Dark and moody. You know exactly what you're getting everytime. Will Sargeant's guitar break on "No Dark Things" sounds like he's dragging knitting needles through the strings. "The Disease" -social comment to live your life by. "Over the Wall" - climactic, urgent and full of spirits from the other world. "Crocodiles" by the Bunneymen is also pretty subversive but this one just gets the edge.Unlike any other album just because they got it soooo right. The bonus tracks are a big plus too - 'Broke my neck' is on no other album (I believe)as it was the B side of "The Promise" but a great inclusion.

I will admit that it took me quite a few plays to appreciate how excellent this recording is, but once in you're never out.
Years later it still sounds like a brave and intelligent effort from a band that has never really got the respect it deserves.The bassline of Heaven Up Here is alone worth your money!

Like many Bunnymen fans I rate Heaven Up Here as their best album. I remember listening to it for the first time and being swept away by it. Everything just stood out - the musicianship, the way the songs were crafted, even the cover.

And this remastering is very sympathetic to the original recording that came out all those years back. From my experience, some 'remasters' sound tinny and lack depth. This one doesn't - probably because of the excellent production the first time around. And like most Bunnymen tracks, very little of this sounds dated. Play something from U2, or any of the Bunnymen's contemporaries from this time and the opposite is true.

As other reviewers have said, there are no duff tracks on this album, and along with the track listing it defies any attempts to play tracks out of sequence - the mark of a truly great album.

The inclusion of the spiky and brilliant B-side "Broke My Neck" is a fantastic addition to this remastering, much more so than the live tracks, which give some idea of the live brilliance of the Bunnymen around that time, but sound as if they were messed around with in the studio and have better versions elsewhere.

The new sleeve notes and additional photos are a great introduction to anybody buying this album for the first time, as well as giving some of us oldies a little bit of nostalgia!

If you're in two minds about buying this, just do it. You won't be disappointed!

22 years on from its original release, this still sends shivers down my spine. And now, digitally remastered, it sounds even better. The production is crystal-clear, with Pete DeFreitas' drumming seemingly brought to the fore, most notably on the amazing Over The Wall and the oh-so-moving All My Colours. The bonus tracks are welcome, too, though the purist in me tends to think that a masterpiece should not be fiddled with.

If Julian Cope had dismissed this album, and specifically Ian McCulloch's vocals, as Victorian-sounding, it is presumably nothing more than jealousy that his own Teardrop Explodes could not come up with anything anywhere near as good.

Never mind The Beatles....this is essential listening from Liverpool's TRUE greatest-ever band.

Heaven Up Here remains a miserable affair, bleak stuff that veers too close to self pity for my liking- it's an album that is undoubtedly good (some tracks even great)but is a bit moribund. Bit of a morose downer- thus fitting with other wristslashing classics of the era Movement (New Order), Faith (The Cure), In the Lion's Mouth (The Sound) & Sorry for Laughing (Josef K). Where Crocodiles was autumnal and melancholy, Heaven Up Here is winter and miserable.

The album is a darker breed, Show of Strength essentially Going Up Part II with added jibes against an acid-inflected Julian Cope ("that golden smile would shame a politician"). Copey pointed out that McCulloch's vocals were "Victorian" and very OTT- it's clear that this was a major influence on the trademark whining of Thom Yorke. With a Hip is a more muscular and expansive take on the territory of tracks like Crocodiles and Pride; while single A Promise is a wonderful dirge- largely due to Will Sergeant's guitar overload.

You can't really argue with a track like All My Colours (aka Zimbo; covered by cheery American rockers The God Machine), but the album as a whole represents the morose- but not in a OTT way (like Berlin or Dog Man Star) or in a transcendental manner (like Everclear or Closer). Of course, it's not as bleak as albums like Music for a New Society or the career of Michael Gira, but it's getting there! Heaven Up Here certainly shows them to be a major influence, alongside The Cure & Joy Division, on bands that followed. The influence of Echo and Heaven Up Here is apparent in releases from Hole, Nirvana, Radiohead, Pavement, Flaming Lips/Chemical Brothers (see The Golden Path, then listen to A Promise), Ride, Pale Saints, House of Love, Ultra Vivid Scene, Sebadoh, God Machine, Jane's Addiction etc.

The bonus tracks include Broke My Neck, which is a nice addition & several live takes of HUH tracks- Zimbo (again!) which is also found on the Crocodiles reissue. If you like it bleak, if you like it painted black- Heaven Up Here is the one. Though personally I think it pales compared to either Crocodiles or Ocean Rain...