falling in love with the cocteaus again.

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Not all messages are displayed: show all messages (115 of them)

"spanglemaker" is my favorite though.

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.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 7 November 2004 02:21 (8 years ago) Permalink

3 months pass...

Getting excited now.

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

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

― piscesboy, Thursday, 17 February 2005 12:51 (8 years ago) Permalink

i'd like to see them. i've only recently begun to really listen.

― Alienus Quam Reproba (blueski), Thursday, 17 February 2005 12:59 (8 years ago) Permalink

The drummachine's my fav thing about "Treasure". Well, that and Simon turning up.

― Andrew Blood Thames (Andrew Thames), Thursday, 17 February 2005 13:28 (8 years ago) Permalink

it's going to be wall to wall 'treasure' on these gigs i reckon.
'ivo' and 'lorelei' = a dead cert.

― piscesboy, Thursday, 17 February 2005 13:46 (8 years ago) Permalink

Perhaps they will play in New Zealand. Perhaps not.

― A Viking of Some Note (Andrew Thames), Thursday, 17 February 2005 13:47 (8 years ago) Permalink

8 months pass...

Hmmm, Heaven or Las Vegas sounds very good tonight.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 06:08 (7 years ago) Permalink

still the only cd of theirs i own. haven't listened to it in years but the title track alone would make me never want to relinquish it.

― joseph (joseph), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 06:23 (7 years ago) Permalink

1 month passes...

Hmmm, Heaven or Las Vegas sounds very good tonight.
-- Ned Raggett (ne...), November 16th, 2005

..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.

― piscesboy, Thursday, 12 January 2006 17:57 (7 years ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

i only have heaven or las vegas and four-calendar cafe. i tend to prefer the latter despite the overwhelming critical preference for the former. the closer on f-c c is really blissful

― Charlie Howard (the sphinx), Thursday, 1 February 2007 12:24 (6 years ago) Permalink

Yes I've just fallen for them again. Listened to Treasure again last week at fiancee's prompting and even though after more than 22 years I thought I knew the record inside out, now it sounds like a completely new record.

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.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Thursday, 1 February 2007 12:29 (6 years ago) Permalink

Critical preference is almost always gonna slant toward the earlier, more vibrant Twins -- like back toward a little bit of grit and struggle in the sound, back when they're really pushing and taking off into beauty, instead of just hopping straight into the hot cozy bath -- but the more time goes by, the more that later stuff sounds great and mysterious on its own, and not just like some kind of comedown / trailoff. I mean, I still prefer the part of their career where they sound like they're in a basement trying to be beautiful (and magically succeeding) -- like Treasure and such -- but the very end-period stuff (FCC and beyond) sounds better to me every time I go back to it. (I think, at the time, that FCC was the last Cocteaus album I dug without worrying that they were going a bit milky, and actually, at the time, I think I liked its direction a lot.)

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!

― nabisco (nabisco), Thursday, 1 February 2007 13:53 (6 years ago) Permalink

still victorialand for me, you can play it at both speeds!

― Friendly Tree (688), Thursday, 1 February 2007 13:55 (6 years ago) Permalink

cheers for the advice, nabisco

having just uncovered this powerful band quite recently, i'm suddenly confronted with the delightful chore of navigating their back catalogue, and i find myself treading a little carefully so as to not overdose on all the riches at once. i think i'll go with 'treasure' next, and then take it step by step from there. :)

― Charlie Howard (the sphinx), Thursday, 1 February 2007 14:11 (6 years ago) Permalink

I find the early stuff a bit too gothy but Moon and The Melodies, Heaven or Las Vegas, Bluebell Knoll or Victorialand all get spun still fairly regularly. For some reason they always seem to be a band I listen to in the Spring or Autumn more. But that's probably abother thread in its own right.

― Treblekicker (treblekicker), Thursday, 1 February 2007 14:23 (6 years ago) Permalink

Charlie, if you want to invest in a crash course in the discography, you can always get the new four-disc EP collection, which is pretty great -- you'll get an overview of the whole career, and still have the actual albums to dip into at whatever pace you like.

― nabisco (nabisco), Thursday, 1 February 2007 14:37 (6 years ago) Permalink

I'm jealous of people who are just now discovering bands like the Cocteaus, and have that whole catalogue in front of them to dive into...I mean, how awesome would it be to have bits of your musical memory erased so that so can experience that "my god *this* is exactly what I want to hear right now!" feeling over and over again?...you know, like electroshock therapy, but without the bad stuff...

― hank (hank s), Thursday, 1 February 2007 14:42 (6 years ago) Permalink

that's an interesting idea. if you had entire bands erased from your memory, i wonder how many of those same bands you'd come across again on an intimate level.

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 (6 years ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

i know it's been said many times many ways but my god what a band.

― piscesx, Wednesday, 20 August 2008 02:32 (4 years ago) Permalink

You betcha.

― Bimble Is Still More Goth Than You, Wednesday, 20 August 2008 04:39 (4 years ago) Permalink

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 (4 years ago) Permalink

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 (4 years ago) Permalink

3 years pass...

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 (1 year ago) Permalink

Shitting kittens!

interesting phrase!

― suburban buttshaven cannibal (electricsound), Tuesday, 1 May 2012 02:51 (1 year ago) Permalink

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 (1 year ago) Permalink

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 (1 year ago) Permalink

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 (1 year ago) Permalink

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 (1 year ago) Permalink

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 (1 year ago) Permalink

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 (1 year ago) Permalink

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 (1 year ago) Permalink

Shitting kittens!
interesting phrase!
― 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 (1 year ago) Permalink

1 month passes...

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 (11 months ago) Permalink

just got tickets to the Bath gig

― kinder, Tuesday, 26 June 2012 22:36 (11 months ago) Permalink

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

― LeRooLeRoo, Wednesday, 27 June 2012 21:58 (11 months ago) Permalink

sorry, no, just Liz

― kinder, Wednesday, 27 June 2012 22:32 (11 months ago) Permalink

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

― piscesx, Wednesday, 27 June 2012 23:14 (11 months ago) Permalink

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.

Example 2: Definitely NOT a pointless remix.

― azaera, Thursday, 28 June 2012 06:40 (11 months ago) Permalink

Oops, video #2 is supposed to be this:

― azaera, Thursday, 28 June 2012 06:41 (11 months ago) Permalink

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 (11 months ago) Permalink

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.)

― White Chocolate Cheesecake, Thursday, 28 June 2012 08:33 (11 months ago) Permalink

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.