Reception
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | |
| Blender | |
| CMJ | (favourable) |
| NME | (unfavourable) |
| Pitchfork | (9.2/10) |
| Stylus | (B−) |
Following the release of Porcupine in 1983, NME reviewer Barney Hoskyns gave the album a negative review. Hoskyns wrote, "Porcupine is the distressing occasion of an important and exciting rock group becoming ensnared by its own strongest points, a dynamic force striving fruitlessly to escape the brilliant track that trails behind it." Hoskyns likened the sound of the album to the band "turning on their own greatest 'hits' and savaging them". Hoskyns also criticised McCulloch's lyrics and the general mood of the album, noting, "Only on 'Porcupine' itself do the various strains of despair coalesce", and dismissed the entire second side of the album, saying it "horrifies the more for its uniform lack of inspiration, for the fact that every number cops direct from earlier songs without preserving anything of their energy or invention".
In a review of the original release on Allmusic, Porcupine was described as a "solid outing", a "noticeably better listen than its predecessor, Heaven Up Here" and "well worth hearing". When reviewing the remastered 2003 version the review was expanded to add that new release was "a very well done expansion of an already fine album". Blender magazine described the album in a review on their website as "impossibly exciting pop-rock" and Pitchfork called the album "the band's definitive statement" and described the track "The Back of Love" as "the astonishing highlight of the group's career". The album appeared in the 1983 end of year critics' lists for both Melody Maker, where it was listed at number nine, and NME, where it was listed at number 32. The album is also listed in the 2006 book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
The album reached number 2 on the UK Albums Chart, number 137 on the American Billboard 200, number 85 on the Canadian RPM 100 Albums, and number 24 on the Swedish albums chart. Having sold over 100,000 copies of the album in the UK, Echo & they Bunnymen were awarded with a gold disc by the British Phonographic Industry. Of the singles from the album, "The Back of Love" reached number 19 on the UK Singles Chart and "The Cutter" reached number 8. "The Back of Love" also became the band's first single to make the Irish Singles Chart when it reached number 24, while "The Cutter" reached number 10. The single "Never Stop (Discotheque)" reached number 15 on the UK Singles Chart and number 8 on the Irish Singles Chart.
Read more about this topic: Porcupine (album)
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