― MarkH, Thursday, 26 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
For what it's worth I don't like them at all - terrible singer, no melodies, cumbersome arhythmic banging-about etc etc
― Dr. C, Thursday, 26 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Omar, Thursday, 26 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Dan Perry, Thursday, 26 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 29 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― stephen clover, Monday, 30 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Famously dubbed The Appalling Cranes by the NME. Bit of a cause celebre at MM, which I went along with for a bit.
― Michael Jones, Monday, 30 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Nick, Monday, 30 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Tadeusz Suchodolski, Wednesday, 1 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
The first album (whose name I couldn't remember), _Loved_ (a completely different album from their first album), and the new one (whose name I couldn't remember) are good. I was listing three albums, not two.
― Dan Perry, Wednesday, 1 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― junichiro, Wednesday, 1 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― del a robbo, Thursday, 2 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 2 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Eisbär (llamasfur), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 03:12 (twenty years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 03:15 (twenty years ago) link
― fortunate hazel (f. hazel), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 03:29 (twenty years ago) link
― Ian Grey (Ian_G), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 03:54 (twenty years ago) link
― may pang (maypang), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 04:09 (twenty years ago) link
― Baaderist (Fabfunk), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 08:36 (twenty years ago) link
― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 10:25 (twenty years ago) link
― Baaderist (Fabfunk), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 11:27 (twenty years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 14:05 (twenty years ago) link
― MarkH (MarkH), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 14:08 (twenty years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 14:11 (twenty years ago) link
― Baaderist (Fabfunk), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 14:15 (twenty years ago) link
Quite like "Jewel" (the Cranes' song, not the snaggle-toothed pseudo-folk diva) as well.
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 14:19 (twenty years ago) link
― MarkH (MarkH), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 14:24 (twenty years ago) link
― kephm, Tuesday, 13 January 2004 15:42 (twenty years ago) link
― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 18:32 (twenty years ago) link
― Baaderist (Fabfunk), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 18:40 (twenty years ago) link
I too was at that Rose Bowl show. Mmm, volume.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 19:28 (twenty years ago) link
― Bryan (Bryan), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 21:31 (twenty years ago) link
There was a song they played near the end of their set that featured the guitarist doing horrifically nasty things to his car while the vocalist pitched a petulant fit into her microphone. The only other Cranes song I've heard that is halfway similar to it is "Lillies" (which I know came out several years later); I would love to find out what song that was because it was fantastic. I would describe it as proto-Korn metal (only good) with a pissed-off Strawberry Shortcake coming down off of a PCP binge on vocals.
― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 21:42 (twenty years ago) link
― Bryan (Bryan), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 21:50 (twenty years ago) link
― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 21:53 (twenty years ago) link
― Ian Grey (Ian_G), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 23:13 (twenty years ago) link
― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 23:28 (twenty years ago) link
(Er, on second thoughts, I think it's a couple of hundred miles away at the moment. Similar Sharkboy box, anyone?)
― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 23:50 (twenty years ago) link
Hm...you DID get that mp3 I have from the same year that has the queasy London version which also goes on forever and has him mentioning the various songtitles from Wish, I trust.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 00:43 (twenty years ago) link
― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 00:48 (twenty years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 00:53 (twenty years ago) link
I am sad that this description hasn't made anyone go, "Oh, I know that song, it's '_______'."
― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 01:02 (twenty years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 03:37 (twenty years ago) link
― Stupid (Stupid), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 04:11 (twenty years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 04:14 (twenty years ago) link
― Stupid (Stupid), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 04:31 (twenty years ago) link
Wah!
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 04:34 (twenty years ago) link
― Stupid (Stupid), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 04:37 (twenty years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 04:38 (twenty years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 20 April 2004 23:03 (twenty years ago) link
― keith m (keithmcl), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 01:21 (twenty years ago) link
― spittle (spittle), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 03:39 (twenty years ago) link
― the music mole (colin s barrow), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 04:39 (twenty years ago) link
― Leigh Smith, Thursday, 8 September 2005 11:53 (eighteen years ago) link
ATTENTION ILM: Please help me identify this song! Is it "Inescapable", as Ned suggests?
― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Thursday, 8 September 2005 12:08 (eighteen years ago) link
― Baaderonixx and the choco-pop babies (baaderonixx), Thursday, 8 September 2005 12:15 (eighteen years ago) link
― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Thursday, 8 September 2005 13:46 (eighteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 8 September 2005 13:53 (eighteen years ago) link
― fortunate hazel (f. hazel), Thursday, 8 September 2005 15:26 (eighteen years ago) link
― Baaderonixx and the hedonistic gluttons (baaderonixx), Monday, 19 September 2005 13:44 (eighteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 19 September 2005 13:48 (eighteen years ago) link
― Jon Benet Taxidermy (piratestyle), Monday, 19 September 2005 13:58 (eighteen years ago) link
― AaronK (AaronK), Monday, 19 September 2005 14:03 (eighteen years ago) link
― AaronK (AaronK), Monday, 19 September 2005 14:23 (eighteen years ago) link
It might also be "Give" (off the Inescapable EP) which I remember being a set-closer around the same time.
― Si.C@rter (SiC@rter), Monday, 19 September 2005 14:38 (eighteen years ago) link
Cranes song 'Astronauts' from the 'Particles and Waves' album is going to be included in the opening show for the American Super Bowl ! It's on Sunday 5th February and the song will appear during a pre-taped opening tease featuring athletes and actors reciting lines from Dr. Seuss' "Oh, The Places You'll Go."
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 30 January 2006 01:44 (eighteen years ago) link
― baaderonixx, Wednesday, 21 March 2007 17:14 (seventeen years ago) link
― HI DERE, Wednesday, 21 March 2007 18:26 (seventeen years ago) link
My favourite Cranes story: when working at the record store one night (possibly a MOLTEN METAL MONDAY) with my friend STV we played some Cranes and a customer yelled "HEY! THIS SOUNDS LIKE MUSIC TO SAW YOUR ARMS OFF TO!" at us from across the store.
amazing ^
I've been playing Forever and Loved all day over here, great fucking albums.
― stephen, Thursday, 22 May 2008 19:31 (fifteen years ago) link
This is the band with that horrible female singer isn't it? I'm with Dr. C on that. Never could stand them for a second, though I certainly met plenty of folks who liked them. I'm surprised they weren't lumped in with the shoegazing thing more, as it seems to me they started in that era, right?
― Bimble, Thursday, 22 May 2008 19:42 (fifteen years ago) link
Fuck, I found the song I was looking for at one point but now I can't remember what it ended up being. (It definitely predates "Lillies".)
― HI DERE, Thursday, 22 May 2008 19:50 (fifteen years ago) link
The mystery song. I say just drop the band a line or something.
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 22 May 2008 19:54 (fifteen years ago) link
This is the band with that horrible female singer isn't it?
I think her voice works a lot better with the dense, heavy, layered songs with plenty of bass. Provides a nice contrast to her wispy, sometimes admittedly grating voice. Whereas, wispy song + wispy voice never worked quite so well for me, with this band.
― stephen, Thursday, 22 May 2008 20:03 (fifteen years ago) link
^^^^ pretty much OTM, they worked much better when they maximized density (which is why Loved is so much better than the rest of their albums).
― HI DERE, Thursday, 22 May 2008 20:08 (fifteen years ago) link
Not sure I totally agree with this. Some of their wispier stuff, eg. 'Paris and Rome', 'Cloudless', is pretty amazing.
― baaderonixx, Thursday, 22 May 2008 21:05 (fifteen years ago) link
Incidentally, my 50-year-old mother (whose favorite artists are Rascal Flatts, Sugarland, Coldplay and a wide array of contemporary Christian pop/rock) heard a Cranes album in my car this morning (Forever) and *loved* it, especially Alison Shaw's "amazing voice" -- go figure?
(Now then, Bimble, if she can get into it...)
― stephen, Friday, 23 May 2008 21:11 (fifteen years ago) link
"So Mom, you might like 'Starblood'..."
