Cocteau Twins : Classic or Dud

well that does kinda sound nice :)

Frosty the Snowman knew the sun was hot that day

don't forget this lovely tidbit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFO7PxMiwe4

I started listening to CT as a teenage Cure fan, after I read in an interview that Robert Smith liked them. I got Victorialand for Christmas and I still remember putting it on the record player at the wrong speed and loving it. Then I realized it was supposed to be played at 45 (still don't know why or if other LPs like that exist), and it sounded even better! Worked my way back the catalog and fell in love with everything. Especially the EPs which I really had to track down.

Blue Bell Knoll seemed a bit formulaic when it came out compared to the rest, but HOLV totally brought them back. I still can't get into 4CC save for a few songs and Milk and Kisses is a good album although a bit going through the motions.

Still probably my favorite band of all time. I had a great time doing the poll a couple of years ago and it made me hear BBK in a new light.
Cups of POLLy-Dewdrops' Drops -- ILM Artist Poll #35 -- The COCTEAU TWINS results thread

LeRoo was that interview in CREEM? If so, exact same here!

Started working on the EPs as a result of this thread revive.

it's the chocolate, it's the chocolate on my to-ooth

ok, if i were to, i don't know, blow a bunch of my paycheck on some cocteau twins LPs, which releases should i look for, try to avoid, notoriously bad pressings, etc?

for example, did anyone get the 4AD reissue of Victorialand this year?
https://www.discogs.com/Cocteau-Twins-Victorialand/release/14941059

and for Blue Bell Knoll, i guess the most recent reissue was 2014? anyone have that one?
https://www.discogs.com/Cocteau-Twins-Blue-Bell-Knoll/release/5883381

for the eps, was there ever any sort of Lullabies To Violaine-esque collection on vinyl? "i don't even own a CD player"

sadly, no. but there is this great Canadian twofer of Tiny Dynamine and Echoes for $35:

https://www.discogs.com/sell/item/826703464

this is a pretty good deal but it doesn't have 'The Spangle Maker' a 7" for $14

https://www.discogs.com/sell/item/1182030935

this also seems like a good deal? Peppermint Pig 12" for $17

https://www.discogs.com/sell/item/1183618315

everything else on vinyl in USD looks a bit scary pricewise for OGs

as per your links above, yes to BBK and no to Victorialand, looks like the latter has a lot of bad pressings

sadly, no. but there is this great Canadian twofer of Tiny Dynamine and Echoes for $35:

it is mine.

:D

Nice work. I have one of those Canadian Vertigo pressings that has the Treasure LP and the Aikea-Guinea EP packaged with it, sounds great.

and then i also bought the peppermint pig 12", as well as the pink opaque ($20). i did it!

i'll probably just pick up the BBK reissue, then, and hold off on victorialand. (but i adore victorialand)

the pink opaque i only got because it was from the same seller as the peppermint pig. i'm in collector mode so i know i'm going to end up getting them all anyway, but the pink opaque will tide me over in the meantime

I'd kind of love to be listening to some of these right now but a friend's funeral during lockdown closed with Domino and I can't bring myself to.

LeRoo was that interview in CREEM? If so, exact same here!

I think it was in French mag Les Inrockuptibles, but thanks Robert!!

good call on The Pink Opaque as well, that way you get "Millimillenary" and all of The Spangle Maker 12"

(xpost to Karl)

Very sorry about that Aldo. Hopefully that song can bring you joy again and remind you of your friend. (x-post)

My CT drug story: listening to the EPs box set on NYE 1991 while out of my mind on LSD in my bedroom, very specifically "quisquose"....there is a bit in it, which is transcribed on the internet as "Quise qualledo qualledo quallido quallido do do do do au
a Rococo au oahoo"

at that precise moment, it was like the fabric of reality was unraveled in glowing ribbons. Dunno if I ever recovered.

Darvon + Victorialand made for some lovely evenings

what are the antecedents of this band? I read somewhere that as high-haired scottish late teens/20 somethings, they were way into Siouxie… and that they collaborated with Harold Budd suggests that they had an interest in minimalist composition…but I have a harder time intuiting what they must have been into initially for inspiration than I do peers like, say, MBV…would they have been into the Berlin Trilogy? and I guess Fraser likes Tim Buckley…lemme know them thoughts…

From their website:

The band members have cited among their influences such artists as Patsy Cline, Roy Orbison, The Ronettes, and the Beach Boys, and reminiscences of these can be heard in the thick textures and melodies of Love's Easy Tears. Loud and trebled guitar roar and chime over thumping drums and a dancing bass and, of course—that voice—which pierces the colorful washes of sound with candy-coated choruses and howls of non-specificity.

howls of non-specificity

working title for Smile

been a while since I had a DN, thanks

let me just check out the allmusic review for the pink opaque, written by one..let's see...ned raggett? never heard of him. but ned says " The version of Garlands' "Wax and Wane" included here is slightly remixed and arguably even better than the original, bringing out everything a little more clearly and powerfully.", and to that i say YESSSSSS, because i love the original

Also the only release you can find Millimillenary on, I think?

it seems that when i set off to purchase cocteau twins records, i can do no wrong!

