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What Are You Going to Do with Your Life?

A ballad-heavy album made by McCulloch and Sergeant with session players after Pattinson retired.
Echo & the Bunnymen, 1999

Released
16 April 1999
Studio
Doghouse Studios, Henley-on-Thames; Parr Street Studios, Liverpool; Olympic, Maida Vale and CTS, London
Label
London Records
Producer
Alan Douglas and Echo & the Bunnymen

Les Pattinson retired from the band during the sessions, partly over his mother's health and partly because he felt McCulloch wanted everything his own way. McCulloch and Sergeant carried on with session musicians, including Guy Pratt on bass and Jeremy Stacey on drums, plus the London Metropolitan Orchestra. The American group Fun Lovin' Criminals guested on Get in the Car and When It All Blows Over. All the songs are credited to McCulloch and Sergeant.

Sergeant's guitar is understated. He later said it was probably the worst time in his whole life and that he mostly stayed in the tent. Rust, released in March 1999, reached 22 and was NME's Single of the Week. The album reached 21 in the UK.

Reviews were mixed. AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave it four stars. The Independent's Andy Gill said it had all the appeal of a discussion with a career adviser.

Track listing

  1. What Are You Going to Do with Your Life?5:11
  2. Rust5:09
  3. Get in the Car4:21
  4. Baby Rain4:17
  5. History Chimes3:25
  6. Lost on You4:50
  7. Morning Sun4:12
  8. When It All Blows Over2:57
  9. Fools Like Us4:02

Personnel

More from Echo & the Bunnymen

Crocodiles (1980), Heaven Up Here (1981), Porcupine (1983), Ocean Rain (1984), Songs to Learn & Sing (1985), Echo & the Bunnymen (1987), Reverberation (1990), Evergreen (1997), Flowers (2001), Siberia (2005), The Fountain (2009), Meteorites (2014), The Stars, the Oceans & the Moon (2018), The John Peel Sessions 1979-1983 (2019)

Sources

  1. What Are You Going to Do with Your Life?, Wikipedia