Category: Cocteau Twins

Inspired, in part, by the recent run of Goth ICAs; but to be fair, it was always on the list of pieces of vinyl that should be taken out of the cupboard, dusted down and given the 320kpbs treatment via Audacity for distribution on a Monday morning.

1983 was the year that I really ‘got’ Cocteau Twins.  As mentioned a few weeks ago, I caught them opening for The Fall in Glasgow in April 1982 and thought them OK, thinking in the main that the lead singer had been a bit overwhelmed by the occasion.  But my mate who was at the gig with me that night went all in on the band, and he pushed hard for me to give them a try, and so I did.

I was prepared to admit that the debut album Garlands had its moments, but it didn’t fully click.  Looking back, I wonder if the fact that I didn’t have, at the time, anything beyond the most basic of stereos meant I didn’t really appreciate it – my mate was listening to the band through his older brother’s equipment and, yes, it did seem to sound better, fuller and more powerful when I was in his house rather than mine.

I moved into shared student accommodation in the summer of 1983.  One of my flatmates had an even better stereo set up than my mate’s brother, and he also had a ridiculously extensive record collection, courtesy of always having had a decent amount of disposable income vis his well-off parents.  He was also a fan of Cocteau Twins and he picked up a copy of Head Over Heels, the new album, on its release in October 1983.  He played it as the three of us who shared the flat, together with one other bloke who was rarely away from our place, listened on in awe.  The sounds coming from the speakers were astonishing, almost unwordly at times.  It felt like a quantum leap from what had come before, and it certainly did not sound like the sort of music you associated with bands living and working in Scotland.

I bought my own copy of Head Over Heels a few days later and played it on my cheap stereo.  It sounded good, but not as majestic as it did on the equipment sitting in the bedroom through the wall.  It was then that I vowed to save to get myself a bigger, better and more powerful set-up, which I achieved some nine months later, thanks to the generosity of my parents on the occasion of my 21st birthday… and the timing couldn’t have been better as I was soon to take leave of that first shared flat and move to a bigger premises with six of us sharing a multi-occupancy in a very spacious tenement flat, with the bonus of a shared living room in which my new system, along with a telly and a VHS recorder, took pride of place.

All of which has been a bit diversionary in respect of today’s music.  It does come from Cocteau Twins and it’s in the shape of the EP which was released just a few weeks after Head Over Heels.  It came as the band, now just a duo of Elizabeth Fraser and Robin Guthrie, were getting to grips with things and were even prepared to put themselves on the telly as part of the promotional activities.  So it was that they appeared on the second series of The Tube, performing live and also as This Mortal Coil, in a promo video for their cover of Song To The Siren.  The VHS tape on which I had captured these performances was very much in danger of wearing out in my new abode….and it was incredibly satisfying that, to a man and woman, even though we had different and varting tastes across alll genres of music, we were in agreement that Cocteau Twins were something out of the ordinary, the likes of which we were lucky to be able to appreciate.

Our collective night out, on a Sunday night in December 1984, was a trip to the Pavilion Theatre, not to see the annual pantomime, but to be part of the audience for what, at that point, was surely the band’s biggest headlining gig in their career.  The set opened with From The Flagstones.  It also closed with the same song….the band didn’t expect to be afforded an encore and had nothing left on the drum machine to offer that hadn’t been used before, so the solution was to rewind and hit the start button one more time.

mp3: Cocteau Twins – Sugar Hiccup
mp3: Cocteau Twins – From The Flagstones
mp3: Cocteau Twins – Hitherto
mp3: Cocteau Twins – Because of Whirl-Jack

These are taken from the 12″ vinyl, which means the version of Sugar Hiccup is slightly longer and differently mixed from that which was found on the album.

It’s worth mentioning that not everyone was enamoured by Cocteau Twins. Ian Pye, reviewing this EP for Melody Maker back in December 1983, for one:-

“When the Cocteau Twins perfected their impersonation of Joy Division nobody liked them much; now they’ve learnt another act—The Banshees’ gothic wall of sound—it seems suddenly they’re very desirable.

Yet this four-track EP only serves to underline that the Twins still prefer artifice to substance. Everything about their music appears to have been chosen because of its superficial immediacy: the grandiose guitar lines, the fake majesty of the frequently incomprehensible lyrics, even the fatuous song title: ‘Sugar Hiccup’ and ‘Because of Whirl-Jack’! This is music for people who want to play at being serious young persons but lack the resolve to see it through to the bitter/positive end”

That last sentence in particular is bullshit of the worst type.

