cocteau cherry

[rufusmtvern]

:bump:

THREAD BUMPED AUGUST 3, 2008 - SEE PAGE 4
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While looking over an earlier post, I thought it might be cool if everyone posted the song that they first heard from the band. Sorry if a thread has been started before on this subject.

[mmmender]

:bump:

"ivo" was the very first cocteau twins song i heard. it was 1986 (or thereabouts). the reason i heard that one first is because, having been given the treasure tape by accident, i played the cassette and that was the first track. (i bought the tape from a record shop after i requested an album by the band called 'the rhythm twins. the guy in the shop said i must've confused the name as was sure i meant 'cocteau twins' so he recommended the treasure tape!) i then listened to the rest of side 1 in order then flipped to side 2. i was blown away and actually played the entire album all over again. i was hooked. the rest is history.

===========EDIT: READ THE EXTENDED VERSION OF THIS STORY IN POST #61======

[waterviolet]

Love's Easy Tears

I'd always seen the gorgeous album covers, but never dared to buy one because they were all expensive imports, and the Trouser Press Guide To New Wave Records described them as "dirge-like" (at the time, only Garlands was reviewed). So the first time I had a chance to buy a 7" single, I did. At first I thought she must have been singing in Japanese! Then I got Head Over Heels, which certainly didn't sound as "pretty" as LET. I was disappointed, but there was still something about them, so I tried Victorialand. By then I knew I was onto something good, so I got Treasure which firmly established them as the best band I had ever heard.

[andylama]

Ivo - from the freebie NME 7" EP. Instant lifelong obsession.

[kookaburra]

Blood Bitch

[mmmender]

Blood Bitch
sure it wasn't 'blood bath' instead?

http://www.cocteautwins.org/~leesa/cocteautwins/cgraphix/remasters/garlands-back2.jpg

[andylama]

I cannot believe how often that sort of thing happens.

[mmmender]

well, 'tis what happens when 4AD is involved.

[djproject]

it was the treasure album back around 1999 or 2000 i think and that's how i approached it. so by that argument, "ivo" would be the cherry popper (since i always listen to albums in their original sequence).

six years later - after not thinking about them in that time - i reapproach them through lullabies to violaine. so then by that argument, "feathers oar blades" was the cherry popper.

however my first true love and my devoted one is "pink orange red" =]

[dprid]

I don't really remember - it was the first CT track that John Peel ever played on his show.

[kookaburra]

sure it wasn't 'blood bath' instead?

http://img103.imageshack.us/img103/9555/bloodbath2lg.jpg

[david porte]

I heard Pearly Dew Drops when it was released, only heard it a couple of times on TV and radio, never bought it. Always meant to buy some CT stuff but never did till I heard Iceblink Luck on the radio. Went out and bought HOLV straight away.

[lucynow]

I don't really remember - it was the first CT track that John Peel ever played on his show.

Must have been Hazel...

[Fritter]

'Musette & Drums' on the radio one Christmas Eve. As thrilling and unexpectedly powerful as David's other great picture The Oath Of The Horatii.

[Moya xx]

"Evangeline" it was on a compilation cd - mid nineties ish.....

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0000074TS/202-9743240-0215062?v=glance&n=229816

[gladwin]

Someone in Nottingham's Selectadisc (the old shop, on Bridlesmithgate) was playing Garlands one Saturday morning when me and Antony Fearn had taken the bus there. I made Anthony wait until the end of the side, and then walked up and asked the chap at the counter who it was. That's how it happened.

A few years later, I had more or less the same experience at the new (and still current) shop when they played Birthday by The Sugarcubes.

See what you miss if you don't spend long enough in record shops?

[Baba O'Reilly]

It was probably 'Pearly Dewdrops Drops' (which I've never been that keen on.)

[Zus]

Ivo.
Unforgettable experience.

[Aidan]

From the Flagstones - John Peel radio show. In the car - it was icy cold, frost everywhere.

[everyanynot]

heaven or las vegas

[Ghosty]

"Evangeline" it was on a compilation cd - mid nineties ish.....

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0000074TS/202-9743240-0215062?v=glance&n=229816
quite a nice compilation,actually.

First one I heard was Pearly Dewdrops in 1984 but 't was Ivo that truly popped my cherry. Listening to it in the record store in '88 changed my world.

