on the horizon causing the band to be silhouetted. The picture was taken on a day off from recording the album. The original album's cover art was designed by Martyn Atkins. The cover received the "Best Dressed LP" award in the 1981 NME Awards
NME Awards
The NME Awards is an annual music awards show in the United Kingdom, founded by the music magazine, NME .The first awards show was held in 1953 as the NME Poll Winners Concerts, shortly after the founding of the magazine....

. Reynolds said that the band's manager Drummond saw them as representing "cold, dampness, darkness".

The front cover picture of the original album was kept for the 2003 reissue. However, the design was altered slightly by graphic designer Rachel Gutek of the design company guppyart. The release contained an expanded booklet written by music journalist Max Bell giving the background to the album. The booklet also contains a number of photographs which are credited to Sergeant and Pattinson.

Releases

The album was originally released as an LP
LP album
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...

 by Korova
Korova (record label)
Korova is a record label, distributed by the Warner Elektra Asylum group of record companies.The imprint was founded in 1979 as an outlet for Echo & the Bunnymen, with its first album release being their debut Crocodiles...

 in the United Kingdom on 30 May 1981. It was then released in the United States by Sire Records
Sire Records
Sire Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer, each investing ten thousand dollars into the new company. Its early releases as a...

 on 24 June 1981. It was released elsewhere on Korova although with a different catalogue number. Side one of the LP contained five tracks and side two had six. The album was first released on CD on 16 May 1988.

Along with their first five albums, the album was remastered and reissued on CD in 2003 containing five bonus track
Bonus track
In terms of recorded music, a bonus track is a piece of music which has been included on specific releases or reissues of an album. This is most often done as a promotional device, either as an incentive to customers to purchase albums they might otherwise not, or to repurchase albums they already...

s – these releases were marketed as 25th anniversary editions. "Broke My Neck (Long Version)", which was recorded at Tistedal Studios in Norway on 7 June 1981, is the B-side
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...

 of the 12-inch single
12-inch single
The 12-inch single is a type of gramophone record that has wider groove spacing compared to other types of records. This allows for louder levels to be cut on the disc by the cutting engineer, which in turn gives a wider dynamic range, and thus better sound quality...

 "A Promise
A Promise (song)
"A Promise" is the fourth single by Echo & the Bunnymen and was released on 10 July 1981. It stayed on the UK Singles Chart for four weeks and peaked at number 49...

" – an edited version was used as the B-side of the 7-inch single
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...

. The other four bonus tracks were recorded live at the Manley Vale Hotel in Sydney, Australia on 11 November 1981. The reissued album was produced by music historian Andy Zax
Andy Zax
Andy Zax is a music historian and producer of CD boxed sets and reissues by Talking Heads, Rod Stewart, Echo & the Bunnymen, Television, Little Richard, Fats Domino, Judee Sill, John Cale, Nico, The Neon Philharmonic, Charles Wright & the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band, The Sisters of Mercy,...

 and producer Bill Inglot.

The only single from Heaven Up Here released worldwide was "A Promise
A Promise (song)
"A Promise" is the fourth single by Echo & the Bunnymen and was released on 10 July 1981. It stayed on the UK Singles Chart for four weeks and peaked at number 49...

" on 10 July 1981. The single stayed on the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

 for four weeks and reached number 49. Later that year, "Over the Wall
Over the Wall
"Over the Wall" is a single by Echo & the Bunnymen which was released in 1981 in Australia and is from the 1981 album Heaven Up Here. The b-side of the single, which wasn't released in any other country, was the title track from the band's 1980 debut album, Crocodiles...

" was released as a single in Australia only.

Reception

Heaven Up Here was generally well received by the music press and critics. In a 1982 interview with the band for the NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...

, rock journalist Barney Hoskins described the album as "one of the most superior articulations of 'rock' form in living memory." Later reviews have continued to receive the album well: Allmusic reviewer Aaron Warshaw said that McCulloch "sings with soaring abandon and passion throughout the album" and that Sergeant's guitar playing was at its "angular finest". Not all reviews were positive: Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau is an American essayist, music journalist, and self-proclaimed "Dean of American Rock Critics".One of the earliest professional rock critics, Christgau is known for his terse capsule reviews, published since 1969 in his Consumer Guide columns...

, giving the album a C rating, said that he held "no brief against tuneless caterwaul, but tuneless psychedelic caterwaul has always been another matter." In his 1999 book From the Shores of Lake Placid and Other Stories, the band's manager Bill Drummond said "The album is dull as ditchwater. The songs are unformed, the sound uniformly grey."

Heaven Up Here sold well in the United Kingdom, staying on the UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...

 for a total of 16 weeks and reaching a peak of number 10 in June 1981. The album was the first release by Echo & the Bunnymen to make it onto the American charts when it reached number 184 on the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

.

