The Cranes: c or d?

For what it's worth I don't like them at all - terrible singer, no melodies, cumbersome arhythmic banging-about etc etc

Famously dubbed The Appalling Cranes by the NME. Bit of a cause celebre at MM, which I went along with for a bit.

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.

Quite like "Jewel" (the Cranes' song, not the snaggle-toothed pseudo-folk diva) as well.

I too was at that Rose Bowl show. Mmm, volume.

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.

(Er, on second thoughts, I think it's a couple of hundred miles away at the moment. Similar Sharkboy box, anyone?)

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.

I am sad that this description hasn't made anyone go, "Oh, I know that song, it's '_______'."

Wah!

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.

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!

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.

it is remarkably static, but in great, contemplative, "if I open the closet door I may find my parents' bodies" way

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.

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/

LOL. I just noticed Ned wrote the review for the aforementioned album.

I was about to say, wait a minute!

Tempted to get that last (I guess final?) album of theirs.

FFFFSSSS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89y1QJM6eNs

The version of Starblood completely bangs.

Heading Starblood in the Rose Bowl (when opening for the Cure) will always remain engraved in me

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 guy
https://paulsmith.bandcamp.com/album/through-strange-windows

Heading Starblood in the Rose Bowl (when opening for the Cure) will always remain engraved in me

That was definitely an experience.

I saw them live during that tour. Amazing.

18 September 1991

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.

Oh, and this is perfect.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CH12Rxvz40

Yeah, in many ways "Lilies" is my platonic ideal of what I want to hear from Cranes.

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

yeah I got that EP for free at a show and it could well be my favorite release of theirs

this one's on it, too - i like it a lot more than the heavy version

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BOZDtGIHkM

Can't find the fan forum anymore where I used to check for updates. Hope the new stuff is further along.

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

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

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.

anyone here own the Music on Vinyl reissues? Do they sound good?

listened to Cranes on shuffle on Spotify today, and nearly every song was good. lots of good ideas in their music

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.

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!).

Are we taking the early Swans-inspired Cranes or the later dream poppier material?

Early stuff, for sure.

> the early Swans-inspired Cranes

maybe i should check out swans, which i never really have.

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

was ok until the vocals, which were a large part of the appeal of the cranes

Still gods...and now on Bandcamp

https://cranes.bandcamp.com/

2000s albums for now, but various plans are in the works.

Bless’em

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.

£1.75 for "delivery" of etickets. they need Robert Smith on the case

Just did a lovely near hour long chat with Ms Shaw. Forthcoming Bandcamp piece in a couple of months.

Good. I never did get the album reissues and wondered if there was any particularly good tracks that weren't on the EP collection

Xp Nice! I always wondered about her. Did she go back into civilian life then?

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.)

This sparked a revisit of Wings of Joy (never my fave). I'd forgotten just how beautiful and timeless "Tomorrow's Tears" was.

Yeah that intro remains perfect.

The feature is live!

https://daily.bandcamp.com/features/cranes-alison-shaw-interview-peel-sessions

Thanks

Yer welcome