It was produced by Ian Broudie (credited as "Kingbird"), who had co-produced the band's first album, 1980's Crocodiles, and their second single, "Rescue."

[2] While lead singer Ian McCulloch still wanted them to be the best band in the world, bass player Les Pattinson was expressing his weariness with the music industry, drummer Pete de Freitas produced and played drums on Liverpool band the Wild Swans' debut single "Revolutionary Spirit" and lead guitarist Will Sergeant recorded a solo album of instrumental music called Themes for 'Grind' (1982).

[3] Ian Broudie, Sergeant's flatmate and the co-producer of 1980's Crocodiles, was chosen to produce "The Back of Love" single and the Porcupine album, which had a working title of The Happy Loss.

[9][10] After Echo & the Bunnymen had finished recording Porcupine, they played a free show in early November 1982 for 20,000 people at Sefton Park in Liverpool.

"[12] British music magazine Q wrote in 2001: "The Porcupine cover is the epitome of rock band as heroic archetype – young men on some ill-defined but glorious mission, one easily as timeless as the stars and the sea.

"[13] The filming was finished in December 1982 and the band performed songs from the album at their rehearsal room at The Ministry.

Butt interspersed the performances with clips from the 1929 Russian documentary The Man With the Movie Camera and projected psychedelic watercolour effects onto the band.

Describing the album cover, journalist Dave Rimmer wrote in British music magazine Smash Hits: "Iceland does seem an appropriate location for this group.

[8] When recording "The Cutter", Sergeant had asked Shankar if he could suggest the melody from Cat Stevens' 1967 hit "Matthew and Son".

Along with the other four of the band's first five albums, Porcupine was remastered and reissued on CD in 2003 – these releases were marketed as 25th anniversary editions.

"Never Stop (Discotheque)", which was originally a non-album single when it was released on 8 July 1983, was subsequently included on the 2003 remastered version of the album as a bonus track.

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 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".

While he praised the opening tracks "The Cutter" and "The Back of Love", he remarked that Porcupine as a whole was not nearly as good an album as Echo and the Bunnymen's live performances showed they were capable of.

[37] Having sold over 100,000 copies of the album in the UK, Echo & the Bunnymen were awarded with a gold disc by the British Phonographic Industry.

[10][39] All tracks written by Will Sergeant, Ian McCulloch, Les Pattinson and Pete de Freitas.