Yup. Also I have no idea who that guy is.

ned otm about the pink opaque version of wax and wane. i’m biased because it’s the first way i heard it

Anyway I'm pleased to see that the legendary Great Pop Things strip on how the band came to be is still easily found:

https://wewillhavesalad.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/cocte.jpg?w=768&h=256

bc of this thread i listened to treasure for the first time and holy shit lorelai, i knew i remembered it from somewhere and it was sampled by the field

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0aI6CJHqKs

which if i had bothered to listen to this on youtube years ago i wouldve learned sooner, but o well

I don’t agree with whatever ppl think Treasure lags in the middle, nfw

Treasure has great stuff but I am kind of done with it, after 30+ years, in a way that I’m not done with other stuff of theirs.

Anyway, this Sunday:

For Cocteau Twins lovers everywhere and even those of you who are curious, I am hosting a @LlSTENlNG_PARTY for our '93 lp Four-Calendar Cafe on Sunday 10pm 18th October (Uk time) so please join me for some music and stories to boot..... pic.twitter.com/FjMJWhmg0e

— mrsimonraymonde (@mrsimonraymonde) October 16, 2020

Abbey and I visited THE four-calendar canteen in CT’s honour in Bandung, Indonesia a couple of years and met some AMAZING CT fans. Here is a photo abbey took pic.twitter.com/6zgI5J74Xn

— mrsimonraymonde (@mrsimonraymonde) October 18, 2020

most of my cocteau binge came in yesterday and this morning!

tiny dynamine/echoes in a shallow bay 2-fer
the pink opaque
peppermint pig

the dynamine/echoes compilation is great. i have another release by Vertigo, a comp of Kraftwerk 1 and 2, that is similarly excellent quality. i especially love the dynamine ep, out of the two. on a scale of warm hue combos, i am going to give this release 2 oranges, 2 pinks, and 1 red.

peppermint pig 12", i need to listen to it again, but i remember thinking that i liked the songs on the b-side ("laugh lines" and "hazel") a bit more than the single. i'll give it 1 orange, and 2 pinks, due to the pig theme.

the pink opaque is an instant favorite record for me, even though it's a comp. i think i love every goddamn song on there, and i've played it 5-6 times since i got it yesterday. 8 pinks, 4 purples, and 1 red.

the most reissue of blue bell knoll is on its way to my apartment tomorrow. :D

btw, i haven't allowed myself the luxury of reading through LBI's cocteau twins poll. i want to wait juuuust a bit longer, until i have a better grasp on garlands and head over heels. then i can scroll through the rollout with maximum fandom. can't wait!

so happy for you! Head Over Heels was the first LP I got of theirs and in many ways is my favorite.

another simple luxury that i'm going to partake in at this very moment: I AM READING THE WHOLE WIKIPEDIA ENTRY. here we go.

(Fraser had Siouxsie tattoos on her arms for several years).[13]

amazing what a simple use of past tense can add

did not know that!

Chapman, Rob (July 1998). "Dark Side of the Spliff: Massive Attack". Mojo. "Have you met Liz?" 3D splutters with laughter. "[...] She loved our Siouxsie and the banshees sample off ‘Metal Postcard’ — she’d just had this Siouxsie and the Banshees tattoo removed from her arm.
King, Richard (2012). How Soon is Now?: The Madmen and Mavericks who made Independent Music 1975-2005. Faber & Faber. ISBN 0571243908. Colin Wallace, their friend, confident and roadie has come from the same background as Fraser; Heggie and Gutrhie. [...] he says, '[...] Elisabeth was a huge Siouxsie fan - she had Siouxsie tattoos which she's had lasered off since'.

to be fair, Siouxsie was huge in the pre-Cocteau postpunk scene, 1978-1980

over on the this mortal coil wikipedia entry:

One of the label's earliest signings was Modern English. In 1983, Watts-Russell suggested that the band re-record two of its earliest songs, "Sixteen Days" and "Gathering Dust", as a medley. At the time, the band was closing its set with this medley, and Watts-Russell felt it was strong enough to warrant a re-recording. When the band rebuffed the idea, Watts-Russell decided to assemble a group of musicians to record the medley: Elizabeth Fraser and Robin Guthrie of Cocteau Twins; Cindy Sharp of Cindytalk; and a few members of Modern English.[6] An EP, Sixteen Days/Gathering Dust, resulted from these sessions. A cover of Tim Buckley's "Song to the Siren", performed by Fraser and Guthrie alone, was recorded as a B-side for the EP. Pleased with the results, Watts-Russell decided to make this the A-side of the 7" single version of the EP, and the song quickly became an underground hit, leading Watts-Russell to pursue the recording of a full album under the This Mortal Coil moniker, 1984's It'll End in Tears.[6]

i didn't realize that the "song to the siren" cover was so key to the whole this mortal coil origin story! it's also, so it seems, where they met Simon Raymonde. damn. sometimes, when you got it, you got it

ya gotta hear her do Roy Harper's "Another Day" on the 1st TMC album, dear god in heaven it is one of the most heartrendingly beautiful things I have ever heard

I also love "16 Days", so badass, wailing banshee action