In 2003, the album was ranked number 471 on Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

 magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time
The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
"The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is the title of a 2003 special issue of American magazine Rolling Stone, and a related book published in 2005.Related news articles:...

. The NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...

 has ranked the album number 39 in its list of the 50 greatest albums of the '80s and number 51 in its list of the greatest albums of all time. The album also received the NMEs 1981 best album award. Reynolds described the award as "essentially an anti-New Pop protest vote by post-punk's silent majority".

Track listing

All tracks written by Will Sergeant
Will Sergeant
Will Sergeant is an English guitarist, best known for being a member of Echo & the Bunnymen. Born in the centre of Liverpool, he grew up in the suburb of Melling and attended nearby Deyes High School...

, Ian McCulloch
Ian McCulloch (singer)
Ian Stephen McCulloch is an English singer, born in Liverpool, and is best known as the frontman for the rock group Echo & the Bunnymen.-Career:...

, Les Pattinson
Les Pattinson
Les Pattinson is an English musician, best known for his work as the bassist and co-writer of the Liverpool based band, Echo & the Bunnymen....

 and Pete de Freitas
Pete de Freitas
Pete Louis Vincent de Freitas was a musician and producer, best known as a drummer with Echo & the Bunnymen, and whose drumming skills have been compared to Dave Grohl's....

.

Side one
  1. "Show of Strength" – 4:50
  2. "With a Hip" – 3:16
  3. "Over the Wall
    Over the Wall
    "Over the Wall" is a single by Echo & the Bunnymen which was released in 1981 in Australia and is from the 1981 album Heaven Up Here. The b-side of the single, which wasn't released in any other country, was the title track from the band's 1980 debut album, Crocodiles...

    " – 5:59
  4. "It Was a Pleasure" – 3:12
  5. "A Promise
    A Promise (song)
    "A Promise" is the fourth single by Echo & the Bunnymen and was released on 10 July 1981. It stayed on the UK Singles Chart for four weeks and peaked at number 49...

    " – 4:08


Side two
  1. "Heaven Up Here" – 3:45
  2. "The Disease" – 2:28
  3. "All My Colours" – 4:06
  4. "No Dark Things" – 4:27
  5. "Turquoise Days" – 3:51
  6. "All I Want" – 4:09


2003 reissue bonus tracks
  1. "Broke My Neck" (long version) – 7:22
  2. "Show of Strength" (live) – 4:41
  3. "The Disease" (live) – 1:53
  4. "All I Want" (live) – 3:09
  5. "Zimbo" (live) – 3:52

Personnel

  • Will Sergeant
    Will Sergeant
    Will Sergeant is an English guitarist, best known for being a member of Echo & the Bunnymen. Born in the centre of Liverpool, he grew up in the suburb of Melling and attended nearby Deyes High School...

     – lead guitar
  • Ian McCulloch
    Ian McCulloch (singer)
    Ian Stephen McCulloch is an English singer, born in Liverpool, and is best known as the frontman for the rock group Echo & the Bunnymen.-Career:...

     – vocals, rhythm guitar
  • Les Pattinson
    Les Pattinson
    Les Pattinson is an English musician, best known for his work as the bassist and co-writer of the Liverpool based band, Echo & the Bunnymen....

     – bass
  • Pete de Freitas
    Pete de Freitas
    Pete Louis Vincent de Freitas was a musician and producer, best known as a drummer with Echo & the Bunnymen, and whose drumming skills have been compared to Dave Grohl's....

     – drums
  • Leslie Penny – woodwind
  • Hugh Jones – producer, engineer
    Audio engineering
    An audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...

  • The Bunnymen
    Echo & the Bunnymen
    Echo & the Bunnymen are an English post-punk band, formed in Liverpool in 1978. The original line-up consisted of vocalist Ian McCulloch, guitarist Will Sergeant and bass player Les Pattinson, supplemented by a drum machine. By 1980, Pete de Freitas had joined as the band's drummer, and their debut...

     – producer
  • Martyn Atkins – album design
  • Brian Griffin – photography
  • Andy Zax
    Andy Zax
    Andy Zax is a music historian and producer of CD boxed sets and reissues by Talking Heads, Rod Stewart, Echo & the Bunnymen, Television, Little Richard, Fats Domino, Judee Sill, John Cale, Nico, The Neon Philharmonic, Charles Wright & the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band, The Sisters of Mercy,...

     – producer (reissue)
  • Bill Inglot – producer (reissue), remaster
    Remaster
    Remaster is a word marketed mostly in the digital audio age, although the remastering process has existed since recording began...

    ing
  • Dan Hersch – remastering
  • Claes Naeb – engineering on "Broke My Neck" (long version)
  • Rachel Gutek – album design (reissue)
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