JC

This might well be the most extraordinary piece of music to have ever come out of Scotland and become a hit single:-

mp3: Cocteau Twins – Pearly-Dewdrops’ Drops

It reached #29 in May 1984, spending four weeks in the Top 40. Sadly, the producers at Top of The Pops didn’t see fit to invite the band to the studios for a performance.  It truly would have been incredible television to see Liz, Robin and Simon miming away as the balloons were bounced around among the surely bewildered pop fans who were there to catch sight of Duran Duran, Nik Kershaw or The Thompson Twins, all of whom were riding high in the charts that week.

To be fair, the first week of June 1984 had a decent looking Top 30 –  OMD, Blancmange, New Order, Human League, Depeche Mode, The Special AKA, Scritti Politti, The Cure, Sandie Shaw/The Smiths, and Echo & The Bunnymen could be found alongside Cocteau Twins.

There was always something ethereal or even abstract about the music the trio made, but the fact they enjoyed some degree of commercial success would indicate there was much more love for them out there in the mid 80s than perhaps they ever anticipated or indeed were prepared for.

Pearly-Dewdrops’ Drops is not a lyric that would ever qualify for the great short stories series – indeed, it is nigh on impossible to know what precisely is being sung with different sites offering up different interpretations.  But it really doesn’t matter when the voice is as wonderfully expressive as this – at times it sounds as if Liz is undergoing some sort of exorcism – with a musical accompaniment which is singularly unique but somehow offers reminders of a number of the other above-named bands who were also in the Top 30 that week, as well as the guitar work of John McGeogh.

The b-side wasn’t too shabby either:-

mp3: Cocteau Twins – Pepper-Tree

One of the strangest things about the release of this single was that the 12″ version not only featured an extended version, but that it was stuck on the b-side, with a completely different lead track as the a-side:-

mp3: Cocteau Twins – The Spangle Maker

Here’s the thing……The Spangle Maker has even more of a ‘wow’ factor. For the full sonic experience, turn it up loud and put on a decent set of headphones.

JC

A DEBUT GUEST POSTING by SHA (aka Swedish Herring Accident)

Wandering round the recent exhibition Rip It Up: The Story of Scottish Pop at the National Museum of Scotland, it hurt my very soul that Cocteau Twins barely got a mention. Maybe they’re not pop, I said to myself. But now I see that we’ve reached almost 200 ICAs and not got around to addressing Cocteau Twins, I’m thinking something’s amiss. Maybe no-one’s brave or naive enough to have a crack at it – that’s a real possibility. It is, after all, a daunting body of work to reduce to a single album. But then, maybe it’s better to have a half-baked attempt than none at all. I’m definitely capable of that.

So here’s my offering. I’ve steered away from some of the more dissonant early stuff – not because it isn’t great, but because I wanted to create an album with a single sound, rather than a variety pack compilation. An album that captures the unmistakable mellifluous Cocteau Twins sensation that hovers between fluffy and deeply meaningful. Or caterwauling nonsense as my wife would put it. (JC adds….as would my wife!)

You’ll no doubt disagree with my choices – I disagree with them myself. I’ve murdered my darlings and made some unspeakably cruel omissions. I’ve also not shied away from popular/ obvious stuff just to prove that I’ve got Peppermint Pig or Moon And The Melodies. That said, this is no Best Of. Oh shut up now; just let the music flow over you.

Side 1.

Lazy Calm (from Victorialand).

An amazing and daring way to start an album, especially one as short as Victorialand. For a long time, I wasn’t certain that this wasn’t two tracks. The first half of this would form a perfect introduction to any other Cocteau Twins song. There was always a moment of tension between getting hold of a new Cocteau Twins album and playing it for the first time. “Have they lost it?” “Will it still be wonderful?” I should have never worried – within the first few moments of every Cocteau Twins album Liz’s voice would wash over me with a soothing wave of relief. None more so than this from 1985.

Love’s Easy Tears (from Love’s Easy Tears ep).

Got this from Probe in Liverpool the day it came out. I played it all evening until the others in my hall of residence asked me to stop. I thought I was the only person in the world who Liz and Robin could commune with. Then I read an interview in which Liz said this ep was some kind of tribute to 60s singers like Sandie Shaw and Dusty. That hadn’t occurred to me – not what I thought we were communing at all!

