― alex in mainhattan, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 09:02 (sixteen years ago) link
― 600, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 09:13 (sixteen years ago) link
― Masonic Boom, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 12:43 (sixteen years ago) link
― Alex in NYC, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 12:56 (sixteen years ago) link
― henry s, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 12:57 (sixteen years ago) link
― Trayce, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 21:40 (sixteen years ago) link
― Display Name, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 22:07 (sixteen years ago) link
― avonhun, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 22:17 (sixteen years ago) link
― sleeve, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 22:26 (sixteen years ago) link
― Geir Hongro, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 22:29 (sixteen years ago) link
― SeekAltRoute, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 11:25 (sixteen years ago) link
― Trayce, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 12:28 (sixteen years ago) link
― stephen, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 22:55 (sixteen years ago) link
― Trayce, Thursday, 3 May 2007 00:27 (sixteen years ago) link
― Naive Teen Idol, Thursday, 3 May 2007 01:34 (sixteen years ago) link
― Trayce, Thursday, 3 May 2007 01:50 (sixteen years ago) link
― Lostandfound, Thursday, 3 May 2007 02:41 (sixteen years ago) link
― Lostandfound, Thursday, 3 May 2007 02:43 (sixteen years ago) link
― Trayce, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 00:53 (sixteen years ago) link
― Michael Jones, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 09:22 (sixteen years ago) link
― Curt1s Stephens, Wednesday, 9 May 2007 21:30 (sixteen years ago) link
― HI DERE, Wednesday, 9 May 2007 21:50 (sixteen years ago) link
― Trayce, Wednesday, 9 May 2007 22:17 (sixteen years ago) link
― Trayce, Wednesday, 9 May 2007 22:19 (sixteen years ago) link
― Trayce, Thursday, 10 May 2007 05:02 (sixteen years ago) link
― Charlie Howard, Thursday, 10 May 2007 17:18 (sixteen years ago) link
― Noodle Vague, Thursday, 10 May 2007 17:22 (sixteen years ago) link
― Trayce, Friday, 11 May 2007 04:46 (sixteen years ago) link
― impudent harlot, Friday, 11 May 2007 06:29 (sixteen years ago) link
― Charlie Howard, Friday, 11 May 2007 08:12 (sixteen years ago) link
― Trayce, Friday, 11 May 2007 16:56 (sixteen years ago) link
― Bimble, Saturday, 12 May 2007 12:02 (sixteen years ago) link
i voted "heaven or las vegas" here but i listened to all songs today in a non-album kontext and the result was quite surprising. for each song there was only the option to either love it or not to love it.
1. 90% (9/10) four-calendar café2. 88% (7/8) garlands3. 80% (8/10) heaven or las vegas
the only album which nobody voted for in the poll is my favourite at the moment. very weird.
― alex in mainhattan, Sunday, 19 April 2009 16:05 (fifteen years ago) link
i forgot the others. also strange, the poll winner is my least favourite album by them:
4. 50% milk & kisses5. 44% victorialand6. 40% head over heels7. 30% blue bell knoll8. 25% the moon % the melodies9. 20% treasure
― alex in mainhattan, Sunday, 19 April 2009 16:12 (fifteen years ago) link
Oh my god, we're talking about Cocteaus on this board again? Please stop encouraging me! I don't know if I want to play Milk & Kisses or Blue Bell Knoll or Garlands or whatever the fuck. I really don't know.
― Earl of Gothington Manor (Bimble), Sunday, 19 April 2009 16:48 (fifteen years ago) link
My favourite is definitely Blue Bell Knoll for reasons outlined here:
http://devonrecordclub.wordpress.com/2012/02/17/cocteau-twins-head-over-heels-round-21-grahams-choice/
― yugi ex, Friday, 17 February 2012 18:48 (twelve years ago) link
i really don't understand why nobody voted for four-calendar café. i still think it is their most consistent album. and it has one of their most amazing songs on it: theft, and wandering around lost.
