― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 27 October 2002 17:20 (twenty-one years ago) link
― piscesboy, Sunday, 27 October 2002 19:23 (twenty-one years ago) link
My faves, though, remain "the Spangle Maker," "Crushed" and "Summerhead,"....the latter of which can practically induce tears at its sheer gorgeosness.
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 27 October 2002 21:11 (twenty-one years ago) link
― gareth (gareth), Sunday, 27 October 2002 21:31 (twenty-one years ago) link
― keith (keithmcl), Sunday, 27 October 2002 21:38 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Monday, 28 October 2002 10:26 (twenty-one years ago) link
And Julio, I don't know what the double cd comp is that you heard, but Victorialand is nowhere near their best album, nor even in their top 5. It does not stand as even a decent indication of their sound on the whole. 'Heaven...' is their best, or at least has had the most staying power for me....give it a spin if you get a chance.
― Trace, Monday, 28 October 2002 20:23 (twenty-one years ago) link
_Construction Time Again_ is a fantastic album, partially because it's the last chance you get to hear Alan Wilder sing on a DM album and partially because "Everything Counts" and "Love In Itself" are great singles and "Shame" is one of their best songs.
― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 28 October 2002 20:33 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Ernest P., Monday, 28 October 2002 20:48 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 28 October 2002 20:59 (twenty-one years ago) link
Ok then. the comp was reelased on 4AD a couple of years ago. tracks from their career really. again, it was OK but hardly a knockout.
― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Tuesday, 29 October 2002 12:23 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Tuesday, 29 October 2002 12:31 (twenty-one years ago) link
― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Tuesday, 29 October 2002 12:42 (twenty-one years ago) link
Maybe start with Heaven or Las Vegas, which is both the sweetest-sounding release they did (it seems to just ooze sugary vanilla and cherry flavour in some spots) or try something like The Pink Opaque, which is an earlier compilation which still seems to work just fine as an album, and has some of their best tracks, including "Pearly Dewdrops' Drops". Knowing what I know of your tastes, I have a feeling you might actually like Garlands, too, because it's a lot more dissonant and dark.
― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Tuesday, 29 October 2002 14:25 (twenty-one years ago) link
yeah, that was it!
''Maybe start with Heaven or Las Vegas, which is both the sweetest-sounding release they did (it seems to just ooze sugary vanilla and cherry flavour in some spots) or try something like The Pink Opaque, which is an earlier compilation which still seems to work just fine as an album, and has some of their best tracks, including "Pearly Dewdrops' Drops". Knowing what I know of your tastes, I have a feeling you might actually like Garlands, too, because it's a lot more dissonant and dark.''
Ok i'll have to try garlands. might pick it up tonight if i'm quick enough.
― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Tuesday, 29 October 2002 16:24 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 29 October 2002 16:28 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 29 October 2002 16:35 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Tuesday, 29 October 2002 16:55 (twenty-one years ago) link
Staving off a pavement-cracking hangover and cursing my job as I woke -- BEFORE THE BABY (this is practically unheard of) this Sunday morning to put in pre-election week double duty here at the Newsdesk, I walked outside to find an unseasonably glorious Autumn day and toggled up ye olde Cocteau Twins on the iPod for a stroll to midtown. In no time at all, my petty complaints and visceral disdain for my fellow man were temporarily put on the back burner of an entirely different stove and I glid down the leaf-strewn, sunsplashed avenues of this fair metropolis as if buoyed by a giggley coterie of silk-winged cherubim and robustly voluptious, flaxen-locked centaurettes.
I honestly cannot think of any other music that can replicate this effect.
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 31 October 2004 17:15 (nineteen years ago) link
I think some of their best work was released on the EPs; I'd encourage anyone who is just starting to explore their work to hunt down the older import "The Pink Opaque" or more recent "Stars and Topsoil" compilations. Or just buy the EP box set. Songs like "Spangle Maker", "Aikea Guinea" and "Pink Orange Red" are some of CT's finest and shouldn't be missed.
― jeffery (jeffery), Sunday, 31 October 2004 22:17 (nineteen years ago) link
I love the big, ringing sound of the "Love's Easy Tears" ep. "Orange Appled" is one of my top three favourite CT tracks.
― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Sunday, 31 October 2004 22:28 (nineteen years ago) link
― Andy K (Andy K), Sunday, 31 October 2004 22:36 (nineteen years ago) link
http://www.funk.ne.jp/~tx/cocteautwins/ct_jake/box_jake/cocteaubox1small.jpg
x-post
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 31 October 2004 22:38 (nineteen years ago) link
An amazing set ... and their best EP's (the "Twinlights"/"Otherness" twinbill) were still to come!
I may have written this on another thread: "Twinlights" and "Otherness", taken together, would be easily the best CT album.
― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Sunday, 31 October 2004 22:45 (nineteen years ago) link
*caution*!! the japanese version (which has the cds in actualjewel cases as opposed to cd-single cases) is the one u want,but the trax are the same.
there's still one on the shelf in KINGBEE RECORDS manchester (about half a mile from my house).
― piscesboy, Monday, 1 November 2004 12:49 (nineteen years ago) link
the US version was like this as well. Is there a UK version that is different? Is the box thinner?
― kyle (akmonday), Monday, 1 November 2004 16:59 (nineteen years ago) link
― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Monday, 1 November 2004 17:07 (nineteen years ago) link
― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Monday, 1 November 2004 17:11 (nineteen years ago) link
― kyle (akmonday), Monday, 1 November 2004 17:12 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 1 November 2004 17:17 (nineteen years ago) link
― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Monday, 1 November 2004 17:20 (nineteen years ago) link
― kyle (akmonday), Monday, 1 November 2004 17:25 (nineteen years ago) link
you don't mean the frosty the snowman thing right? heckfire, well i consider myself a cocteaus peak-period trainspotterbut that's foxed me. tell u what the NME COMPELTE DISCOGRAPHY from 1993, which had EVERYTHING listed on it (dates, prices, trax, cat numbers) never mentioned anything called 'SNOW'.
enlighten me please alex, kyle et al.
― piscesboy, Monday, 1 November 2004 17:49 (nineteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 1 November 2004 17:50 (nineteen years ago) link
― kyle (akmonday), Monday, 1 November 2004 18:20 (nineteen years ago) link
it was called Snow
― kyle (akmonday), Monday, 1 November 2004 18:22 (nineteen years ago) link
― jeffery (jeffery), Monday, 1 November 2004 18:22 (nineteen years ago) link
― piscesboy, Monday, 1 November 2004 18:25 (nineteen years ago) link
― Chris Hill (Chris Hill), Monday, 1 November 2004 19:10 (nineteen years ago) link
― kyle (akmonday), Monday, 1 November 2004 19:10 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 1 November 2004 19:11 (nineteen years ago) link
― kyle (akmonday), Monday, 1 November 2004 20:36 (nineteen years ago) link
― kyle (akmonday), Monday, 1 November 2004 20:37 (nineteen years ago) link
― Seb (Seb), Tuesday, 2 November 2004 04:56 (nineteen years ago) link
― LeCoq (LeCoq), Tuesday, 2 November 2004 05:35 (nineteen years ago) link
― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Wednesday, 3 November 2004 10:09 (nineteen years ago) link
One of the joys of the BBC album is that Guthrie didn't produce it.
― Dr. C (Dr. C), Wednesday, 3 November 2004 12:50 (nineteen years ago) link
Oh, definitely. It's still a transition album as such, and consisted only of Guthrie and Fraser, Raymonde hadn't joined yet. But it's got some absolutely crackerjack numbers, and they also do a few things throughout that they didn't try much again (the overt jazz-scat nods on "Multifoiled," for instance). Still had a lot of early hyperdourness but was channeled into different directions -- the glowering guitar and doom beats on "When Mama Was Moth" and then the explosion/cascade of the concluding "Musette and Drums," which is a monster and a half.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 3 November 2004 13:53 (nineteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 3 November 2004 13:54 (nineteen years ago) link
-- Alex in NYC (vassif...), November 1st, 2004 7:11 PM. (vassifer) (later)
― Onimo (GerryNemo), Wednesday, 3 November 2004 14:28 (nineteen years ago) link
― hank (hank s), Thursday, 1 February 2007 14:42 (seventeen years ago) link
i'll suss out that ep. collection tomorrow i think. particularly since the material is strong.
