Cocteau Twins Discography?
Question:
Someone promised back a few days ago to post the Cocteau Twins discography but I haven’t seen it float by so could someone post it for me?
Response:
i got this a while back, so someone may send you something a bit more up to date, ie the lastest single "evangeline b/w mud and dark, summer-blink" and the forecoming album "four calender cafe" out on the 18th october. ian xxx. ps the version of frosty the snowman is interesting. Cocteau Twins Discography [Last updated 1/11/92.] Here’s a complete (?) discography of the Cocteau Twins’ releases, not counting bootlegs. Originally released on (and still available from) 4AD Records (London). Capitol has re-released most all of this stuff in the US, including a ten-CD boxed set of all the EPs/singles. Apologies for occasional scenery-chewing in the descriptions. This is hard stuff to describe, and I thought it better to attempt and fail than never to attempt at all. Initial lineup: Elizabeth Fraser (vocals) Robin Guthrie (guitar) Will Heggie (bass) …with a cheap drum box (replaced by a succession of better drum boxes.) GARLANDS: (‘82 LP) Some of the scariest music I’ve ever heard (along with Cindytalk.) High droning bass carries the melody, with this astounding distorted, demolished guitar wrapping barbed wire around it, over the tippy-tappy beat of a cheap drum machine. And Liz Fraser is having some terrifying and/or ecstatic experience and is quite unable to express what it is. The 4AD cassette and CD, but not the Capitol CD, contain four extra tracks recorded for the BBC’s John Peel show. Two aren’t available elsewhere, and the omer two ("Blind Dumb Deaf" and "Hazel") are in different versions here. Gordon Sharp of Cindytalk does some backing vocals. The CD also has two demo tracks that aren’t really very good except as curiosities. LULLABIES: (‘82 EP) Four tracks, similar in style to Garlands but already less scary. They’re all very good, especially the long "All But An Ark Lark". PEPPERMINT PIG: (‘83 single) "Peppermint Pig", "Laugh Lines" and "Hazel". A different version of the last one is on the "Garlands" CD. Good stuff. "Peppermint Pig" is actually quite danceable. …exit bassist Will Heggie, later seen in the band Lowlife… HEAD OVER HEELS: (‘83 LP) Their best album, in my humble opinion. It’s just Liz Fraser and Robin Guthrie, earlier bassist Will Heggie having left and Simon Raymonde yet to arrive. It’s really an indescribable album. Its sound remains unique and unduplicated, a perfect fusion of darkness and beauty, ecstasy and fear. Some of the songs (especially "My Love Paramour") evoke huge echoing spaces … it’s obvious why Liz Fraser doesn’t use comprehensible lyrics: there aren’t any that could match the feel of the music and the sound of her voice. Any Cocteau Twins fan must own this album. The 4AD CD, but not the Capitol one, includes the "Sunburst and Snowblind" EP which was released at the same time as the LP. "Sugar Hiccup" is duplicated, in a very slightly different mix, and the other three songs are unique. …enter new bassist Simon Raymonde (Both Robin and Simon handling keyboards) "PEARLY-DEWDROPS’ DROPS": (‘84 single) "Pearly-Dewdrops’ Drops", "Pepper-Tree" and "The Spangle Maker". Available in its entirety on the "Pink Opaque" LP. "P-DD" itself is mixed differently on the 12". A transition to a new sound, with the addition of bassist Simon Raymonde. "The Spangle Maker" especially is one of the best songs they’ve ever done, building to a really amazing climax. TREASURE: (‘84 LP) I’m still not too thrilled with this one, although it’s many people’s favorite. It has some terrific songs ("Ivo", "Lorelei") but too much window-dressing that sits around and doesn’t go anywhere. And generally boring one-word song titles. It also overuses that now ubiquitous DX7 bell sound, although it’s only fair to say that it was one of the first albums to overuse it. I have a free 7" given away by NME that has an alternate mix of "Ivo". It’s interestingly different. AIKEA-GUINEA (‘85 EP) "Aikea-Guinea", "Kookaburra" "Quisquose", "Rococo". Very much a follow-up to "Treasure". "Aikea-Guinea" is a subtle song with some surprising noise going on way in the background behind the placid surface; it also features some of Liz’s finest singing. The other three are good enough but not standouts. THE PINK OPAQUE: (‘85 LP) This compilation was the first of their music to be released in the US, and the first available on CD. A good sampling of their work up through "Treasure", including several tracks otherwise available only on 12" singles, and "Millimillenary" which was apparently from another free NME 7". "Wax and Wane", the only "Garlands" track, has been remixed with a heavier drum box. I think I prefer the original. TINY