"Seven Seas" is a single by the English

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band

Echo & the Bunnymen Echo & the Bunnymen are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1978. The original line-up consisted of vocalist Ian McCulloch (singer), Ian McCulloch, guitarist Will Sergeant and bassist Les Pattinson. By 1980, Pete de Freita ...

, which was released on 6 July 1984 by Korova. It was the third single to be released from their fourth studio album ''

Ocean Rain ≠ ''Ocean Rain'' is the fourth studio album by the English post-punk band Echo & the Bunnymen. It was released on 4 May 1984 by Korova and reached number four on the UK Albums Chart, number 87 on the United States ''Billboard'' 200, number 4 ...

'' (1984). It reached number 16 on the UK singles chart and number 10 on the

Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is the Republic of Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) and compiled on their behalf by the Official Charts Company. Chart rankings are ...

. In a retrospective review of the song,

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

journalist Dave Thompson said: "Regardless of the surreal lyrics, their enigmatic meaning dovetails marvelously with the mood of this exquisite piece."

Overview

The single was released as a

7-inch single In music, a single is a type of release of a song recording of fewer tracks than an album ( LP), typically one or two tracks. A single can be released for sale to the public in a variety of physical or digital formats. Singles may be standa ...

and a

12-inch single The twelve-inch single (often written as 12-inch or 12) is a type of vinyl ( polyvinyl chloride or PVC) gramophone record that has wider groove spacing and shorter playing time with a "single" or a few related sound tracks on each surface, compa ...

. The

A-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of vinyl records and cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a single usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or ...

of the 7-inch single was the title track, "Seven Seas", and the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

was a live

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

' song "

All You Need Is Love "All You Need Is Love" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released as a non-album single in July 1967, with "Baby, You're a Rich Man" as its A-side and B-side, B-side. It was written by John Lennon and credited to the Lenn ...

". The A-side of the 12-inch single consisted of the title track and "All You Need Is Love". The B-side consisted of "

The Killing Moon "The Killing Moon" is a song by the English rock band Echo & the Bunnymen. It was released on 20 January 1984 as the lead single from their fourth studio album, '' Ocean Rain'' (1984). It is one of the band's highest-charting hits, reaching nu ...

", "Stars Are Stars" and "Villiers Terrace". "All You Need Is Love", "The Killing Moon", "Stars Are Stars" and "Villiers Terrace" were recorded live at

Liverpool Cathedral Liverpool Cathedral is a Church of England cathedral in the city of Liverpool, England. It is the seat of the bishop of Liverpool and is the mother church of the Anglican Diocese of Liverpool, diocese of Liverpool. The church may be formally re ...

for the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

programme ''Play at Home''. A numbered

limited edition The terms special edition, limited edition, and variants such as deluxe edition, collector's edition or expanded edition are used as a marketing incentive for various kinds of products, originally published products related to the arts, such as b ...

7-inch EP was also available on two discs, with all the tracks of the 12-inch single release and with the added title on the cover of ''Life at Brian's – Lean and Hungry''. In the US, a 7-inch single was released on Sire Records with the song "Angels and Devils" on the b-side. American

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

group

Velocity Girl Velocity Girl was an American indie rock band formed in 1989 in College Park, Maryland, and active in the Washington, D.C., area. The band released three albums before splitting up in 1996. The band reunited for a one-off concert in 2002 and f ...

released a

of "Seven Seas" as a single on Heaven Records in 1995.

Track listings

All tracks written by

Will Sergeant William Alfred Sergeant (born 12 April 1958) is an English guitarist, best known for being a member of Echo & the Bunnymen. He is the group's only constant member. Career As a solo artist, Sergeant focused on minimalism and atmospherics, and u ...

, Ian McCulloch, Les Pattinson and Pete de Freitas unless otherwise noted. ;7-inch single (Korova KOW 35, WEA 249 321-7) #"Seven Seas" – 3:19 #"

" (

Lennon–McCartney Lennon–McCartney is the songwriting partnership between the English musicians John Lennon (1940–1980) and Paul McCartney (born 1942) of the Beatles. It is widely considered one of the greatest, best known and most successful musical collabo ...

) – 6:41 ;12-inch single (Korova KOW 35T, WEA 249 320-0) and 7-inch EP (Korova KOW 35F) #"Seven Seas" – 3:19 #"All You Need Is Love" (Lennon–McCartney) – 6:41 #"

" – 3:17 #"Stars Are Stars" – 3:05 #"Villiers Terrace" – 6:52 ;US 7-inch single (Sire 7-29288) #"Seven Seas" – 3:18 #"Angels and Devils" – 4:07

Chart positions

Personnel

Musicians

Echo & the Bunnymen

* Ian McCulloch – vocals, guitar *

– lead guitar * Les Pattinson – bass * Pete de Freitas – drums

Additional

* Adam Peters – piano, cello *Tim Whittaker –

bongos Bongos (Spanish language, Spanish: ''bongó'') are an Afro-Cubans, Afro-Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of small open bottomed hand drums of different sizes. The pair consists of the larger ''hembra'' () and the smaller ''macho'' ...

*Khien Luu –

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgians, Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in the key of E♭ ( ...

*Alam Perman –

harpsichord A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a musical keyboard, keyboard. Depressing a key raises its back end within the instrument, which in turn raises a mechanism with a small plectrum made from quill or plastic that plucks one ...

* James Drake-Brockman – harpsichord

Production

* The Bunnymen – producer, mixed by *

Gil Norton Gil Norton (born in Liverpool) is an English record producer known for his work with alternative rock bands such as Pixies, Echo & the Bunnymen, Foo Fighters, Tribe, Jimmy Eat World, Dashboard Confessional, Feeder, the Distillers, Maxïm ...

–

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

, mixed by *Henri LoustauFrench sound engineer at the Studio des Dames recording studio (Paris, France), misspelled as Henri Lonstan – engineer *Jean-Yves – assistant engineer *Adam Peters – orchestral arrangement *

Anton Corbijn Anton Johannes Gerrit Corbijn van Willenswaard (; born 20 May 1955) is a Dutch photographer, film director, and music video director. He is the creative director behind the visual output of Depeche Mode and U2,Pitman, Joanna"The silent partner" ...

– photography

References

External links

*
Lyrics at MTV.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seven Seas (Song) 1984 songs 1984 singles Echo & the Bunnymen songs Songs written by Ian McCulloch (singer) Songs written by Will Sergeant Songs written by Les Pattinson Songs written by Pete de Freitas Warner Music Group singles Jangle pop songs Music videos directed by Anton Corbijn Songs about oceans and seas