Is her single available somewhere online, the RT website or something?
― hulk would smash (Trayce), Tuesday, 1 December 2009 23:01 (fourteen years ago) link
Oh and she did that gorgeous song with the Bathers!
― hulk would smash (Trayce), Tuesday, 1 December 2009 23:02 (fourteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbPhJPY1iKc
― hulk would smash (Trayce), Tuesday, 1 December 2009 23:08 (fourteen years ago) link
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".
― Daruton, Tuesday, 1 December 2009 23:16 (fourteen years ago) link
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.
― hulk would smash (Trayce), Tuesday, 1 December 2009 23:17 (fourteen years ago) link
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.
― Daruton, Tuesday, 1 December 2009 23:24 (fourteen years ago) link
That clip up is so o_0 in ways I can't actually articulate. It's almost like a parallel universe or something.
― Lostandfound, Tuesday, 1 December 2009 23:28 (fourteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTx8VnZBvDc
― les yeux sans aerosmith (underrated aerosmith albums I have loved), Monday, 19 July 2010 00:47 (fourteen years ago) link
some things are better not explained it seems
― iPrincess 2.0 (electricsound), Monday, 19 July 2010 00:50 (fourteen years ago) link
This isnt stuff I didnt already know (the stuff about random dictionary words and whatnot). She's said that heaps of times.
― Gumbercules (Trayce), Monday, 19 July 2010 01:09 (fourteen years ago) link
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.
― Gumbercules (Trayce), Monday, 19 July 2010 01:11 (fourteen years ago) link
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?
― Pauls to the Wall (Noodle Vague), Monday, 7 March 2011 15:49 (thirteen years ago) link
Is it? I should track that down and compare em. I was just listening to M&tM yesteday funnily enough.
― gnarly gnarlingtons in my life (Trayce), Monday, 7 March 2011 22:20 (thirteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ez_ULa7PI8s
― Pauls to the Wall (Noodle Vague), Monday, 7 March 2011 22:21 (thirteen years ago) link
Wow its exactly the damn same.
― gnarly gnarlingtons in my life (Trayce), Monday, 7 March 2011 22:22 (thirteen years ago) link
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.
― Pauls to the Wall (Noodle Vague), Monday, 7 March 2011 22:26 (thirteen years ago) link
Yeah it was "Lovely Thunder", right?
― gnarly gnarlingtons in my life (Trayce), Monday, 7 March 2011 22:28 (thirteen years ago) link
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?
― A Little Princess btw (s1ocki), Tuesday, 27 March 2012 13:47 (twelve years ago) link
Victorialand. Don't bother with the goth shit or the last couple.
― red is hungry green is jawless (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 27 March 2012 13:48 (twelve years ago) link
Victorialand or Blue Bell Knoll
― ValĂ©ry Giscard d'Staind (NickB), Tuesday, 27 March 2012 13:58 (twelve years ago) link
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.
― Mary Steamvirgin (Deric W. Haircare), Tuesday, 27 March 2012 14:01 (twelve years ago) link
cocteau twins, smash mouth, sugar ray
― A Little Princess btw (s1ocki), Tuesday, 27 March 2012 14:03 (twelve years ago) link
Swap out Sugar Ray (fourth) with Crazy Town and you pegged it.
― Mary Steamvirgin (Deric W. Haircare), Tuesday, 27 March 2012 14:14 (twelve years ago) link
s1ocki: get Milk and Kisses, Garlands and Victorialand; IMO those three along with Heaven & Las Vegas are the essential Cocteau albums
― THIS TRADE SERVES ZERO FOOTBALL PURPOSE (DJP), Tuesday, 27 March 2012 14:31 (twelve years ago) link
Treasure and Heaven Or Las Vegas are my favourite, by far.
― Sick Mouthy (Scik Mouthy), Tuesday, 27 March 2012 14:32 (twelve years ago) link
I really thought Treasure was the acknowledged masterpiece?
― Sick Mouthy (Scik Mouthy), Tuesday, 27 March 2012 14:33 (twelve years ago) link
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.
