Cocteau Twins : Classic or Dud

In a certain celebrity mailout this appeared...

'The reason the Cocteau Twins' comeback last year didn't happen is because even though Robin Guthrie and Liz Fraser had put their differences to the side (clue - £££££) Liz insisted that her partner be the drummer on the tour. Fine.

All was going well until Robin got pissed, looked through the tour expenses and saw that Liz's partner was getting paid a bit more than the other hired hands. He went batshit mental, rang up Liz and told her that this was outrageous and that he shouldn't even be getting paid AT ALL as Liz was making money and so her partner "didn't need to be paid".

Liz basically said (in indecipherable made-up language no doubt) she couldn't take this and if Robin was kicking off even before the tour started, it could only get worse. So she walked and that was it - reunion over. She apparently walked away from "millions".

Good for her.

I can understand being annoyed that he's making MORE than others but not getting paid AT ALL? Fuck that.

Not getting paid at all, says an anonymous secondhand source.

Yeah there's an obvious grain of salt there but still.

Give 'em a couple more years when they need to pay their mortgages, they'll come around.

I wouldn't be surprised if that was actually Guthrie's reaction. He always came across as socially retarded.

A story on Ms. Fraser in the Guardian the other day:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/nov/26/cocteau-twins-elizabeth-fraser-interview

And we do all grow older:

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Music/Pix/pictures/2009/11/26/1259231936986/Elizabeth-Fraser-Cocteau--001.jpg

Looks v. elegant!

She's been offered sums "beyond your wildest dreams" to collaborate with other artists – "the weirdest one was Linkin Park"

The hell.

The new song sadly sounds too much like Gotan Project but her voice is still awesome.

Which is all you need, really. (Well, maybe.)

Article's a little wrong at points when it comes to her musical silence -- for instance, she appeared (briefly) on the first two Lord of the Rings film scores, as apparently both Howard Shore and Fran Welsh were major Cocteaus fans, and she's specifically namechecked by both of them in the DVD documentaries, etc. etc.

And of course this was beautiful

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRq7FxiSmxY

I'll take any excuse to repost this:

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

She's been offered sums "beyond your wildest dreams" to collaborate with other artists – "the weirdest one was Linkin Park"

LOL just saw this.

I'll take any excuse to repost this:

The...hell.

Article's a little wrong at points when it comes to her musical silence -- for instance, she appeared (briefly) on the first two Lord of the Rings film scores

Yeah I noticed that error too, his claim she "only" did the Massive Attack album. Crap! She also worked with FSOL, Yann Tiersen, and Peter Gabriel (her work on the Millenium Dome album is lovely).

Is her single available somewhere online, the RT website or something?

Oh and she did that gorgeous song with the Bathers!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbPhJPY1iKc

Hahaha that Cocteau Madness video is amazing.

Reading back through the thread it seems like "not liking Cocteau Twins" was the mid 80s/early 90s equivalent of "not liking Radiohead".

Actually maybe it still is.

Really? I rarely come across people who vehemently dislike them or think theyre not cool to like. I do come across peopel whove not heard them though, or are indifferent.

I dunno. With advent of the internets and it being so easy to be a music "expert" they're arguably more popular than ever, with which comes the inevitable backlash viz "They're so unanimously liked that I intensify what would otherwise be indifference to their music" &c.

That clip up is so o_0 in ways I can't actually articulate. It's almost like a parallel universe or something.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTx8VnZBvDc

some things are better not explained it seems

This isnt stuff I didnt already know (the stuff about random dictionary words and whatnot). She's said that heaps of times.

OOh she's never actually read'em out before though! haha! That was amusing.

I did know that a few songs were like, lists of scientific insect names and stuff.

so I just found out that "Memory Gongs" off Moon and the Melodies is a Harold Budd track called "Flowered Knife Shadows (for Simon Raymonde)" with a couple of gongs dubbed over the beginning?

Is it? I should track that down and compare em. I was just listening to M&tM yesteday funnily enough.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ez_ULa7PI8s

Wow its exactly the damn same.

It's from a Budd album of the same year I think so fair enough but the 2 different titles is an oddity. As I said, "Memory Gongs" has gongs and that's the diff.

Yeah it was "Lovely Thunder", right?

k so this is one of those things where i bought 'heaven & las vegas' on cassette in like 1993 and really dug it but for never reason never sought out another album. now, many years later, i feel like it's time for a second cocteaus album. what shall it be?

Victorialand. Don't bother with the goth shit or the last couple.

Victorialand or Blue Bell Knoll

I'd say "whichever one you see first".

I've recently come to the conclusion that they're probably one my top three bands of all time.

cocteau twins, smash mouth, sugar ray

Swap out Sugar Ray (fourth) with Crazy Town and you pegged it.

s1ocki: get Milk and Kisses, Garlands and Victorialand; IMO those three along with Heaven & Las Vegas are the essential Cocteau albums

Treasure and Heaven Or Las Vegas are my favourite, by far.

I really thought Treasure was the acknowledged masterpiece?

Victorialand is my fave album, along with Head Over Heels. Lots of their EP's are essential though, especially Love's Easy Tears and Aikea-Guinea.

Am gonna post this on the rolling Bandcamp/free albums thread, but this band Ahsrae Fax put out a pretty great Cocteaus-ish record in 2002 called "Static Crash". They were a little ahead/out of their time, and seemed to play with a lot of noise bands, but they were great live and super nice folks. Can't recommend this record enough, good female vox, synths, textured guitars etc.:

http://ashraefax.bandcamp.com/album/static-crash

yeah treasure WTF, if you only have two get treasure and heaven or las vegas.

I'd happily recommend one of their singles collections or the BBC sessions to a newbie. Even their compilations are fantastic (and some of their non-LP tracks are among their very best).

'the pink opaque' is a good early years overview if you don't know that stuff very well

i am a 'head over heels' guy all the way tho

Highly recommend The Pink Opaque. It was released in the 80s as a "hello America" introduction to the band, comprised of a few album tracks and singles, and it did its job well. Even though it's not a proper album, it's my favorite.