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 23 May 2008 21:14 (fifteen years ago) link
I think "Starblood" was the song I was looking for...? I need to see if I have a copy of it somewhere.
― HI DERE, Friday, 23 May 2008 21:16 (fifteen years ago) link
Yeah I'm pretty sure Starblood was that song. That was the highlight of their show on that 1992 Wish tour.
― baaderonixx, Saturday, 24 May 2008 08:16 (fifteen years ago) link
Been listening to Wings of Joy a lot lately, "Starblood" is incredible as is the rest of the record.
Also, THIS EP COLLECTION IS AMAZING:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/416G2QWQJQL._SL500_AA240_.jpg
A handful of the very best tracks from Wings of Joy, Forever and Loved, plus a ton of early Cranes highlights, EP only material and stuff that's otherwise only available on vinyl. I'm hard pressed to name a bad track on here. LOOOOOOVE.
― stephen, Thursday, 12 June 2008 20:05 (fifteen years ago) link
Yeah, that's a good comp. Never got it cause I had pretty much all the singles and could burn my own version of it (in fact that's a good idea).
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 12 June 2008 20:11 (fifteen years ago) link
New album out next week, you crazy goths.
― NickB, Tuesday, 7 October 2008 22:48 (fifteen years ago) link
YOU GUYS
IT WAS "STARBLOOD"
CONFIRMED FACT
― Like sicking a little bit of water into my mouth (HI DERE), Tuesday, 7 October 2008 22:54 (fifteen years ago) link
― Like sicking a little bit of water into my mouth (HI DERE), Tuesday, 7 October 2008 22:59 (fifteen years ago) link
Said new album is quite excellent, BTW -- it's easily the most easygoing of their albums yet but the feeling is one of the goth stormclouds hovering high above while the keyboard-led arrangements and gentler performances suggest things like the High Llamas, Young Marble Giants, Broadcast a bit, some minimal techno...it's a nice blend.
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 27 October 2008 20:06 (fifteen years ago) link
Tempted to get this. I assume it's very much in the vein of their last two releases?
― baaderonixx, Monday, 27 October 2008 20:10 (fifteen years ago) link
Yes, but even more restrained -- it's the keyboards rather than the drums or guitars that provide a lot of the focus this time out, but there's that same sense of rhythmic undertow and slightly ominous edge. But what's nice is that it doesn't feel any less like a Cranes album for that reason. As Alison's voice is unchanged and Jim clearly still listens out for that sense of rhythm and focus first and foremost, it's a very natural course to take.
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 27 October 2008 20:13 (fifteen years ago) link
Why do people hate Population 4? I have all their albums excpet the french concept album((always too expensive)) and while Population 4 is not one of their best,, it has not one bad song and "Sweet Unknown" is arguably their best song,, I think that the This Mortal Coil follow-up Hope Blister covered it and I'm glad that someone else thought that song was special.
Its one of those songs you'll never forget the first time you heard it,, Cranes have had me in pain with the incredible sad beauty of songs like "Tommorrows Tears" and "Paris and Rome",, but with "Sweet Unknown",, it made me feel a way I've never been made to feel by ANYTHING in art or life in general..... I'm a decent person with a pretty clear conscious,,, but that song sounded so astoundingly beautiful and pure that I felt a bit of a shabby person and it made me want to be a better person. WOW!!!
Play that song to a saint and theyll cry and promise to be a better person(((I'm not saying I'm a saint))).
As much as I love Slowdive and Chapterhouse and other bands of that era/scene,, I often think Cranes are better because they are just so incredibly unique that you feel greatful that they exist. If Slowdive did not exist I'm sure someone else would have done something similar to fill that void((not an insult,, I love them to pieces)),, but Cranes worringly could easily never have existed. Scary thought for me.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 14 March 2009 14:34 (fifteen years ago) link
I played Population 4 once and thought it was the most boring, self-indulgent music I'd ever heard (and I own multiple Sky Cries Mary albums).
― Wes HI DEREson (HI DERE), Saturday, 14 March 2009 15:38 (fifteen years ago) link
Good god. (In re: Sky Cries Mary.)
― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 14 March 2009 16:09 (fifteen years ago) link
The dislike for Population Four is one of those things I'll never get my head around. People hating REM's Monster too. Because both those albums, while different from the rest,, it confuses me why people find them offensively different or wrong for that particular artist to have done. Its like someone trying to tell me my elbows and ankles hate me eternally and have been trying to kill me for my whole life.
Surely one of you like "Sweet Unknown"?
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 14 March 2009 16:18 (fifteen years ago) link
I couldn't tell you anything substantial about any of the songs off of that album; I literally have not listened to it since the day I bought it.
I did get their most recent one off of iTunes and thought it was pleasant.
― Wes HI DEREson (HI DERE), Saturday, 14 March 2009 16:22 (fifteen years ago) link
Just listen to that song. It makes the whole album.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 14 March 2009 16:26 (fifteen years ago) link
"Lillies" is still a fantastic song, so many years later.
― Tina Tina Cheneuse (DJP), Tuesday, 21 December 2010 18:32 (thirteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqUjQiQ-YNQ
also "Starblood"
more music should sound like it should soundtrack someone tenderly, lovingly pulling the face off of a kitten
― Tina Tina Cheneuse (DJP), Tuesday, 21 December 2010 18:34 (thirteen years ago) link
The first concert I went to was Cranes at the 930 Club at the old location on 930 F Street in DC in 1996 and the memory still kind of stings. I went with my then "girlfriend" (beard) and then a week later I went to see them at the Masquerade in Atlanta with my first sort-of boyfriend, a deeply depressed goth boy named Matthew. We drove 6 hours from the tiny Appalachian town we lived in, went to see the show, then drove 6 hours back and I went to work at 8:00 a.m. at the grocery store I worked at.
The smell of the old 930 Club was a *thing*. It smelled of leather and cigarette smoke. I was completely sober and the DC show was the most intense show I have ever been to, and Atlanta was equally strong, but different. I don't know how to feel music that way anymore.
― it was as good of a time as any to show a lighter side of 9/11 research (Je55e), Monday, 5 September 2011 03:06 (twelve years ago) link
The first concert I ever went to, not just the first Cranes show.
― it was as good of a time as any to show a lighter side of 9/11 research (Je55e), Monday, 5 September 2011 03:07 (twelve years ago) link
Pop. 4 was terrible. I was in a really low point back then and I was super reliant on music to help me stay sane, and Pop. 4 was like my best friend leaving me.
Around that same time, The Cure's Wild Mood Swings and Tori Amos' From the Choirgirl Hotel came out and I decided I hated music for quite a long time.
― it was as good of a time as any to show a lighter side of 9/11 research (Je55e), Monday, 5 September 2011 03:15 (twelve years ago) link
Re-listening to their various releases recently made it so much clearer for me how 'Loved' is by far the best thing they ever did (no matter how great the other albums are).
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Monday, 5 September 2011 12:45 (twelve years ago) link
It's been a while since I gave them a spin but from memory Forever just edged it. Agree with Je55e that the rot set in with Population 4.
― ban this sick stunt (anagram), Monday, 5 September 2011 13:27 (twelve years ago) link
not really - pop 4 was the end of something (although that disaster came out of nowhere) - when they came back they were quite a different band but their subsequent albums were never less than solid (tho probably not unforgettable)
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Monday, 5 September 2011 14:21 (twelve years ago) link
I'll defend Population 4 forever. Seriously, Listen to "Sweet Unknown", I think it was covered by that This Mortal Coil followup Hope Blister (and a few people on youtube), so someone else obviously loves it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13CmES4-ovA
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 8 July 2012 17:10 (eleven years ago) link
They are doing a few concerts soon, I doubt I'll ever see them here in scotland.
I've been missing Tragedie for a while, I'm scared to buy it in case the reissues start catching up again.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 8 July 2012 17:14 (eleven years ago) link
I have been listening to Cranes a lot this week! They remind me of a dear friend. Alison Shaw has one of those voices that's so distinct that it's really fun to imitate. They had this one song – blargh this is going to be so vague – that I heard years ago w/like really intense feedbacky outro and she just periodically says "yeah" as the lyrics. Any ID on that one?
