falling in love with the cocteaus again.

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.

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.

I love the big, ringing sound of the "Love's Easy Tears" ep. "Orange Appled" is one of my top three favourite CT tracks.

http://www.funk.ne.jp/~tx/cocteautwins/ct_jake/box_jake/cocteaubox1small.jpg

x-post

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.

*caution*!! the japanese version (which has the cds in actual
jewel 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).

the US version was like this as well. Is there a UK version that is different? Is the box thinner?

you don't mean the frosty the snowman thing right?
heckfire, well i consider myself a cocteaus peak-period trainspotter
but 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.

it was called Snow

One of the joys of the BBC album is that Guthrie didn't produce it.

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.

-- Alex in NYC (vassif...), November 1st, 2004 7:11 PM. (vassifer) (later)

There's a big "BUT" however, which is that the sound on this pre-remaster CD is absolutely atrocious, it sounds like it was recorded using a dictaphone from three rooms down the hall. I suspect this may be a big barrier to my enjoyment, as it certainly clouds a lot of the sonic intricacies at work. My copy of Treasure sounds startingly clear by comparison.

It occurred to me that a good band doing a version of "Musette and Drums" via a huge sound system would be genius.

i almost agree, but can't completely because of the overwhelming sadness (to my ears anyway) on those eps. they are wonderful though. and quite a solid package together too. i wrote a random phone number on the case to "twinlights" and i curse that damn number everytime i look at the case.

every once in awhile i'll pull out blue bell knoll or four calendar cafe and bliss out. "spanglemaker" is my favorite though. i can't imagine treasure without those big fake drums either.

The whole EP is perhaps a perfect summation of that period of the band, but yeah, the song itself...man. A friend, many years ago, said she envisioned the song almost like a green slip of material, a scarf or something silken, twirling through a dark cavern that suddenly at the end came forward and enveloped you and took you somewhere else. It was a striking and strictly visual metaphor for the song that has never left me.

And there's no new album to promote so that leaves the set lists wiiiiiiide open.

http://www.nme.com/news/111427.htm

..and last night.

so the box set then. in february it's coming out in 2 seperate volumes (for like, a tenner each) usefully bisecting their career into 'the amazing 4ad bits 82 - 90' and 'the boring fontana biot onwards'. which is very nice.

Their music was such an important part of my old life (which is why I've been reluctant to write much about them) and for years I couldn't listen to them - it was too painful - but now, in my new life, I can.

Now that's magic.

Charlie, I recommend following your Cocteau purchases in one direction or the other -- I mean, I'd push like Treasure or at least Blue Bell Knoll on you, but if you want to head in their hot-milky-bath direction, start the other way!

nice piece with Robin from a Xmas special edition of MOJO last year.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7026/6791081375_2d669f5e8a_o.jpg

just got tickets to the Bath gig

Are you saying they're doing a reunion show??

sorry, no, just Liz

yeah she might do a few CT tracks it looks like. short gig otherwise i'd wager.

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

Oops, video #2 is supposed to be this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXkhpT7wmo4&list=PLA6C6A1D4FF638880&index=4&feature=plpp_video

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.

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?...

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.)

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.

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!

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.

(can someone post a tracklisting for those of us who don't spotify? ta)

01. For Phoebe Still a Baby
02. Eperdu
03. Cico Buff
04. Fifty-fifty Clown
05. Watchlar
06. I Wear Your Ring
07. A Kissed Out Red Floatboat
08. Crushed
09. Those Eyes, That Mouth
10. Athol-brose
11. Orange Appled
12. Calfskin Smack
13. Blue Bell Knoll