― Charlie Howard (the sphinx), Thursday, 1 February 2007 14:48 (seventeen years ago) link
i know it's been said many times many ways but my god what a band.
― piscesx, Wednesday, 20 August 2008 02:32 (fifteen years ago) link
You betcha.
― Bimble Is Still More Goth Than You, Wednesday, 20 August 2008 04:39 (fifteen years ago) link
damn I haven't listened to the Cocteau Twins in like a year now, time for another obsessed dive
― Curt1s Stephens, Wednesday, 20 August 2008 04:42 (fifteen years ago) link
I'm not as big a fan as many around here, but some of their singles -- e.g., Pearly-Dewdrops' Drops -- are near perfect pop songs.
― Daniel, Esq., Wednesday, 20 August 2008 04:53 (fifteen years ago) link
crikey (no sadly not a reunion before anyone gets their hopes up)http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/may/01/cocteau-twins-elizabeth-fraser-meltdown
― piscesx, Tuesday, 1 May 2012 02:46 (eleven years ago) link
Shitting kittens!
interesting phrase!
― suburban buttshaven cannibal (electricsound), Tuesday, 1 May 2012 02:51 (eleven years ago) link
Fraser has quietly assembled almost an album's worth of new material, which will form the basis of a 75-minute set with a band including Reece, multi-instrumentalist Thighspaulsandra from experimental band Coil and ex-Spiritualized bassist Sean Cook. Ex-Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett may also feature.
I demand a recording of this as soon as this set is performed.
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 1 May 2012 02:56 (eleven years ago) link
Yeah, okay, that url made me think the story was about something altogether unpleasant. But good on her!
― O Aquaman (Deric W. Haircare), Tuesday, 1 May 2012 04:16 (eleven years ago) link
Meanwhile in the last sentence...
Also appearing at Meltdown will be Marc Almond, Diamanda Galas and Laurie Anderson, with other major names still to be announced
Damn.. This might be something to go to...
― Reality Check Cashing Services (Elvis Telecom), Tuesday, 1 May 2012 04:24 (eleven years ago) link
Jesus crow. I just saw this pop up on the 4ad FB group and Im all a fluster. If I could rely on it to actually HAPPEN I would be going into hock for tickets to the UK right now, but I cant risk her piking.
― fix it with like some music glue (Trayce), Tuesday, 1 May 2012 10:01 (eleven years ago) link
And Steve Hackett! wtf. I have to tell my ex, he is going to go mental.
― fix it with like some music glue (Trayce), Tuesday, 1 May 2012 10:02 (eleven years ago) link
If I could rely on it to actually HAPPEN I would be going into hock for tickets to the UK right now, but I cant risk her piking
It'll happen. Contracts and all that will have been signed. Plus, from the interview she sounds pretty upbeat about it.
― my father will guide me up the stairs to bed (anagram), Tuesday, 1 May 2012 11:39 (eleven years ago) link
I'd say "hooray" because it's not a 'reunion'
Because a 'reunion' is one gig then everyone disappears.
Whereas this seems like a new album/gig, so more likely a beginning of something.
― Mark G, Tuesday, 1 May 2012 11:42 (eleven years ago) link
Shitting kittens!interesting phrase!― suburban buttshaven cannibal (electricsound), Tuesday, 1 May 2012 02:51 (8 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― suburban buttshaven cannibal (electricsound), Tuesday, 1 May 2012 02:51 (8 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
t'was the original title of "Sugar Hiccup" you know..
― Mark G, Tuesday, 1 May 2012 11:45 (eleven years ago) link
nice piece with Robin from a Xmas special edition of MOJO last year.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7026/6791081375_2d669f5e8a_o.jpg
― piscesx, Tuesday, 26 June 2012 21:54 (eleven years ago) link
just got tickets to the Bath gig
― kinder, Tuesday, 26 June 2012 22:36 (eleven years ago) link
Are you saying they're doing a reunion show??