DYNAMINE, ECHOES IN A SHALLOW BAY: (‘85 EPs) These two were released a few weeks apart, making up basically a full album. (They said they wanted to release the material without less fanfare than would be entailed in releasing an album.) The 4AD CD contains both on one disc, thank god. Much closer to their current sound, and more coherent than much of "Treasure". And Vaughan Oliver really outdid himself on the record jackets! VICTORIALAND: (‘86 LP) They ditch the drum box for this project and record an album of music that floats ethereally along, suspended by some kind of aching melancholy. [Someone call the metaphor police!] Others may disagree, but I find the music very sad and fragile. I try not to move for fear that I might break it somehow. THE MOON AND THE MELODIES (‘86 LP) A collaboration with American minimalist/ambient composer Harold Budd. Budd is a compatriot and frequent collaborator of Brian Eno, and his solo work (all or mostly piano and synthesizer) resembles Eno’s ambient material with a bit more overt melody and romanticism. Budd and the Cocteaus created this album by sending tapes back and forth, and indeed most of the songs sound either like Harold Budd pieces with Cocteau Twins layered on top, or Cocteau Twins songs with Harold Budd’s piano. The real standout is "Memory Gongs" (also on Budd’s "Lovely Thunder" album as "Flowered Knife Shadows"), a long slow drone based on synthesizer washes that sound like far-off machinery, with glassy shards of heavily reverbed piano falling from the sky. "LOVE’S EASY TEARS": (‘86 single) "Love’s Easy Tears", "Those Eyes, That Mouth" and "Sigh’s Smell of Farewell". Along the lines of "Tiny Dynamine". Good but not groundbreaking. The US edition (Relativity or Capitol) has an extra track, "Orange Appled". "Crushed": (track on ‘87 4AD compilation "LONELY IS AN EYESORE") A pretty weak song despite some interesting glissandos. But it’s a good album, a sampler of 4AD bands as of 1987, worth owning just for Throwing Muses’ "Fish" and Dead Can Dance’s "Frontier" remix. "BLUE BELL KNOLL": (‘88 LP) This one grew on me a lot. It’s my girlfriend’s favorite of all, and I’d put it in the top five. Closer to pop music in some ways, although still indecipherable. A lot of the songs lull you into a false sense of complacency, and then suddenly spin around in unexpected ways. "The High Monkey-Monk" (song on ‘90 "Gigantic! 2" compilation LP) This one dates from circa Blue Bell Knoll. A decent song on a decent compilation of bands the people at Melody Maker like. The album was available by mail order only; some especially cool US record stores ordered copies, but it’s probably pretty hard to find by now. "ICEBLINK LUCK": (‘90 single) Preceded the LP by a month or so. Contains bonus tracks "Watchlar" and "Mizake the Mizian". "HEAVEN OR LAS VEGAS": (‘90 LP) A confident move forward in some slightly different directions. Liz is letting a bit more intelligibility creep into her singing, more than in anything since "Garlands". I gather that most of the songs are about or for her baby. The overall sound is increasingly exuberant, and slightly harder-edged than "Blue Bell Knoll". "HEAVEN OR LAS VEGAS" (‘90 single) Rumor has it there is a very rare promo 12" single of this song, released and then quickly deleted by Capitol for unknown reasons. I’ve never seen it. The b-side, "Dials", is available on the bonus miscellany CD of the boxed set. "Frosty the Snowman" (‘92; song on "Volume 5" comp) Yes, it’s that song. I haven’t heard it yet, so can’t offer any comments. Besides all this stuff there is the first This Mortal Coil LP, "It’ll End In Tears", on which all three ‘Twins perform on one track or another, including Liz singing Tim Buckley’s "Song To the Siren". Simon also plays on TMC’s second LP, "Filigree and Shadow", which I thought was weaker overall. But "Come Here My Love" and "Drugs" (released as a limited edition 10" single) are both excellent. Liz also sings one song each on Dif Juz’s "Extractions" LP and Felt’s "Ignite the Seven Cannons" LP, both produced by Robin Guthrie. Robin has produced many other groups, most notably Lush, adding some amount of the Cocteau Twins sound to each. 4AD/23 Envelope also put out a collection of posters in 1986, including the covers to several Cocteau Twins albums. They’re very nicely done. I don’t know if it’s still possible to find this package anywhere. (There’s an equally nice 1990 collection of covers, but no Cocteau Twins stuff since by then they had stopped having 23 Envelope or v23 do their artwork.) Your online source for Cocteau Twins (and other 4AD and non-4AD) discussion: The 4AD-List. To subscribe, send mail to the list server program at SUBSCRIBE 4AD-L <name where <name is your full real name. ******