[Moya xx]

quite a nice compilation,actually.

First one I heard was Pearly Dewdrops in 1984 but 't was Ivo that truly popped my cherry. Listening to it in the record store in '88 changed my world.

Yes. It was the only decent cd my ex owned and I "forgot" to give it back to him ;)

[fornasetti]

In the Gold Dust Rush. It blew me away.

[ResetTwo]

Heaven or Las Vegas on some forgotten internet radio station, shortly followed by Carolyn's Fingers and Dials. The audio quality was poor but that didn't prevent me from realizing that I heard something special.

[elisa]

I've told my story, but I'll share the bones again: Pearly Dewdrops' Drops as music on a video brought to my high school class by a college video nerd. I'd never heard anything like it and knew I never would again if I didn't make an effort to find it. I asked him what it was and an obsession was born. "'Tis the lucky, lucky penny, penny, penny buys the pearly dewdrips soaks..."

[plink]

think it was blood bitch (and then the rest of garlands), borrowed from a girl i met on holiday when i was 16

[xixax777]

I heard the song "Garlands" in the summer of '83, played on a college radio station in New Jersey...

[kyuball]

Love's Easy Tears tore a hole in my heart and Cherry Coloured Funk came along many years later to fill it....

[duane]

the same night on the radio : garlands and the spangle maker

[floatboat]

it was either the spangle maker or pearly... can't quite remember, on john peel's show- i was blown away and bunked off school the next day to go into nottingham to buy whatever i could get my hands on

[Aidan]

Lets have a big up for John Peel............

[elisa]

Big ups!!

[cico]

Lets have a big up for John Peel............


Absolutely, it was John Peel that did it for me too, toss up between From the Flagstones or Hitherto, cant remember exactly in which order I heard them but life was never the same again afterwards.

[DJ SMITHMIX]

When mama was moth was mine first intro.
Our local alternative radio station was playing it, and I happen to be taping the show that week. I just kept rewinding that haunting tune over and over then bought the poorly mastered Lp of HOH and was hooked. And CT has been my favorite ever since!

[Frou]

Heaven or Las Vegas (it was 1998 I think), then Frou-Frou Foxes in Midsummer Fires, my first true love
(first post !)

[moeism]

hey frou! off you go to the for phoebe still a baby section and introduce! :) i hope you enjoy your stay here.

[Moggy]

It must have been Musette and Drums,as it was the first one of 5 CT tracks on John Peels festive 50 in 1983,which I never missed.I haven't checked, but 5 tracks in one listing could be a festive 50 record.
Pearly Dew Drops was the first to make a big impression on me though.

[dprid]

It must have been Musette and Drums,as it was the first one of 5 CT tracks on John Peels festive 50 in 1983,which I never missed.I haven't checked, but 5 tracks in one listing could be a festive 50 record.
Pearly Dew Drops was the first to make a big impression on me though.
I think The Smiths and The Fall often achieved more than 5. Still one of the highest counts though.

[randomrob]

Kookaburra, at full volume- I thought I was hearing the voice of god. Ear and brain shredding goodness.

[Adam]

It was Pandora, my dad recorded it from the radio. I thought it was some hungarian band. It was in 85 or 86, so this song reminds me my kindergarten days.

[Moggy]

I think The Smiths and The Fall often achieved more than 5. Still one of the highest counts though.

Just had a quick look,Joy Division had 8 in 1980,9 in 1981 and 8 in '82 (including 3 out of the top 4).In 1983 they didn't have any in.
The Smiths had 7 in 1986,including 6 in the top 12.
Cocteau Twins had 7 in '84.

[dprid]

The Festive 50's were a real reflection of popular taste, and demonstrated strongly how quickly tastes can change.

[agcu418]

From the flagstones when they appeared on the Tube - still play this song every week at some point usually driving home stuck on the M4 - scraming my head off oblivious to all and sundry

[stephenk]

Wax and Wane was the first track I heard in June 1982 on the radio. Had to wait 'til September before the album was available in Ireland, but bought it at 8:30am on a Monday morning as the box was being unpacked. I may have been the first to buy Garlands in Ireland.