― chupacabra seeds (Abbbottt), Sunday, 8 July 2012 17:21 (eleven years ago) link
It's on Wings Of Joy I know that much
― MaresNest, Sunday, 8 July 2012 21:02 (eleven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Dtaw5LxaVE
― MaresNest, Sunday, 8 July 2012 21:06 (eleven years ago) link
I only saw them once, in Glasgow on the Wings Of Joy tour and my abiding memory of it was a slightly unusual atmosphere, the audience were being very, very quiet and attentive. It was like you might have expected at a Swans concert, a somewhat solemn and religious crowd.
There were a bunch of English gothy types - that I assumed were following them around - down the front and they were shushing people (needlessly) and giggling, taking the piss, I guess they must have seen it before.
― MaresNest, Sunday, 8 July 2012 21:15 (eleven years ago) link
saw them once on a double bill w/Slowdive, an inspired piece of programming
― my father will guide me up the stairs to bed (anagram), Sunday, 8 July 2012 21:55 (eleven years ago) link
Listening to Wings of Joy in full for the first time in years, possibly even ever (I mostly remember playing "Starblood" over and over and over)
this whole album is an unsettling, amazing artifact
― SHAUN (DJP), Friday, 6 December 2013 19:59 (ten years ago) link
Very fragile, for all the power of "Starblood," and that's part of the thing -- you can tell that they were equally in thrall to pounders like Einsturzende and Swans while still aiming for this incredible restraint and focus at the same time.
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 6 December 2013 20:04 (ten years ago) link
Really hope they bring out another record. The reissues stopped after Loved as well. I got Tragedie at the start of this year and it is really something. Almost like Art Zoyd!
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 7 December 2013 19:47 (ten years ago) link
Haven't heard Wings of Joy in a decade - not sure I'd like to, as I remember it to be pretty lifeless compared to what they would do later on.
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Monday, 9 December 2013 12:47 (ten years ago) link
it is remarkably static, but in great, contemplative, "if I open the closet door I may find my parents' bodies" way
― SHAUN (DJP), Monday, 9 December 2013 14:53 (ten years ago) link
indeed - the cover art captures the feeling quite well. Also at the time they seemed to have a pretty strong obsession with Wenders' 'Wings of Desire': the album title of course, but also I remember them using that film's opening theme as their intro music when walking on stage - and that film is all about observing mundane life from a static and eerily lifeless vantage point.
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Wednesday, 11 December 2013 14:26 (ten years ago) link
If you’re looking for something Cranes inspired, I’ve been enjoying an album my ex recorded in 2010:
http://www.rdio.com/artist/Sarah_June/album/In_Black_Robes/
― Allen (etaeoe), Wednesday, 11 December 2013 16:44 (ten years ago) link
LOL. I just noticed Ned wrote the review for the aforementioned album.
― Allen (etaeoe), Wednesday, 11 December 2013 16:45 (ten years ago) link
I was about to say, wait a minute!
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 11 December 2013 16:46 (ten years ago) link
Tempted to get that last (I guess final?) album of theirs.
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Tuesday, 4 March 2014 09:07 (ten years ago) link
FFFFSSSS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89y1QJM6eNs
― MaresNest, Sunday, 16 June 2019 17:32 (four years ago) link
The version of Starblood completely bangs.
― MaresNest, Sunday, 16 June 2019 17:36 (four years ago) link
Heading Starblood in the Rose Bowl (when opening for the Cure) will always remain engraved in me
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Sunday, 16 June 2019 17:55 (four years ago) link
Cool, don't know when I'll watch that but thanks.
I think they said they're working on a ton of stuff but it's been quite a wait. But I'm patient.
Solo EP from guitar/keyboard guyhttps://paulsmith.bandcamp.com/album/through-strange-windows
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 16 June 2019 18:35 (four years ago) link
That was definitely an experience.
― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 16 June 2019 18:48 (four years ago) link
I saw them live during that tour. Amazing.
