Cocteau Twins : Classic or Dud

(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

is there a version of 16 days by itself, or is it always combined with gathering dust?

always combined (although you can split them with a WAV editor), the original 7" just had the "reprise" as the B-side:

https://www.discogs.com/This-Mortal-Coil-Song-To-The-Siren/release/91768

(I have never heard the Modern English original)

On 31 January 2005, Cocteau Twins announced that they would be reforming to perform at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on 30 April 2005, and later indicated that additional tour dates would be added. However on 16 March, the reunion was cancelled after Fraser announced that she would not take part. In a 2009 interview, Fraser said she could not go through the pain of sharing the stage with her former lover Guthrie, the issue behind the band's 1997 breakup.[22] Raymonde revealed that the band had also booked a 55-date world tour, which would have paid him £1.5 million.[9]

lol, raymonde was like "can you two pleeeeeease just do a temporary truce, whatever this is"

WAIT - that's elizabeth fraser on Mezzanine?!?!!

jfc

i loved mezzanine so much. it was one of the first CDs i ever bought. amazing.

half the world has heard liz fraser, because Teardrop is the theme song to house

half the world has heard liz fraser, because Teardrop is the theme song to house

i'm sure a lot of people have thought - gedda load-of-those pipes!

they should have used Inertia Creeps for that show

it totally makes sense, though. i loved 'teardrop' so much that i always made it my mixtape/cd representation of massive attack, for my friends. one song per artist, obviously.

"Gathering Dust" is the other great postpunk song with a laser battle in it, along with Joy Division's "Insight".

Except the cut of "Teardrop" for House doesn't have Liz! (in the versions I've seen, maybe there's a longer cut)

the world is stupid

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

― president of my cat (Karl Malone), Thursday, October 22, 2020 8:23 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Martin Aston's 4AD book is a treasure trove of info like this. And there's a lot of Cocteau Twins content in that tome iirc. I came away with a new appreciation for 4AD after reading it despite not really caring about half of the label's output

threw Pink Opaque on last night, albeit in the background, and rediscovered Aikea Guinea, Wax and Wane and Hitherto. but some other tracks weren't as good as i remembered them (or weren't memorable)

Aston book is great *but* it outrageously names the pub over the road from 4AD as the Slug & Lettuce. Come on, man, that chain didn't exist until '85. No way no damn Xmal Deutschland logo was designed in a Slug & Lettuce. :) (It was definitely a S&L for all of the '90s).

(Actually, 4AD-haters are probably very amused by the parallels with that much-maligned chain of airy, spacious, stripped-pine bars.)

I believe Millimillenary was the first thing Simon R and Robin G wrote together, late '83. One of my faves on Pink O.

I remembered last night that I am legally obligated to post this 1985 news report every time this thread is revived

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaOlNfC8_xQ

^^ it's in my YT faves like, ten times

lol, thank you for that. love the newsteam touching their hair at the end there

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

I love that the same post punk Siousxie adoration that produced the Cocteaus somehow produced Altered Images.

I read somewhere (maybe the Martin Aston 4AD book) that when Ivo first heard the Cocteaus it was on such a shitty quality demo tape that he couldn't even hear Liz's voice but he was intrigued by the guitar sound and he asked them to come and play. So Liz Frazer was something of an unexpected bonus!

Yay Cocteau fever !

WAIT - that's elizabeth fraser on Mezzanine?!?!!

Was she ever. Last year's Massive Attack tour focused on that album -- a remarkable presentation -- featured her and over twenty-five years after I last saw her on the Four Calendar Cafe tour -- where she was clearly not in the best of headspaces -- seeing her just gently/regally appear and do her two songs was so remarkable. I've been casual friends with the Chavis brothers from the Veldt for many years and they got to know Robin and Liz when Robin produced an unreleased album by them in 1990, and they met up with her backstage at one of the East Coast dates of the tour and the photos they posted and the memories made it clear they were very happy to see her again and vice versa, and that she's in good spirits. I value that very, very highly.

the idea of Liz having Siouxsie tats, and then having them removed, threw me into a lengthy reverie yesterday

well this thread got me to finally check out This Mortal Coil and ... honestly, Ned, I'm angry that you didn't push me toward them earlier.