― LeRooLeRoo, Tuesday, 27 March 2012 14:37 (twelve years ago) link
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
― grandavis, Tuesday, 27 March 2012 15:11 (twelve years ago) link
yeah treasure WTF, if you only have two get treasure and heaven or las vegas.
― akm, Tuesday, 27 March 2012 17:12 (twelve years ago) link
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).
― Michael J. Fuxxx (Deric W. Haircare), Tuesday, 27 March 2012 17:17 (twelve years ago) link
'the pink opaque' is a good early years overview if you don't know that stuff very well
― althea and (donna rouge), Tuesday, 27 March 2012 17:33 (twelve years ago) link
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.
― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 27 March 2012 18:04 (twelve years ago) link
some of those bbc sessions are better than the studio tracks (esp. 'hazel' and 'blind dumb deaf')
― althea and (donna rouge), Tuesday, 27 March 2012 18:07 (twelve years ago) link
Head Over Heels and Heaven or Las Vegas are my favorite LPs, but The Spangle Maker EP, reprised in its entirety (minus a 7" edit) on The Pink Opaque comp, remains their finest moment.
― Pauper Management Improved (Sanpaku), Tuesday, 27 March 2012 18:26 (twelve years ago) link
agreed - I would go w/BBC Sessions or Pink Opaque to get a sense of where you would want to go next as far as the albums proper.
― Flat Of NAGLs (sleeve), Tuesday, 27 March 2012 18:28 (twelve years ago) link
"The Spangle Maker" is one of the all-time greatest songs of ever.
― Michael J. Fuxxx (Deric W. Haircare), Tuesday, 27 March 2012 18:28 (twelve years ago) link
^ fact
― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 27 March 2012 18:30 (twelve years ago) link
If we're discussing Cocteau Twins soundalikes, there's a lot of goth dribble that gets the instrumental side down, but almost none have a vocalist that can pull off Liz Frasier's fluid / Ella Fitzgerald like stylings. My only strong recommendation here is the unfortunately named California band Orange, fronted by Sonya Waters, who released an eponymous album in 1994 on Dewdrops Records run by Brant from the 4AD mailing list.
Hey, Youtube has Feijoa by Orange
― Pauper Management Improved (Sanpaku), Tuesday, 27 March 2012 18:36 (twelve years ago) link
Sorry, I actually regret posting my version above, I had just run across a mention of that band and was excited about it! Nothing is as good at being Cocteau Twins as the real deal of course. Sorry to cloud the waters.
― grandavis, Tuesday, 27 March 2012 18:49 (twelve years ago) link
now i dont know WHAT to do
― A Little Princess btw (s1ocki), Tuesday, 27 March 2012 19:26 (twelve years ago) link
fwiw, we're all right and Noodle Vague is full of shit.
― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 27 March 2012 19:28 (twelve years ago) link
Victorialand is the best
― tanuki, Tuesday, 27 March 2012 19:34 (twelve years ago) link
If you lke Heaven Or Las Vegas, Blue bell knoll and Milk and Honey are definitely the closest to that sound. All their albums are great, though.
― neutral sequence for flute (blank), Tuesday, 27 March 2012 19:40 (twelve years ago) link
s1ocki, get Milk & Kisses
― THIS TRADE SERVES ZERO FOOTBALL PURPOSE (DJP), Tuesday, 27 March 2012 19:42 (twelve years ago) link
I guess it depends on whether you like your CT with a big bottom end or if you like your CT all whispy and ethereal. Heaven or Las Vegas is probably the perfect album because it straddles that fence ably.
― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 27 March 2012 19:44 (twelve years ago) link
Her album's not going to happen is it?
Back to the question 'Treasure' for me, though they're all pretty much interchangeable.
― fun loving and xtremely tolrant (Billy Dods), Tuesday, 27 March 2012 19:45 (twelve years ago) link
Yeah, if you're looking for something Heaven Or Las Vegas-ish, get Milk and Kisses. Maybe Four Calendar Cafe (although it seems to be held in slightly lower esteem for reasons I don't understand).
― Woodsy The Allen (Deric W. Haircare), Tuesday, 27 March 2012 19:51 (twelve years ago) link
Decipherable lyrics is the reason
― tanuki, Tuesday, 27 March 2012 19:59 (twelve years ago) link