― Duke, Sunday, 16 June 2019 20:21 (four years ago) link
18 September 1991
― Duke, Sunday, 16 June 2019 20:23 (four years ago) link
At the end of 1994 my life collapsed around me. Five years earlier I moved to NYC and attempted to make it into the "music biz" with varying degrees of success but i got involved with a person who was a mess and a combination of that and my own immaturity led to an untenable situation. The end result meant that I had no choice but to leave her as well as the city I loved and I thought everything else as well. I did the dreaded "move back with your parents a failure" thing in my mid 20s.
I didn't have a car. I got a job at the Ledo's Pizza walking distance from my parents place, but I didn't have any money for a car and public transportation around then in suburban DC was not the best. So I didn't think I could go to shows but I had an idea: Offer someone who was into music free shows in exchange for rides. I put up a little notice in the laundry room in the apartment complex and somehow someone answered. They didn't know Cranes, but I loved their last album Loved and I was able to snag free tickets from my former life and I bought one for her boyfriend.
It was 2/10/1995 at the 9:30 Club. I saw the band and they were wonderful, but more importantly it was a tiny shred of freedom and joy in music that I had started to take for granted when I was in New York attending 120 shows a year. It also allowed me to have some semblance of a social life, which is not easy when you sleep on your parents floor in your mid 20s with nothing lined up.
In many ways, that was the best show I ever went to. It was just what I needed, just when I needed it. I will always treasure the memory of that show.
― Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Monday, 17 June 2019 02:45 (four years ago) link
Oh, and this is perfect.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CH12Rxvz40
― Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Monday, 17 June 2019 02:47 (four years ago) link
Yeah, in many ways "Lilies" is my platonic ideal of what I want to hear from Cranes.
― brigadier pudding (DJP), Monday, 17 June 2019 13:02 (four years ago) link
I never owned any of their albums as a kid, but I must have listened to the Jewel EP with the Robert Smith mix hundreds of times. Been trying to track this one down for ages, I just could never remember the name of the song. Such an awesome version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZdEByzo-8I
― Chuck_Tatum, Wednesday, 19 June 2019 10:13 (four years ago) link
yeah I got that EP for free at a show and it could well be my favorite release of theirs
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Wednesday, 19 June 2019 11:21 (four years ago) link
this one's on it, too - i like it a lot more than the heavy version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BOZDtGIHkM
― Chuck_Tatum, Wednesday, 19 June 2019 12:35 (four years ago) link
Can't find the fan forum anymore where I used to check for updates. Hope the new stuff is further along.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 22 July 2020 23:40 (three years ago) link
Wow I was just thinking of them yesterday and wondering how they spent their days (just can’t imagine Alison Shaw having a normal job). Didn’t know they were working on new stuff
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Thursday, 23 July 2020 10:29 (three years ago) link
man I wore out the robert smith remix of 'jewel' in college. fell in love after seeing them open for the cure in '92. favorite song on wings of joy is 'thursday'. saw them again in NYC in '97 and it was the worst show i've ever seen
― this has been the best year fuiud (rip van wanko), Thursday, 23 July 2020 15:51 (three years ago) link
I watched that Luxor performance last night and she spends half the concert trying to hold her hat in place, but it's really good for a camcorder concert.
Sometimes I think they were the best band of their era/generation, on the strength of Loved, Forever, Tragedie and Self Non Self.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 23 July 2020 19:09 (three years ago) link
anyone here own the Music on Vinyl reissues? Do they sound good?
― beamish13, Friday, 24 July 2020 01:25 (three years ago) link
listened to Cranes on shuffle on Spotify today, and nearly every song was good. lots of good ideas in their music
― this has been the best year fuiud (rip van wanko), Friday, 24 July 2020 03:40 (three years ago) link
Yeah. I understand the voice might be a dealbreaker for most but musically (esp arrangements) they were incredible. I love the buzzing drone that underpins most of their stuff, esp on Loved.
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Friday, 24 July 2020 07:12 (three years ago) link
New album out today by Irish band Just Mustard who share a lot of Cranes DNA, right down to supporting The Cure. They have some great live sessions on YouTube too. There are a couple of passing mentions of them on ILM but I don't think anyone's yet pointed out this glaring similarity (which of course is a big recommendation!).