Carolyn’s Fingers (from Bluebell Knoll).

After Treasure, the wait for another album seemed interminable. Robin constantly claimed that each new offering wasn’t the real thing. Victorialand wasn’t a real album because it was just him and Liz messing around; Echoes in a Shallow Bay/ Tiny Dynamine wasn’t a real album because it was just some out-takes they’d polished up; Moon and the Melodies wasn’t a real album because it was a side project with Harold Budd. After all this methadone, when were we going to get a proper dose of the good stuff? And boy, when it arrived, Bluebell Knoll was the good stuff. And what’s this? Thank The Lord! A drummer! Carolyn’s Fingers is like a hug across the void.

In Our Angelhood (from Head Over Heels).

Head Over Heels is amazingly energetic – very little clue of the languid silkiness to come. Back when Cocteau Twins were still deciding who they wanted to be, bursting with creative spark, they put out songs like this with confidence and style.

Lorelei (from Treasure).

This is around the time the music press stopped trying to bracket Cocteau Twins – no more Siouxsie or Kate Bush analogies. They had found a voice and a sound of their own. Simon’s turned up with his safe hands on the rhythm section and his “Hyeah – I’m the bassist now” flourishes. For a while, this was head and shoulders the most exciting song I had ever heard. I thought it would need a whole Barnum and Bailey’s circus of performers to do it any justice on stage and at least three separate singers (I’m thinking twin sylph-like angels for the verse and a prowling vixen for the chorus). I still like to think that Cirque du Soleil should one day come to their senses and do a Cocteau Twins show. And when they do, this will be the opener.

Intermission

Fruitopia Commercial 1. They did an advert! It was two TV spots for Fruitopia, the Coca-Cola Company’s short-lived attempt to compete with the likes of Oasis and Snapple. I like to think that Robin finds discarded snippets like this in the bottom of his sock drawer and sells them off to passing art directors in 30-second stings.

Side 2

Bluebeard (from Four-Calendar Café).

In 1993 I was fed up with all the music in my collection and was listening to the radio in search of something new to get into. The moment I heard the gleaming guitar riff on this intro, I thought “That’s the one for me, I’ll go straight out and buy this.” By the time Liz’s vocals started, it was clear that everything I knew was true and that the world was spinning smoothly on its axis. Robin once said he couldn’t stand those Pink Floydy guitarists who can play all six strings at once; I think he manages at least three on this.

Sultitan Itan (from Tiny Dynamine).

Everything I read about Liz Fraser made her seem less real. Her favourite drink was Babycham and brandy. She cooked strawberries. Both of these were disgusting and expensive.

Heaven Or Las Vegas (from Heaven Or Las Vegas).

I chose nine out ten of these tracks without worrying about what anyone else was going to think. And then I had two problems – we need something from Heaven Or Las Vegas and we need one of those epic Side Two Showstoppers to propel us onwards.

Pur (from Four-Calendar Café).

In the natural order of Cocteau Twins albums, this is the where there’s a slow nebulous calm before the epic ending storm. With Pur, it’s fragile vulnerability erupting into velvet self-confidence. Sometimes, it pays not to listen to the words, just the voice. You risk getting a glimpse like this (and Bluebeard earlier) into an unhappy and crumbling relationship.

A Kissed-Out Red Floatboat (from Bluebell Knoll).

And this is how I want to die – this song is a Chinese lantern in the sunset. Let these exquisite twinkling harmonies, these shimmering tones lift you away into the ether like dandelion clocks in the breeze. Or caterwauling nonsense – you choose.

—oOo—

Mix and Match Bonus Session: These are the other songs I considered for track three on side two before chickening out and choosing Heaven Or Las Vegas:

(i) The Spangle Maker (from Pearly Dewdrops ep) – in the end this track is too big to be an album track. Leave it where it is with a whole side to itself;

(ii) Summerhead (from Four Calendar Café) – did they come full circle? This would have fitted on any Cocteau Twins album from Head Over heels onwards.

(iii) Squeeze-Wax (from Four-Calendar Café) – late period willowy breeziness at its very best.

Simply switch out one of these, according to taste. Other Sonic Cathedrals are available.

SHA

mp3 : Cocteau Twins – Iceblink Luck

As near as they ever got to releasing a danceable pop single, this reached #38 in the UK charts back in September 1990.

