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:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teS_ig-6aNU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pk8vSw94jFA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyMaD1cnUsc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-utqLZpQHA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCuvTKM04Jk

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:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAckMJd8zlA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8KE1qbmBHE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgCoHlIkHcU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0q_WzPsjhQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVkkYWv9U6A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oespMmWnDo (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 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 emotional voice of 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 . 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 other people from warp records on stage with them. Would have been really interesting 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.

[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]

http://youtu.be/3JUlyFd-DyU

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 (http://norecordshopsleft.blogspot.com/2009/12/various-artisits-dreams-desires.html) 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.

[Maximilian]

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:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K51vZA9PwG4

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 (http://www.echoingthesound.org/community/threads/510-shoegaze-dreampop) 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!!

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.

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

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/may/01/cocteau-twins-elizabeth-fraser-meltdown?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:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDLhT5CPsCk

[frankie teardrop]

a nice list:
http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/chinese-restaurant-menu-items-that-sound-like-titles-of-cocteau-twins-songs

[xmd 5a]

http://www.amazon.com/First-Heard-Cocteau-Twins-ebook/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.

[frankie teardrop]

will just leave this here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaOlNfC8_xQ

[Highly Psychological]

There is a new book out about 4AD called Facing the Other Way, its s retrospective celebrating the iconic label, covers everything from Dead Can Dance, Pixies, to present day, obviously Cocteau Twins being labels flagship most revered band get most coverage, i dont think there has been a major book focusing on the group before so should be interesting. It apparently goes into a lot of detail about what made these groups tick and what was behind the music. In the Cocteau Twins case they apparently discuss Liz Frasers disturbing childhood ans Robin Guthries Heroin addiction and stuff that led to the split, covers new ground. Also the elusive Ivo Watts Russell talks for many many pages about his life and what was behind labels aesthetic and image and sound, there is a book launch at Rough Trade in East London that features guest speakers Miki from Lush and Matt Johnson of The The... Talk about rare they both vanished too! So it should be good, label and band were life changing

[frankie teardrop]

Frankie T, your taste in music is impeccable, to say the least. Despite your sound advice to not pay over $30 for CT on vinyl, I am not seeing a copy of BH&LV go for less than $100 on wax. Is this too much?

what is bh & lv? lullabies to violane? i don't think that was pressed on vinyl.

anyway, you can usually get the 4ad albums for 10-20, depending on how much your local store gouges them. the 90s albums are harder to find on vinyl and much more expensive.

[eversonpoe]

isn't it just "heaven & las vegas"?

[frankie teardrop]

yah, it's just heaven and las vegas without the between. that said, i generally see that between 10-20 as well. keep an eye out online, too (discogs & ebay).

[frankie teardrop]

wow, that must have gone up in recent years. discogs has a few in the 40-50 range. i swear that was as cheap as the rest of the catalog until recently...

[frankie teardrop]

here's one that's a rarity of sorts, but one i've always loved and DJed on the regular:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUO8EBiOXIk


the story is: modern english recorded a string of early 7''s for the label. impressed by the live medley of their songs sixteen days and gathering dust that they would close with (they did this when i saw them this year, even), ivo wanted the band to record it in that fashion. they declined, and thus, this mortal coil was born. TMC was original a covers-only project that spanned for three albums of both covers and originals, featuring rotating members from the 4AD family (and related).

anyway, this recording has liz and robin and is mostly a cocteau twins recording, but it also features members of colourbox, modern english themselves, and gordon sharp of cindytalk (who also sang on the BBC session version of 'hazel' and did his own vocals on the first this mortal coil record) on backing vox. it kicks ass, and is worth hearing if you're a fan of 4AD/cocteaus.

[Highly Psychological]

One thing i noticed recently, i much prefer Liz's voice in the early version of the band, their sort of golden period 1983-1986.