[Quisquose]

I'm not sure of the first song I heard -- someone was playing Blue Bell Knoll in their dorm room. Probably BBK or Carolyn's Fingers. I went out straigtaway and got the album after that.

[Diane65]

"From the Flagstones" around 1985, I still have my Pink Opaque album...

[*o*]

Ditto. But during the spring of 1990.

[TonyB]

This is my very first post and a good place to start so here goes:
I heard my first song listening to the John Peel show it must have been some time in 1983, I think it was Shallow Then Halo but it was a long time ago and I can't be totally sure. The song that hooked me in was Sugar Hiccup, again listening to the Peel Show. I was 17 and at College, the very next day I bought Sunburst And Snowblind. That was the start and here I am 41 years old and still in the keep net.

[DJ SMITHMIX]

Ivo - from the freebie NME 7" EP. Instant lifelong obsession.

Dude! Me too!
Played that Flexi to death.
I was hooked the second I heard Liz.
Who knew they would become my obsession. :lovect:
__________________________________________________ ____________________

NP: Dead from the Oakwood cemetery - Halloween Mix by DJ Smithmix 2007

[E-Lo]

The Pink Opaque on cassette, circa 1987 (that tape had the best smell, by the way). I thought it was two Japanese girls singing at first

[dprid]

Welcome to you Tony, a fellow fisherman perhaps?

[garp]

A friend who lived in England but went to school with us here used to bring back their albums with him every-time he went home, he loved the 23envelope covers but my friend Yves and I fell hard for the music. It was around '84, I don't remember what the first song was, but PDD got me hooked and I never looked back.

[hebe]

Sao Paulo - Brazil - May 1986, a friend (DJ in a alternative disco club) bought in London lots of vinyls from new bands. He told me that night in a bar that he will play some news bands and he had sure that I will like one particularly (because he knows that I love female vocals). I remember had been dance LORELEI! He recorded me a cassete few days after. Was magic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[TonyB]

sorry no I just like metaphors

[cico]

was about to answer this when I realised I already answered it in July 2006 :sleeping:

[shoegazr]

"the spangle maker", followed by the rest of "the pink opaque" sometime in 1989. i was a freshman in highschool. music was never the same for me.

[randomrob]

http://www.queensfilmtheatre.com/files/page_652/294-John-Belushi-animal-Hou.jpg

Kookaburra!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[andylama]

Heh.

I can't believe I was exposed to CT before Leesa was. I regard her as the primordial CT fan. I first heard Ivo (alternate version) right after its release in 1984.

[CastingCat]

Crushed on the Lonely is an Eyesore compilation in '87. Was my fave on that album with This Mortal Coil and Xymox cuts a close 2nd.

[etc etc]

On an unusually warm fall day in 1988 while driving up Campbell Avenue in West Haven, CT I heard Carolyn's Fingers on the local college radio station and turned it up loud knowing I was hearing something very unique. I can still see the light, the leaves falling, and remember being moved while cruising in my unreliable 1985 Nissan Sentra Wagon, the one I would be in when I proposed to my wife two years later, boy that car was special..it just would barely fit my Acoustic 4x15" bass cabinet, Music Man head and Fender P-Bass...ahhhhh, lifes simple pleasures.

[mmmender]

........the peculiar way in which I discovered Cocteau Twins.......the extended version..........

