As if to prove that 'Porcupine' wasn't ambitious enough, Echo And The Bunnymen took one step further with their fourth album and Ian McCulloch - in a typical fit of modesty - declared it the best album ever made. 'Ocean Rain' is certainly the album which boasts the most elaborate arrangements and on the towering 'Nocturnal Me' and 'The Killing Moon' the self-belief is matched by McCulloch's imperious vocals and two of the 80's finest songs. Naturally all this ambition had to lead to sacrifices and it is Will Sergeant who misses out as his guitar work struggles to compete with an orchestra and even when the band play alone the overly-simplistic 'Seven Seas' and 'Crystal Days' hardly constitute career highlights. Sergeant is on better form on 'Thorn Of Crowns' - a kind of follow-up to 'Porcupine's centrepiece title track - and 'My Kingdom' sees him soloing in unusually loud (but still coherent) form. Yet the swelling strings of album bookends 'Silver' and 'Ocean Rain' are carried away by an undeniable wave of emotion justifying the kitchen sink production. Unsurprisingly McCulloch et al took a year-long sabbatical after this before plotting their next move.