If you listen to Milk and Kisses, Four Calender Cafe, or bootlegs of the band on their 1994-1996 tours Liz is singing in a very operatic style, free-form, i still love her voice then, but it loses some of the primal emotion of the early music.
Her voice around Head Over Heels, Treasure, Echoes in a Shallow Bay, Garlands and Song to the Siren, had a reality to it, and is hands down my favorite voice, male or female of all time in the history of music. Everybody in the mid 80s wanted to sound like her. Her rivals like Morrissey and Bernard Sumner and Jim Reid etc sounded utterly feeble! It never came across too theatric or overbearing, She could capture things with her voice no one else could.

[[parasite]]

well, i'm not sure if this belongs in here, yeah i think is does, since it's cocteau twins related!
sounds fuckin awesome tho....

Snowbirds (http://pitchfork.com/news/52918-listen-cocteau-twins-simon-raymondes-band-snowbird-enlists-radiohead-members-for-debut-lp/)

[eversonpoe]

well, i'm not sure if this belongs in here, yeah i think is does, since it's cocteau twins related!
sounds fuckin awesome tho....

Snowbirds (http://pitchfork.com/news/52918-listen-cocteau-twins-simon-raymondes-band-snowbird-enlists-radiohead-members-for-debut-lp/)

holy. shit. this almost brought me to tears.

[[parasite]]

holy. shit. this almost brought me to tears.

beautiful right!

[frankie teardrop]

i love it. like robin's solo work (also amazing), it invokes the same sort of delicate, wintery vibes i've come to expect from their mid/latter era material. i don't even care that the singer is almost a carbon copy of liz. i love it and i want more.

[Senateguard33]

I've had Blue Bell Knoll for over a decade and love it. Could someone recommend another Cocteau Twins? I also have This Mortal Coil's Blood and love that one as well.

[frankie teardrop]

heaven or las vegas and head over heels. two of my favorites. the latter is a little darker, heavier.

[thevoid99]

I heard the new track earlier today. Fuck, that was good.

[xmd 5a]

I've had Blue Bell Knoll for over a decade and love it. Could someone recommend another Cocteau Twins? I also have This Mortal Coil's Blood and love that one as well.

Treasure. My personal favourite, slightly above Blue Bell Knoll and Garlands (tied). The Lullabies to Violane compilation is great too.

You can't really go wrong with any Cocteaus release. The Garlands-era stuff is quite raw and rough-around the edges and the last two albums are more electronic-oriented, but it all has the same unmistakable signature. Go nuts.

[WorzelG]

I got into Cocteau Twins after hearing Pink Orange Red on the radio, really lovely and ethereal song.

So I have the Tiny Dynamine / Echoes in a Shallow Bay EP and Heaven or Las Vegas on CD.

Unfortunately I used to have more and had bought Blue Bell Knoll, Garlands, Victorialand - from a sale in HMV - and then once when I was about to move house I decided to do a purge of CDs and just got rid of a load I hadn't got round to listening to including these - really regretting doing that now (it was in the days before ipods or even having a decent computer to burn them to). I think I might buy a best of collection and see about extending my collection!

[[parasite]]

I got the CD EP Box Set, as my first purchase, then the albums followed,

[Highly Psychological]

The EPs are just as good as the albums, Sunburst and Snowblind contains arguably their best song Sugar Hiccup, i started off with The Spangle Maker EP, it contained the song Pearly Dew Drops Drop which was their biggest hit. Aikea Guinea EP, and Love's Easy Tears EP are masterpiece's too.

[eversonpoe]

head over heels and victorialand will always be my favorites. the darkest album and the most serene.

what's the story behind simon not being on victorialand, even though he was on the two albums released on either side of it, time-wise?

[frankie teardrop]

simon was busy working on this mortal coil's filigree and shadow.

speaking of simon, check out his earlier band, pre-cocteaus:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiLIkbqaKb4

[frankie teardrop]

and then there's always will heggie's band post-garlands, who i love very dearly:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkIUDag-v2U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nN_TPqkGB9Q

[[parasite]]

this christmas, i'm gonna give the Snow e.p. to my daughter, now she's getting into music,
also so i don't have to listen to those awful christmas carols!

