Cocteau Twins : Classic or Dud

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.

some of those bbc sessions are better than the studio tracks (esp. 'hazel' and 'blind dumb deaf')

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.

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.

"The Spangle Maker" is one of the all-time greatest songs of ever.

^ fact

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

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.

now i dont know WHAT to do

fwiw, we're all right and Noodle Vague is full of shit.

Victorialand is the best

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.

s1ocki, get Milk & Kisses

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.

Her album's not going to happen is it?

Back to the question 'Treasure' for me, though they're all pretty much interchangeable.

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).

Decipherable lyrics is the reason

it was kind of disappointing at the time but now it sounds great.

I wouldn't mind an album with Yann Tiersen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N5KITNGDtc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Jb1xm-eCvc

Sanpaku thanks for the Orange link! I forgot all about those guys.

i appreciate all the answers but i can't help feel like i'm back at square one here folks

well, most/all of their albums are pretty special. again, if you want stuff that sounds like HILV, go for the surrounding albums (blue bell knoll,four calendar cafe, milk and kisses, heck even victorialand). tresure and head over heels are incredible but are relatively harsher and more goth.

dang i remember pining for this comp back in high school. probably just for the alison's halo track:
http://www.discogs.com/Various-Splashed-With-Many-A-Speck/release/597128

Seriously, I can't think of many other bands deserving of a 'BUY EVERYTHING!' recommendation.

Though I've got a bunch of songs from every album, I gotta admit when I'm in a cocteau mood I just throw on my college radio station's old LP of The Pink Opaque

Singles comp is the way to go on this one, folks: http://www.discogs.com/Cocteau-Twins-Lullabies-To-Violaine-Volume-1/master/248410