― Supposed Former ILM Lurker (WeWantMiles), Friday, 27 May 2022 13:19 (one year ago) link
Are we taking the early Swans-inspired Cranes or the later dream poppier material?
― Maresn3st, Friday, 27 May 2022 13:32 (one year ago) link
Early stuff, for sure.
― Supposed Former ILM Lurker (WeWantMiles), Friday, 27 May 2022 14:32 (one year ago) link
> the early Swans-inspired Cranes
maybe i should check out swans, which i never really have.
― koogs, Friday, 27 May 2022 15:45 (one year ago) link
I think maybe mid-eighties Swans might be worth checking out, the rhythms have that same flavour as songs like Starblood.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHES9YAGGkU
― Maresn3st, Friday, 27 May 2022 18:14 (one year ago) link
was ok until the vocals, which were a large part of the appeal of the cranes
― koogs, Saturday, 28 May 2022 10:13 (one year ago) link
Still gods...and now on Bandcamp
https://cranes.bandcamp.com/
2000s albums for now, but various plans are in the works.
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 3 November 2022 22:40 (one year ago) link
Bless’em
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Saturday, 5 November 2022 08:40 (one year ago) link
Okay, various reissues and things happening...and a 30th anniversary show for Forever, with the original lineup:
https://www.ticketweb.uk/event/cranes-30th-anniversary-show-of-earth-tickets/13090185
Also posted a very nice note about Ray Shulman the other day.
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 6 April 2023 20:15 (one year ago) link
£1.75 for "delivery" of etickets. they need Robert Smith on the case
― koogs, Thursday, 6 April 2023 20:34 (one year ago) link
Just did a lovely near hour long chat with Ms Shaw. Forthcoming Bandcamp piece in a couple of months.
― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 16 April 2023 16:23 (one year ago) link
Good. I never did get the album reissues and wondered if there was any particularly good tracks that weren't on the EP collection
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 16 April 2023 19:39 (one year ago) link
Xp Nice! I always wondered about her. Did she go back into civilian life then?
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Sunday, 16 April 2023 19:54 (one year ago) link
I didn't get full details re what they're all doing now but sounds like everyone found their own particular paths, and that the last few months brought things back together nicely. (There's more news forthcoming but not yet public; the show is I believe a one-off for now at least.)
― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 16 April 2023 20:11 (one year ago) link
This sparked a revisit of Wings of Joy (never my fave). I'd forgotten just how beautiful and timeless "Tomorrow's Tears" was.
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Monday, 24 April 2023 08:37 (one year ago) link
Yeah that intro remains perfect.
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 24 April 2023 11:36 (one year ago) link
The feature is live!https://daily.bandcamp.com/features/cranes-alison-shaw-interview-peel-sessions
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 18 May 2023 18:41 (eleven months ago) link
Thanks
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 22 May 2023 19:00 (eleven months ago) link
Yer welcome
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 22 May 2023 19:19 (eleven months ago) link
Forever anniversary gig is tonight. I probably should have listened to the album before coming because it's years since I've listened to it, have mostly listened to their early stuff recently
― Colonel Poo, Saturday, 14 October 2023 18:44 (six months ago) link
Jealous
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Saturday, 14 October 2023 19:23 (six months ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DfXd2PsSsM
― MaresNest, Sunday, 22 October 2023 12:49 (six months ago) link
And a new reissue here: Fuse, on vinyl for the first time as well:
https://cranes.bandcamp.com/album/fuse
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 6 February 2024 17:14 (two months ago) link
I never thought this would be reissued
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 7 February 2024 20:41 (two months ago) link
Really remarkable to see it. I think any further reissues after that would have to go through Cherry Red because I gather they have access to the Dedicated releases (which explains the Chapterhouse box from the other year), but I think that's still in the works. We'll see what follows next!
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 7 February 2024 20:50 (two months ago) link
Really excited to see them in May
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Wednesday, 7 February 2024 21:39 (two months ago) link