[mostlymad]

I actually got to meet them a couple times. Photos with them after a show during the Four Calendar Cafe tour. They all seemed to be really unhappy. Later, I think I read it was a really bad time for them. Too bad, really. They made fantastic music. Garlands, Head Over Heels, and Milk and Kisses are my top three favorites.

[frankie teardrop]

yeah that era was a rough spot, i've heard stories about robin guthrie kicking heroin at the time, hence the relatively docile sound of the album and tour. i don't love those christmas carols but there's some weird charm to them and i prefer them to say, paul mccartney's christmas song.

four calendar cafe is easily my least favorite record, even though it kicks off with one of their best latter-day tracks ('know who you are at every age'). i don't love the entire record, but milk and kisses was a really strong return to form, and i enjoyed the twinlights and otherness EPs (the latter which featured remixes by seefeel, whose first record is brilliant). i wonder what would have happened if the band continued and released music on raymonde's label...

my top three is probably head over heels, heaven or las vegas, garlands, if we're not counting EPs, which are very, very brilliant and sometimes overshadow the records.

i've never met any of them, but i've seen robin solo, and had liz walk right past me while queuing stupid early for the massive attack v. adam curtis documentary where she performed. i don't usually get like that with celebrity sightings (except when i saw bowie), but my heart skipped a beat. i'm pretty sure she smiled and said some meek hello when walking past, but it was awkward and wonderful.

[[parasite]]

they were suppose to play at coachella in 2005, if i remember rightly, then pulled out,
but the artist line up was still good, nin, new order, bauhaus, prodigy, chemical brothers, mercury rev, unkle, and DJ Peretz [perry farrel]

also in my school days, i copies simons hair, i got some shit for that, but i couldn't give a fuck!

http://www.cocteautwins.org/~leesa/cocteautwins/cgraphix/articles/NME/gothNME1.jpg

[frankie teardrop]

hah! my hair is pretty much a early robert smith (seventeen seconds/faith​) meets simon raymonde sort of thing. this pretty much (http://31.media.tumblr.com/16fe89588b83c8d551f7c72af8dd325c/tumblr_mracdcgIN31sv2ktho1_1280.jpg) could be a current photo of me, clothing/face included. the look doesn't do too well in the corporate sector, but i could give a fuck.

and yeah, that coachella thing was very disappointing. i've never really been interested in the festival, but i was ready to fly over for that.

[henryeatscereal]

I always wanted to get into them, i just now a couple of songs and that's it... which album you recommend me to start out?

[frankie teardrop]

head over heels and the lullabies to violane collection are nice starting points, the former being my favorite and still retaining that darker sound they started with and the latter collecting all the EP stuff, some of which ranks among their best work (and gives you a nice progression to hear how they changed over the years).

treasure seems to be a fan favorite, but it's my least favorite of the 4ad run due to the thin production and constant overuse of the 'when the levee breaks' drum samples on every track. still great, but less so than others.

[mostlymad]

When we first met them, my friend was so starstruck he couldn't speak. I had to tell Fraser his name so she could sign his things. We were doing pictures, and she hates the flash, (who can blame her) but I really wanted to try to get one with her eyes open with my friend because of him being so enamored with her. She burst out laughing when she realized what I was doing, and that actually made for a really good photo, I thought.

[Camille]

Fucking love CT, always have.
Liz of course did vocals on this beautiful track from another of my fav bands from the 80's..Felt.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wr8CgE_kTWw

[frankie teardrop]

felt are so damn underrated in general!

[Camille]

^ We need a thread dedicated to Felt and all things Lawrence. :)

[BRoswell]

From Facebook:

Hello, Robin Guthrie here. I'm working right now with 4AD on several projects which may please CT fans, for release later this year, not to mention some of my new work which is currently in production in my studio . That's all to come.... more news soon.