Guitarist Will Sergeant and singer Ian McCulloch formed Echo & the Bunnymen with bassist Les Pattinson in Liverpool in 1978. The group later replaced a drum machine with Trinidad-native Pete de Freitas, and became one of the most important British indie bands of the '80s. Ian McCulloch left for a solo career in 1988, and his debut album Candleland proved successful. Meanwhile, his former band imploded after 1990's Reverberation, recorded with a McCulloch imitator named Noel Burke.
In 1992, McCulloch's second solo album, Mysterio, flopped, and he reconciled with Sergeant two y...