......there is one thing that has always brought me true happiness. Some might find this superficial, but the music of the band Cocteau Twins has been able to take me places that no drug, no medication and no therapist has ever been able to take me. Allow me briefly to touch on how this band has become such an enormous part of my life……..One afternoon, during the autumn of 1984, I was walking down the (then trendy) Queen-West neighbourhood of downtown Toronto. I was on a mission and that mission was simple: to find an album (more specifically, a cassette – now my age is showing)….anyway…..back to my mission of finding an album. You see, the previous night I had been to a small, local club (called “The Rivoli”) that featured live performances by independent bands. The band I had seen that night went by the name “The Rhythm Twins” who, as I recall, were from Montreal. I was taken by their lush yet heavy guitar-based, atmospheric sound and was also quite impressed by their female vocalist. Keep in mind, I was only 15 at the time and music was forging a steady path of diverse impressions within me, as is the case with most teenagers. Anyway, there happened to be a record shop only about a block away from “The Rivoli” and so I walked into the shop and told the clerk the details of my mission. After a few minutes of discussion, the clerk assured me that I had the band name wrong and that I must have meant to say “Cocteau Twins” instead, but I persisted on “The Rhythm Twins” being the band name. I was sure of it, or at least I thought I was, seeing as I had only just seen them live less than 24 hours ago. Again the clerk assured me that a band by the name of “Cocteau Twins” had just released a new album called “Treasure”, and based on my description of their music, he handed me a cassette, which I reluctantly paid for, and headed back out onto the street. As I walked along I opened the cassette and put side A of the tape into my walkman. It took me about 30 seconds to realize that this was indeed not the band I had heard live the night before. I think it took only about another 30 seconds for the music to really hit me, and hit me it did. So much so that I remember being nearly stunned by its beauty, continuing to walk seemed almost impolite and I felt compelled to find the nearest curb where I slowly sat down and began combing every inch of that cassette, reading the magnificent titles and names over and over again in my head. I wanted to know everything there was to know about this mysterious, new sound that had left me instantly numbed, breathless and forever transfixed. And if you know anything at all about me, I think it’s safe to stop here and end with the expression “and the rest they say is history”

[hebe]

Oh Mmmender is a WONDERFULL "history".

I have something for you that i am posting this week by mail. You are in my thoughts.
:-)

xxx

[the Flea]

When Mama Was Moth:
Late 1983 and I had just heard my favourite band Bauhaus had split up. Having plenty of money and wanting to spend it on a new possible favourite band, I asked a friend if I could riffle through his cassette collection (he recorded John Peel every night). Finding nothing that really grabbed me, I asked him if he had anything new. He threw me a cassette with no writing on it and said give that a listen. Bang, it was like a kick to the nuts, it was the first half of the new album. Everything and I mean everything was perfect. Bauhaus were a distant memory, long live the Cocteau Twins.

[davespear]

Lovely story Richard.
Nothing so prosaic for me, but, I was working in a small camera/record shop, around '87 I think, when I came across the moon and the melodies. I liked a few of the tracks, but did not buy it-I was indifferent. However, when I heard Blue Bell Knoll:wizard::lovect::worship::heart::heart::heart ::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart: :heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart:: heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::h eart::heart::heart::heart:
Are there words?

[bearclaw]

I have mentioned the begining of my Cocteau journey before but here it is again .............
At the age of around 15/16 i started attending a youth training work programme in South Wales. I lived in a small town called Caerphilly at the time and my work placement was in Cardiff.
One morning it must have been around 1986 or so I was late so had missed my usual train to Cardiff and seeing that the next one wasn't for another 30 minutes & it was pissing down so I decided to go to my local Woolies [ Woolworths store ] looking through the tape section I came across what would turn out to to be Head over Heels. I was imediatley struck buy the cover no cheesy pop promo picture but this weird other worldy ethereal picture it look facsinating and wonderful I had heard the name Cocteau Twins, but at that point had never heard any of their music.

I purchased the tape for about £1.25p I think [please bare in mind this is some 22 years ago !!]

I got outside and put the tape into my walkman........................................... ...

"Doom Duff Doom Duff" this deep sounding "gothic" and harrowing "drum" sound deep and yet hollow a ringing bell then this blistered guitar sound "Doom Duff Doom Duff" and then from out of the mist underpinned by a piano refain that wouldn't sound out of place on the exorcist soundtrack ............approaches a voice like no other "sunburst and snowblind when mama was moth i took bulbform"

I was terrified I wondered what the fuck I was listening to her voice was so bewitching I couldn't hardly understand a word but at the same time I understood every word "wheezing an sneezing an"

As I made my way back to the train station "five ten fifty fold five ten fifty fold" this woman sounded so powerful so angry just so beautiful and majestic as if she was of nature itself I had never heard such a voice Or had I EVER experienced such a rush of emotions. was this music real ? Was I dreaming after all Id never heard anything like this before ........... where are this "voices" comming from ?? they appear to be comming from outside my headphones inhaibting a different time and space.

as my train arrived i had a chance to take a look at the inner sleave of the cassette a few "lyrics" but very little in the way of cues as to where this mysterous band had come from who they were

