Cocteau Twins

[frankie teardrop]

don't recall if there's any fans kicking around these boards, but as they're (probably?) my favorite band.

for those unfamiliar: truly unique band from the 80s on 4AD (dead can dance, clan of xymox, pixies, xmal deutschland, too many other amazing bands to list). you may have heard liz fraser's iconic vocals on several massive attack tracks, including 'teardrop.' love pretty much everything they put out, from their eight records, collaborations with harold budd, and various EP and b-side tracks, many which rival their full lengths.

i can't speak more highly of this band. here's a few favorites:











i could keep going...

[xmd 5a]

Adore this band. My wife and I filled half our wedding soundtrack with their music. Garlands, Treasure and Blue Bell Knoll are my favourite CT albums, but Lullabies to Violane is the best overall collection of their music.

More awesome traxx:





(One of my top 5 all-time favourite songs)

Better stop myself here!

[Highly Psychological]

Words cannot describe how good this band were. Best band of the 80s . Love love love love them. People who have not heard them are missing out on something extraordinary. They are one of the bands that people have to stumble onto and get themselves.
However once people get into the cocteau twins they capture a massive part of your heart and soul forever which never leaves you. Sappy but true. They have a to die for hardcore fanbase. Ive got a few people hooked on the twins and they are eternally grategul. They were very prolific and im still discovering gem after gem in their catalouge.
When you listen to them it is like they have created this world, I love the mysterious lyrics the primal surging godlike orgasmic emotional voice of the generation liz fraser. And robin guthries titanic wall of sound, he is my favourite guitar player of all time. They made it seem so easy . In interviews they could barely speak they were so unpretentious and real.
too hard to pick a fav song or album but I like them best around 1983 when all the ideas were coming together anything they did between 1982 and 1986 is mindblowingly cathartic and mind blowing. I have been getting into their 90s stuff much more recently. I saw them in 1996 just before they split they were experimenting with electronica a lot more and had seefeel and othet people from warp records on stage with them. Would have been really interestimg to see what would have happened if they had gone down that route. But drugs got in the way as usual and they split!!!! I really want to see them live again there was no one else like them. Their music takes you to great unreal heights In a way few other bands could.

[1337]

Count me in for fandom

'Pearly Dewdrops Drops'

[xmd 5a]

I saw them in 1996 just before they split they were experimenting with electronica a lot more and had seefeel and othet people from warp records on stage with them. Would have been really interestimg to see what would have happened if they had gone down that route.

I'm just imagining Seefeel with Fraser's vocals - this works for me on so many levels.

I'll also second the appreciation for CT's lyrics. I don't care that it's "nonsense", they sounds so evocative and heartfelt that they mean 100x more to me than "intelligible" lyrics.

As for CT being the best band of the eighties... Shit, they're mighty close. Considering the influence they had on my overall favourite band (Slowdive), I'd almost be tempted to make the same call myself.

[mostlymad]

Ah, yes, love, love, love Cocteau Twins. If you didn't see, I posted their rendition of Winter Wonderland in the Christmas music thread. Frosty the Snowman was fun, too. I met them in 1994, when they were nearly at each other's throats. They were kind and gracious to us fans who stuck around to meet them.

[xmd 5a]

http://www.cocteautwins.com/html/media/audio.html

For those unaware, a great collection of rare stuff from the official site. Pretty bad sound quality, but there are some real gems in there.

[Dra508]

This song will forever remind me of working in a starbucks-like coffee shop. Good caffienated times.

[frankie teardrop]

http://www.cocteautwins.com/html/media/audio.html

For those unaware, a great collection of rare stuff from the official site. Pretty bad sound quality, but there are some real gems in there.

i knew about the frutopia tracks (pretty much the entire four calendar cafe record sounds like frutopia), and a few of the others, but thanks for the link! you can also find a demo of 'pearly dewdrops drops' on a cassette called dreams and desires alongside many of their peers and labelmates!

[jmtd]

I treasure Treasure but never got into much else. I decided to buy "Lullabies to Violaine" on the back of this thread, especially after noticing volume 1 was only $3 in the 4AD store for FLAC!

However, it only gave me an option of downloading the first three tracks, which is essentially only the Lullabies EP. I'm somewhat unamused.

[Arch Stanton]

Back in the 90s I found the Blue Bell Knoll album at Goodwill. The title track (posted above) and this one were the ones that stood out to me after all these years:



I've always liked Lush way better, anyway.....

[frankie teardrop]

blue bell knoll is hell of inconsistent. some of their best material, but the second half falls a bit flat.

I've always liked Lush way better, anyway.....

well, you get robin guthrie's production on spooky at least! also, peep here for a more catch-all thread on lush & friends.