― it's the distortion, stupid! (alex in mainhattan), Friday, 6 September 2013 19:14 (ten years ago) link
maybe it's just because it's the first one i heard way back when, but blue bell knoll is probably my favorite, just wall to wall classics. it's so cool how the cocteau twins have such artfully subtle sonic variations on each of their albums so that choosing a favorite is almost down to what specific texture grabs you the most on a particular day.. like different alloys or something.
― brimstead, Monday, 7 July 2014 22:54 (nine years ago) link
xp to brimstead - title track on Blue Bell Knoll is probably one of my favourite songs by Cocteaus.
I could totally go for a whole album of this country-fried dream rock though:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7igZdDJyz4
― Week of Wonders (Ross), Friday, 21 July 2017 00:36 (six years ago) link
I probably would've voted for "Treasure" but really the answer is the singles box.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Friday, 21 July 2017 02:18 (six years ago) link
Completely agree. So many classic bsides
― Week of Wonders (Ross), Friday, 21 July 2017 03:25 (six years ago) link
listening to four calendar café and milk & kisses for the first time ever and ...they're not as bad as i assumed they'd be? nowhere near the highs of heaven or las vegas, but not bad at all
― just another (diamonddave85), Wednesday, 2 August 2017 18:43 (six years ago) link
Nah. I might have a soft spot because they were two of the first I heard but I think they're great.
― I Dream of Juice (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 2 August 2017 18:44 (six years ago) link
Songs like 'Summer-Blink' are a million miles away from where they started but it feels like a well-earned and reflective respite at the end of a long journey.
― I Dream of Juice (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 2 August 2017 18:46 (six years ago) link
The problem I have with Four Calendar Cafe and Milk & Kisses is that they didn't advance beyond the sound of Heaven or Las Vegas. Before that, each album was a progression from the sound of the previous one (admittedly, only a matter of degrees--they were never not going to sound like Cocteau Twins). But after briefly experimenting with some very different approaches on the 1995 Twinlights and Otherness EPs, I was disappointed the following year when Milk & Kisses seemed to reflected none of that.
― Hideous Lump, Thursday, 3 August 2017 03:13 (six years ago) link
The Otherness EP is post-peak peak CT, but owe's more to Seefeel's Mark Clifford.
For me, its either Head Over Heels or the EPs from Spangle Maker to
― Are you Eating It...or is It Eating You? (Sanpaku), Thursday, 3 August 2017 03:40 (six years ago) link
oops... to Love's Easy Tears.
― Are you Eating It...or is It Eating You? (Sanpaku), Thursday, 3 August 2017 03:41 (six years ago) link
The problem I have with Four Calendar Cafe and Milk & Kisses is that they didn't advance beyond the sound of Heaven or Las Vegas.
― Ich bin kein Berliner (alex in mainhattan), Thursday, 3 August 2017 11:24 (six years ago) link
Not a big fan despite loving all the other usual suspects from that scene/era, and only heard half of these I think, but Heaven or Las Vegas would be the easy choice for me. More muscular and groovy than all the other stuff I heard.
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Tuesday, 7 November 2017 11:52 (six years ago) link
I would say the early Heggie stuff was easily the most muscular.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 7 November 2017 16:30 (six years ago) link
oh totally RAG, "blind dumb deaf"
― Week of Wonders (Ross), Wednesday, 8 November 2017 23:03 (six years ago) link
It's Victorialand but HoLV is stiff competition.
― Britain's Sexiest Cow (jed_), Thursday, 30 August 2018 21:03 (five years ago) link
Its nice to see my few old polls I ever did on ILM bobbing back up now and then!
― Stoop Crone (Trayce), Tuesday, 4 September 2018 06:51 (five years ago) link
Heaven for me but Victorialand is close.
― yes, said (Ross), Tuesday, 4 September 2018 16:50 (five years ago) link
those two records are always doing battle in my head. depressive me says victorialand, the me that loves great pop says holv
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Tuesday, 4 September 2018 17:00 (five years ago) link
Victorialand always.
― jmm, Tuesday, 4 September 2018 17:06 (five years ago) link
BBK forever but I did listen to Head Over Heels for the first time in a few years on a solo wander around Epping Forest, after a lunchtime pint, and it was glorious!