― LeRooLeRoo, Wednesday, 27 June 2012 21:58 (eleven years ago) link
sorry, no, just Liz
― kinder, Wednesday, 27 June 2012 22:32 (eleven years ago) link
yeah she might do a few CT tracks it looks like. short gig otherwise i'd wager.
― piscesx, Wednesday, 27 June 2012 23:14 (eleven years ago) link
Thanks for posting the Mojo piece.
My Bloody Valentine? They were just another little indie band to begin with. Lush interested me more because they could actually write songs and had ideas.
He sounds like he's too insecure to admit how good My Bloody Valentine are. Which - if the case - is sad, considering how satisfied he should be with his own body of work. It wouldn't diminish his band in any way. Then again, maybe that mix of insecurity and competitiveness helped him reach the heights he did with CT?...
The only Cocteaus records that make me cringe are the Twinlights and Otherness EPs (from 1995). Twinlights is acoustic and has violins and shite like that, and Otherness is pointless remixes.
I kind of agree with him about Twinlights; I think the instrumentation wasn't up to par. An intriguing exercise - I don't think it's a failure, by any means... But I consider the Otherness EP to be an essential final jewel in their crown. Just listen to the direction that that EP took their live set in; it was yet another breathtaking step in their evolution.
Example 1: The way it drops out at around 3:20 and resurfaces in remix form is a thing of beauty.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iQpaUZP5t4&list=PLA6C6A1D4FF638880&index=3&feature=plpp_video
Example 2: Definitely NOT a pointless remix.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXkhpT7wmo4&list=PLA6C6A1D4FF638880&index=4&feature=plpp_video
― azaera, Thursday, 28 June 2012 06:40 (eleven years ago) link
Oops, video #2 is supposed to be this:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXkhpT7wmo4&list=PLA6C6A1D4FF638880&index=4&feature=plpp_video
― azaera, Thursday, 28 June 2012 06:41 (eleven years ago) link
Argh. Technical ineptitude. Sorry. It's supposed to be a video of Aloysius live from 1996. Definitely worth checking out if you haven't already done so.
― azaera, Thursday, 28 June 2012 06:43 (eleven years ago) link
No, it's because RG was one of that group of people who actually remember MBV as this shambolic live band stumbling round the London scene in the mid to late 80s. As opposed to people who just heard these amazing records coming out of nowhere and presumed they were always that brilliant.
(And I say that as someone who was part of that latter group. But I know quite a few people who remember MBV as an early band, and their later success was, shall we say, unexpected.)
― White Chocolate Cheesecake, Thursday, 28 June 2012 08:33 (eleven years ago) link
https://open.spotify.com/user/bellaunion/playlist/7E80P0mDTqpCiPbCLVkaUK?si=NTDqk34FTPG0fCIBzjMmfw
A Cocteaus playlist Simon Raymonde made and shared yesterday saying “I coulda chosen any but these just suited my mood”. Surprising either way as he doesn’t talk about his Cocteau past much.
Hope that link works.
― piscesx, Friday, 22 December 2017 12:08 (six years ago) link
Had an In The Gold Dust Rush IPA the other day. The can even looked like it was designed by Vaughan Oliver. It was quite good!
― henry s, Friday, 22 December 2017 12:29 (six years ago) link
Being in Cocteau Twins from 21-35 years of age, was like riding on a rollercoaster for 1/2 a lifetime. Thrilling at times, then a bit nauseous, then wanting to get off, but realising you can't and gritting your teeth but also finding moments of sad beauty to savour amongst the terror. Here are 13.
Melancholy of the festive season hitting hard! Thanks for sharing Pisces, it's lovely.
― ♫ very clever with maracas.jpg ♫ (Le Bateau Ivre), Friday, 22 December 2017 12:41 (six years ago) link
(can someone post a tracklisting for those of us who don't spotify? ta)
― koogs, Friday, 22 December 2017 16:28 (six years ago) link
01. For Phoebe Still a Baby02. Eperdu03. Cico Buff04. Fifty-fifty Clown05. Watchlar06. I Wear Your Ring07. A Kissed Out Red Floatboat08. Crushed09. Those Eyes, That Mouth10. Athol-brose11. Orange Appled12. Calfskin Smack13. Blue Bell Knoll
― willem, Friday, 22 December 2017 16:32 (six years ago) link