[djeseru]

I know I don't get around much, but this is the first place I've ever come across other Cocteau Twins fans! I've loved this band since 1986 when I first heard "Love's Easy Tears" in a record store..."entranced" does not quite describe what I felt when I heard it. The Moon and The Melodies is still my favorite collaboration album.

A Lush fan as well...

[Highly Psychological]

It made BBC News....this is a big thing!! The legendary Voice of GOD!

Liz Fraser is to perform on stage solo for the first time ever . With the exception of a few Massive Attack gigs she has not performed on stage since 1996.
She will be playing Cocteau Twins tunes!!
She is performing at Meltdown Festival in August as part of the Antony Hegarty curated event.
Half the European Indie community are probably going to try and get tickets for this. People underestimate how loved she/Cocteau Twins are.
Joy Divison/Smiths/Cocteau Twins holy trinity of UK Gloom. Very influential, Its like if Ian Curtis had not died and vanished for 15 years and decided he was going to do a solo gig out of the blue!!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-17906600

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012...?newsfeed=true

I love this woman so much and im going!

[frankie teardrop]

i'm very, very intrigued.

also, having a resurgence of this one lately. dropped it on the decks last night to surprising fanfare:

[frankie teardrop]

a nice list:
http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/c...au-twins-songs

[xmd 5a]

http://www.amazon.com/First-Heard-Co.../dp/B008EFC3ZI

The First Time I Heard Cocteau Twins is Part II in an ongoing series where musicians and writers tell their stories of first hearing the music of an iconic artist or band. In this second volume (following the opening installment, which covered Joy Division / New Order), forty different musicians and writers remember their initial experiences hearing the seminal dreampop / post-punk band Cocteau Twins, a standout group from the legendary 4AD Records and favorite of radio personality John Peel. The Cocteau Twins hailed from Grangemouth, Scotland, and featured musicians Elizabeth Fraser, Robin Guthrie, and Simon Raymonde.

Contributors to the Cocteau Twins edition include musicians such as David Narcizo (Throwing Muses); Ian Masters (Pale Saints); pianist and Cocteau Twins collaborator Harold Budd; band collaborator and live guitarist Lincoln Fong; Pete Fijalkowski (Adorable); Anka Wolbert (Clan of Xymox); Sean "Grasshopper" Mackowiak (Mercury Rev); Meredith Meyer; Mark Van Hoen (Locust, Seefeel); Paul Anderson (Tram); Paul Elam (Fieldhead); Rebecca Coseboom (Halou, Stripmall Architecture); Michael Cottone (The Green Kingdom); Sarah Jaffe; Antony Ryan (Isan); Dean Garcia (Curve); Kurt Feldman (The Pains of Being Pure at Heart); Erik Blood; Annie Barker; John Loring (Fleeting Joys); Guy Fixsen (Laika and co-engineer for My Bloody Valentine); Emily Elhaj (Implodes); Carlo Van Putten (The Convent, White Rose Transmission); Eric Quach (thisquietarmy); Ryan Policky (A Shoreline Dream); Matthew Kelly (The Autumns); Steve Elkins (The Autumns); Ryan Lum (Lovespirals); Michael Savage (The Fauns); Amman Abbasi (The Abbasi Brothers); Eric Loveland Heath; Ben Mullins (Midwest Product); Keith Canisius; Michael McCabe and David Read (Coldharbourstores); and writers like Emily Franklin, Craig Laurance Gidney, Alistair McCartney; Tony Leuzzi; and Sommer Browning.

The "First Time I Heard" book series is edited by Scott Heim, a novelist (Mysterious Skin, We Disappear) who is also a longtime music fan. Other installments in the series (or those forthcoming soon) include books on Joy Division / New Order, David Bowie, The Smiths, Kate Bush, R.E.M., Kraftwerk, My Bloody Valentine, Abba, Roxy Music, The Pixies, and others.

[Highly Psychological]

With this band i go on binges. That last about a week where i get totally immersed in their catalogue.
I dive into Cocteau world. And listen to everything.

Each binge i admire a different part of their discography. Their early Goth phase, the classic 83-85 phase, the ambient Victoria land era. Or their later era Four Calender Cafe, Milk and Kisses. Or other times just their more obscure tracks with the most bizarre names.

Recently i have been getting into Four Calender Cafe a lot, the record made when Robin Guthrie was addicted to Heroin and had to go to rehab and Liz too went to rehab after she had a total breakdown!!!
The chaos does not really show in the recording, the dope does, it has this bizarre hazy warmness to it, a glow,its a very mellow album, much more commercial sounding....the word Smooth comes to mind. At the same time, it sounds very classy.
It was criticized at the time for being a bit 'coffee table ' people were worried they were losing their mystique, Cocteau World is very mysterious, everything started making sense... Its a much more subdued album.
It stands apart.