― Michael Jones, Tuesday, 4 September 2018 21:17 (five years ago) link
They were always one of those bands where I'd change my mind on which my favourite album was. I think Head Over Heels was my favourite when I first got into them. Heaven Or Las Vegas is far ahead of the others these days. Victorialand in second place.
― kitchen person, Tuesday, 4 September 2018 21:21 (five years ago) link
I think I'd forgotten how cavernous and teenage-intense HoH is; some of Liz's most memorable pre-conlang lyrics too - "There’s only a hair’s breadth between us/Askew as we are", "Paramour/ooze out and away onehow", "In the gold dust rush I only genuflect". No wonder her and Ian McC were such good mates. Sing nonsense as if your life depends on it.
― Michael Jones, Tuesday, 4 September 2018 22:22 (five years ago) link
Genuflect is a very bunnymen word, yes. In fact I was after another use of genuflect to complete a trilogy and this will do nicely.
(Ultra Vivid Scene being the other, shut your eyes and genuflect, the avenging angel comes.)
― koogs, Tuesday, 4 September 2018 22:33 (five years ago) link
there's also 23 years too late by wire from read and burn 3
― com rad erry red flag (f. hazel), Wednesday, 5 September 2018 00:45 (five years ago) link
ugh
Elizabeth Fraser, the other worldly voice of Cocteau Twins performed a rare gig in London on Monday night. Fraser has been elusive these days, having only performed live a handful of times since the band’s demise over 20 years ago.
http://www.post-punk.com/cocteau-twins-elizabeth-fraser-makes-a-rare-live-performance-in-london/
― Britain's Sexiest Cow (jed_), Wednesday, 5 September 2018 02:04 (five years ago) link
Society of the Golden SlippersLike This Page · 19 hrs · So, last night we hosted a rare performance from the glorious Liz Fraser who was joined by John Grant for a song. What a privilege! We still can't quite believe it happened! Huge thanks to Elena Tonra (Daughter) and Julia Biel for their gorgeous opening sets. What a night! — with Caroline Cremin.
Did it actually happen? Yes it did. Liz Fraser and John Grant joined us in our intimate salon and sang us to heaven. pic.twitter.com/CIGxne9214— Golden Slippers (@GoldenSlippers7) September 4, 2018
― Britain's Sexiest Cow (jed_), Wednesday, 5 September 2018 02:06 (five years ago) link
HOLV seems to be the consensus pick these days, and would probably win if this poll were run again. I dunno, I still think Treasure is their defining moment – the apex of their early pre-Raphaelite leanings.
― the word dog doesn't bark (anagram), Wednesday, 5 September 2018 09:36 (five years ago) link
To me it's always felt HOLV was the consensus pick?
It will never not be Blue Bell Knoll for me, but any of the others can give it a run for its money on a suitable day. Currently rediscovering Victorialand for the tenth time.
― lbi's life of limitless european glamour (Le Bateau Ivre), Wednesday, 5 September 2018 09:44 (five years ago) link
some of Liz's most memorable pre-conlang lyrics too - "There’s only a hair’s breadth between us/Askew as we are"
Happened across this at random and omg, I never realised it was "askew" she sang there, I thought it was "obscure as we are". but now it all makes sense!
Theres only a hair's breadth between us, askew as we areThere's only a hair's breath between us, a-strewn as we be
― Stoop Crone (Trayce), Wednesday, 17 July 2019 03:36 (four years ago) link
Getting on the web for the first time properly in the summer of '93 (doing a software engineering postgrad thing at Liverpool Uni), I downloaded and *printed out* all kinds of 4AD content. These Cocteau lyrics - whether they're right or not - are fixed in my mind in Courier New monospace on sheets of A4.
― Michael Jones, Wednesday, 17 July 2019 09:12 (four years ago) link
Head over Heels was released 40 years ago today (24 October 1983). Still my favourite Cocteau Twins album, just ahead of Heaven or Las Vegas.
https://thequietus.com/articles/13632-cocteau-twins-head-over-heels
― Portsmouth Bubblejet, Tuesday, 24 October 2023 05:38 (six months ago) link