" sugar hiccup " whirled and spiraled around me like a dance of fireflies
& then pounding drums and a hollow bass sound "in our angelhood" " like they said he would like they said he would ........ in our angel .........now our hearts on the edge ..........like they said i would"

It struck me then that the singer was occasionally revealing herself to me [the listener] only to conceal her meaning and intention

the closer i got to "hearing her words" the further away i got form understanding them

Glass Candle Grenades

" there is only a hairs breath between us" thundering drums and these whirling ghostly voices drifting in and out of my hearing taunting me with this otherness. what am i meant to feel when at once i feel everything

In the gold dust rush

& then it struct me theres only ONE person singing on these songs but thats not possible theres SO much comming at me the music is so rich and dark. i can hear guitars and drums but what are these other sounds these other voices. They sounded scary but exciting dark and yet so beautiful


and then a drone with a quicker beat introduces The tinderbox of a heart .........

i call to mind some of my darkest nightmares of voices whispering in the darkness

" how ever you are i could spit in your hand.............. a tinderbox of a heart is all that we share that is all " "you feel dangerous" "bloody and blunt" "

this howling guitars droning underpinnes elizabeth's enrranged retribution for a lover who has betrayed the heart of the beloved ..........and as the music fades from this track .............multifoilded reveals even stranger off beats off kilter beats and textures the singer seems exstatic and exhuberant as if the nightmare has gone and she can breathe again images of her springing from out of the water exploding against the sky in song ........


my love paramour .........that bass sound seems to want to dragg me under but the guitars want me to take flight and then elizabeth's voice soars into view majestic & brilliant I can make out even less of her "lyrics" this time " my love paramour is how away onehow ??? " I have no idea of words or of meaning but but this time I am utterly transfixed this music not only sepaks to me of things i understand love loss rememberance anger forgiveness but of things i will never understand.........


& then the final song which sounds like THE final song as if there will be nothing else after this moment............. what else could come after Musette & Drums. Robin's guitar is at once violent and beautiful angry and caressing Elizabeth seems to be screaming at the very gods themselves as if almost to seek reasoning and understanding for her experiences and feelings in her heart.

"musette & drums are genius too are genius too" the guitars and drums raging out of control and elizbeths voice vanishes as it arrived ghostly haunting and beautiful


As I have been writing these thoughts I have been listening to Head over Heels again for probably the millionth time in the last 22 years or so & I must conclude that theres has never been before nor shall be again a band whos music touches me so deeply or holds such a place in my heart

please excuse my pathetic attempts i just wanted to try and express my impressions and feelings about this most beautiful & wonderous of cocteau twins albums - yes of course they would go on to make even more incredible records but Head over heels was my first and will always be my most beloved cocteau twins record

[fornasetti]

I'm with you there, Simon. Head Over Heels was my first, too. I put it on side two first, so my first CT song was "In The Gold Dust Rush", which I loved then and always will.

[edward]

I was just 16, attending a small party when i heard the most wonderful music. I started asking people what it was. No one knew until I ran into the host and he said it was "Dead Can Dance or Cocteau Twins". So the next day I went to the record store, and after some searching I ended up with Spleen and Ideal in one hand and The Pink Opaque in the other. I had only enough $$ to choose one, so just randomly I settled on TPO. When I got it home, I knelt down and put it on my record player which was on the floor. I stayed down on my knees, frozen in place until the side was over. I couldn't really even grasp what it was I had heard, but it was strong and it hurt in a wonderful way. Later I realized that is the same feeling you get when you fall in love. It took a few minutes to turn the record over, where even further delights awaited me. I still have the record, though it's cover is a bit dog eared from lots of fondling and a few moves. I know it's just a compilation, but it remains my favorite record of theirs and on a good day I still can get transported when I listen loud enough.

[Angel]

It was 1996. I don't remember the song but I do remember the circumstance. I had already gone on one date with this guy and went to his apartment a week or so after I met him. He asked if I wanted him to turn some music on and I said sure (I was nervous because most guys I had gone out with had crappy taste in music and I already liked this guy). He turned it on and I was already sitting (thank god!) on his couch. I just stared at him and in that moment even though it had been only a week or so I knew I loved him. We lasted a little over 2 years (it would have been more if I hadn't been a chronic leaver) but his influence has lasted the past 12.