jeez next you'll be telling us you've never heard Love's Easy Tears

xpost I can’t help it if you don’t follow my every word of wisdom. *sighs dramatically* But more seriously, better late than never, and now you know. I can always play Filigree and Shadow at a moment’s notice. But It’ll End in Tears I need to be in a place for.

xp well um

WELL

The Spangle Maker: FUCK YEAH

otm

― sleeve, Tuesday, October 13, 2020 10:37 PM (one week ago)

this song has ruined music. we're done here

In a moment of synchronicity, I am reading the collection of Grim Humour 1-10 that's just come out (and I recommend to you all) and #10 had a review of the Cocteau Twins show from 28th October 86.

It ends with the question "by the way, was that a tattoo of Siouxsie I saw on Liz Frazer's shoulder?"

But the review itself supports some of our period claims from above - "I've always liked the Cocteau Twins but on this live performance... well, they were boring, tiring, pretentious charmless... I found it all rather sad to be honest. This once fine band have burnt themselves out already. As John Peel once put it "they seem to have decayed into the bowels of their own beauty" and never a truer word was spoken."

A friend of mine saw them in 1990 and found it lifeless. It's hard to be spontaneous when you're a trio playing highly arranged songs backed by a drum machine.

I would definitely not expect to be knocked out by a live performance by this band

As John Peel once put it "they seem to have decayed into the bowels of their own beauty"

if you're gong to decay into bowels, though, what a way to go

Does anybody like the song "I Wear Your Ring," because I'm trying to work on a piano arrangement for this song and I'm worried that's it's too simple or something. It has three distinct melodies, so that's a plus. Maybe I could add something rhythmically in the left hand... I like the conga rhythm it starts with, maybe I could integrate that into the sections where there's not much going on.

A friend of mine saw them in 1990 and found it lifeless. It's hard to be spontaneous when you're a trio playing highly arranged songs backed by a drum machine.

I'm curious, where was this? One reason I like Cocteau Twin tapes from this era is the mixing is so strange. The engineers always seemed to mix the drum machines (e.g. TR-808) super loud so they bang like it was the club.

A good example from 1990:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijDrNshmn2c

skip to Cherry Coloured Funk (39:07).

Except the cut of "Teardrop" for House doesn't have Liz! (in the versions I've seen, maybe there's a longer cut)

I, embarrassingly, watched every episode of House. They would occasionally use the album version for dramatic scenes.

The concert was in Massey Hall in Toronto, which was built in 1894, and so the acoustics probably aren't ideal for making the drum machines bang like it was the club.

At Liverpool Royal Court in Oct '90, I just wanted them to turn the guitars UP. From where I was stood (near the back, late arrival) it was a hesitant wash, and it never really got going. But then, I'd seen Ride in Sheffield the previous night, my ears were probably blitzed from that (and I'd also slept in the station and had a ridiculously stressful journey to Merseyside involving two replacement buses).

They were much better in Wolverhampton and Warrington in '94. (Warrington is also where EFC hero Pat Nevin got me backstage and I had a brief fanboy chat with Liz, and a much less embarrassing encounter with members of Moose).

_WAIT - that's elizabeth fraser on Mezzanine?!?!!_


Was she ever. Last year's Massive Attack tour focused on that album -- a remarkable presentation -- featured her and over twenty-five years after I last saw her on the _Four Calendar Cafe_ tour -- where she was clearly not in the best of headspaces -- seeing her just gently/regally appear and do her two songs was so remarkable. I've been casual friends with the Chavis brothers from the Veldt for many years and they got to know Robin and Liz when Robin produced an unreleased album by them in 1990, and they met up with her backstage at one of the East Coast dates of the tour and the photos they posted and the memories made it clear they were very happy to see her again and vice versa, and that she's in good spirits. I value that very, very highly.

Robin produced an unreleased album by them in 1990

Are Apollo Heights (following on from The Veldt) finished? I completely missed their second album The Killer Of Sheep, but nobody actually seems to own it, so it must be unreleased?