Enjoy

Back in 1993, The Cocteau Twins released the LP Four-Calendar Cafe.  It was a work which horrified many long-term fans given it was a lot lighter and poppier in places than just about anything previously. I can recall some fans being annoyed by the fact that in some of the songs you could make out some of the lyrics being sung by Liz Fraser….although let’s be honest it was hardly the stuff of Kylie or Bananarama.

The lead-off single is one of my favorites :-

mp3 : Cocteau Twins – Bluebeard

The 4AD book from a couple of years ago featured an extensive contribution from Robin Guthrie but not his erstwhile partner of old. It’s now very clear that this was a Liz lyric…aimed squarely at him as he battled the demons of drug and alcohol dependency; the extent of his problems were such that his behaviour drove his partner to undertake psychotherapy in an effort to resolve the underlying issues. A few years later, the band, as well as Liz and Robin’s relationship, dissolved in a very messy way.

In reaching #33, Bluebeard was one of their biggest successes as far as singles. Here’s what was also available on the CD:-

mp3 : Cocteau Twins – Three Swept
mp3 : Cocteau Twins – Ice-Pulse
mp3 : Cocteau Twins – Bluebeard (acoustic version)

Enjoy

I’m currently ploughing my way through a really enjoyable book entitled Facing the Other Way, written by Martin Aston. It’s a really well-written account of the birth and growth of the highly respected and critically acclaimed indie label 4AD and already, about halfway through, I’ve learned a great deal about the music and the people involved in all aspects of the organisation.

I’ll get round to penning a full review in due course but for now would like to offer a few words on what I consider to be my favourite ever album to come out on 4AD.

The thing is, I’ve never really gotten into Cocteau Twins to any great depth and consider myself to be more of an admirer than a fan – and even then, if I listen to anything beyond about an hour’s worth of their music I get bored. Aside that is from Head Over Heels which I can listen to back-to-back quite happily.

This record forms a large part of the soundtrack to my carefree student days, particularly my first year living away from home. There were three of us who shared a flat and all of us, if truth be told, were music snobs. One of my flatmates was a huge fan of Cocteau Twins from the outset and tried hard to convince everyone of their merits. It wasn’t that I didn’t like them, but I didn’t quite get it. By late 1983 there had been one album and 2 EPs, all having the occasional track worth listening to but only in small doses. It certainly wasn’t music for going out to or for putting on if you wanted to continue the party. It was all a bit gloomy which was reinforced by my seeing them at Night Moves in Glasgow at a gig early on their career as support to The Fall.

At first listen, Head Over Heels didn’t seem too radical a departure. But on second and third listens, I began to hear things a wee bit differently – in particular the astonishing effects that Robin Guthrie had added to his guitar work. It was an album where a drum machine rather than a real sticksman seemed like a stroke of genius.

Before too long, this became my ‘go-to’ record when I just wanted to wind down after a hard night’s dancing and drinking. Maybe subconsciously I wanted its dream-like nature to settle me down quickly and peacefully within the land of nod…..that and the fact that a girl I was nuts about loved the record and it was a way of getting to talk to her without feeling too much of a dick.

Nothing came of my efforts to get to know said girl any better but I’m happy to say that didn’t lessen my fondness for this record. But having been drawn-in by the guitars, I was soon a convert to the vocals of Elizabeth Fraser. This is singing like nothing else on planet indie-pop. It’s just, for the most part, a series of noises and sounds and not actual words but they are the perfect match for the instrumentation. And in LP closer Musette and Drums you will find something that I consider truly special and up there among my favourite pieces of music of all time.

The thing is, Mrs Villain has never taken to Cocteau Twins – indeed it would be accurate to state that she hasn’t ever liked anything which features Ms Fraser on vocals – and so it’s a record that I had rarely played since 1990 when we first moved in together. But a few years back, just as I was approaching the age of 50, I began to compile a list of my favourite 50 LPs of all time and having included Head Over Heels on the long list I took it out of its sleeve for a spin and re-discovered it again, delighted that it remained every bit as special as I had remembered. I’ve never owned the LP on CD so the songs to accompany today’s words are from the 32-year old vinyl, scratches, jumps, bumps, hisses and all.

mp3 : Cocteau Twins – When Mama Was Moth
mp3 : Cocteau Twins – Five Ten Fiftyfold
mp3 : Cocteau Twins – Sugar Hiccup
mp3 : Cocteau Twins – The Tinderbox (of a Heart)
mp3 : Cocteau Twins – Musette and Drums

Enjoy