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Cocteau Twins Appreciation Thread

Goiter Sanchez

By Goiter Sanchez
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Goiter Sanchez Grand Master

Goiter Sanchez

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I've been binging on Cocteau Twins' entire catalog for the past two days. I know there is love for them here but not in the form of a thread like this so far as I could tell.

Their discography is a towering achievement; a traceable, single-minded effort toward perfecting an aesthetic that was initially discovered accidentally (Guthrie has said that he originally employed the trademark guitar effects to mask his initially poor playing). I enjoy going through chronologically...

 

They started off sounding like Siouxsie influenced post-punk...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtXJ3SYXPC8

 

They started experimenting more with textures and aural aesthetics as they grew more comfortable with their gear and each other...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmZfR6dEXhM

 

One of my favorite attributes of the group are Fraser's garbled, glossolalic

lyrics which were never meant to come across literally to the listener; a deeply sincere emotional expulsion...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uo7TBGn4R8U

 

They moved into slightly more accessible sonic territory while maintaining their idiosyncrasies...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkyzHsCT5zc

 

And they ultimately went on to perfect their sound...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Adp8-YxMwIA

 

Then they almost completely disappeared in 1997. There was to be a reunion tour back in 2005 but it was cancelled shortly before it was slated to commence... If there were a reformation I'm really not sure how or if they could top their previous body of work.

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eugene Grand Master

eugene

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a big fucking "yes !" to this thread, i've been avoiding the last two albums until recently, it was a mistake.

my favs are probably "head over heels" and "heaven or las vegas", "i wear your ring" is a godly creation.

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Guest nene multiple assgasms

Guest nene multiple assgasms

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yes, I love the cocteau twins; I've nearly over-listened to heaven or las vegas. I also have head over heels and treasure. any recommendations on which album to get next?

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Goiter Sanchez Grand Master

Goiter Sanchez

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yes, I love the cocteau twins; I've nearly over-listened to heaven or las vegas. I also have head over heels and treasure. any recommendations on which album to get next?

 

'Victorialand' came after Treasure so if you're going chronologically I'd go there. It's the most 'ambient' album they released as well. There are some jaw-dropping moments like the aforementioned (in my first post) 'Lazy Calm' and 'Oomingmak'. 'Blue Bell Knoll' is where they started to become the Cocteau Twins as they would appear on the '90's albums; it is one of their best!

 

As an aside I wouldn't recommend getting the remastered reissues (the ones that came in in 2005 I think) of any Cocteau material... they were marketed as having been remastered by Robin Guthrie himself and he surely fucked that up: pumping up the mid-range and trimming off the wonderful subtleties (and then giving the mix some headroom AFTER all that compression resulting in the tracks looking like rectangles with bad haircuts in Audacity or any other audio editor). The original mixes of the first three Cocteau albums sounded fairly dry admittedly, but Guthrie pumped up the bass/lower mid-range and added some sort of reverb which really killed the original aesthetic; I'm not sure what he was thinking. Subsequently I'll stick to the original masters for the Cocteau albums and EPs.

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Guest extherium

Guest extherium

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A perfectly unique band, back then and even now. Nothing else compares between their lush textures, ambiguous tone that can be both uplifting and sombre, and, of course, Elizabeth's vocals. Word of warning: don't listen people trying to do vocal covers of Cocteau Twins songs.

 

Just going to throw it out there. The Spangle Maker. Nothing beats that ending.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCuvTKM04Jk

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Guest igloos unlmtd

Guest igloos unlmtd

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Blue Bell Knoll through Four Calendar Cafe is their best era in my opinion. Milk & Kisses was a huge let down, a couple songs are good though.

 

I use to have a maxell mid grade tape with Four Calendar on one side & Heaven on the other. I listened to it so much it had these great little warbles on it & even now when I listen to those albums I still expect the cassette warbles as I hear them in my head.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCh8aFy-fgI

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Guest igloos unlmtd

Guest igloos unlmtd

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some of the ep's are quite good too - of course, Otherness being the most famous for Seefeel fans.

 

 

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Guest Adjective

Guest Adjective

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^also a fave, but i usually feel like i don't have time for the build up to 2:50

i'm an asshole listener

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Goiter Sanchez Grand Master

Goiter Sanchez

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definitely one of the best, towering in my (musically) formative years.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7hw_NTxlHI

 

I'd never heard this version of 'Wax & Wane'; it's great! Thanks very much!

 

I only recently discovered that they did an exclusive track for the 'Judge Dredd' Soundtrack of all films...

 

 

And here is another recent find for me... A formerly unreleased track mired on an obscure Volume compilation...

 

 

Any rarities I'm leaving out?

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Guest extherium

Guest extherium

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And here is another recent find for me... A formerly unreleased track mired on an obscure Volume compilation...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2acj-mE8Zw

 

 

Oh this track I've always enjoyed. Bit of an interesting history too.

 

Faye Wong (王菲 Wang Fei) (b. 1969) is a Chinese singer who collaborated with the Cocteau Twins in the 1990s. In 1996 she released the album "Fu Zao" (浮躁), usually translated as "Restless" or "Impatience". The Cocteau Twins wrote two original songs for, "Fracture" (分裂)(which was later "covered" by Cocteau Twins as "Tranquil Eye") and "Repressing Happiness" (掃興) (later covered by Cocteau Twins as "Touch Upon Touch"). Both of these are available elsewhere on Youtube, and are often described as "Chinese versions".

 

From here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IleS6R_ovEE

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Goiter Sanchez Grand Master

Goiter Sanchez

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And here is another recent find for me... A formerly unreleased track mired on an obscure Volume compilation...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2acj-mE8Zw

 

 

Oh this track I've always enjoyed. Bit of an interesting history too.

 

Faye Wong (王菲 Wang Fei) (b. 1969) is a Chinese singer who collaborated with the Cocteau Twins in the 1990s. In 1996 she released the album "Fu Zao" (浮躁), usually translated as "Restless" or "Impatience". The Cocteau Twins wrote two original songs for, "Fracture" (分裂)(which was later "covered" by Cocteau Twins as "Tranquil Eye") and "Repressing Happiness" (掃興) (later covered by Cocteau Twins as "Touch Upon Touch"). Both of these are available elsewhere on Youtube, and are often described as "Chinese versions".

 

From here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IleS6R_ovEE

 

Thanks for the info!!!

 

also this collab with sinead

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xWT6wUgZ9A

 

Never heard this! Great collab!

 

As some may not already be aware, Elizabeth Fraser and Jeff Buckley had a brief fling... This track 'All Flowers In Time Bend Towards The Sun' was spawned from that brief union. It was never released so I have no idea how it ended up leaking, but I am certainly glad it did!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ld3h3VGpSk

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jeremymacgregor87 Grand Master

jeremymacgregor87

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yes, I love the cocteau twins; I've nearly over-listened to heaven or las vegas. I also have head over heels and treasure. any recommendations on which album to get next?

 

I'd say check out all of their mid 80s eps, especially "Echoes in a Shallow Bay"

 

some of my favourites:

 

 

(this one's off "Echoes...")

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtXtxCxLfBY

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nu8yrqpjDA

 

probably my favourite of theirs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WybSSagVvoU

 

and this one is very special:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hA7Wz0HitE

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Goiter Sanchez Grand Master

Goiter Sanchez

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This reminds me of their 'White Room' performance of this track with Mark Clifford...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdnPAc0vm34

 

There were other tracks performed live with Mark Clifford that day at the white room that weren't filmed, but audio exists; they are wonderful...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytaC_Nod5XA

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXkhpT7wmo4

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akrOOwXcpR0

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