dprid
Mar-2-03, 10:59 AM
I thought you might like to see the following review that appears in Record Collector this month :
"They came from Grangemouth, Scotland, a nub of petro chemical production which the Cocteaus' guitarist/producer Robin Guthrie would later describe as "a shithole". Plenty of scope for dreaming, then, and in 1982, when Guthrie and his bassist pal Will Heggie formed the group with chanteuse Liz Fraser, the trio set about re-imagining indie rock. Primitive drum machines were coerced into musicality, and Guthrie's guitars were an impressionistic wash of effects. What made the Cocteaus truly arresting, though, was Fraser's voice. Extraordinarily malleable, and often drawing on an improvised language - yes, hello there Sigur Rós - it didn't seem of this world.
The band's signing to 4AD was mutually beneficial beyond the usual parameters. The Twins' sound bolstered the label's cutting edge cachet, and 4AD's commitment to the band was total and unquestioning, even when they refused to be photographed for album sleeves. Unsurprising, then, that these four mid price records, recently remastered by Guthrie, came to your scribe with a press release that vouched for 4AD's enduring love. They seem to have forgiven the group's eventual 1992 departure for the Fontana label, seeing it as a kind of drunken fling which everybody now recognises as a mistake.
1982's Garlands was recorded for just £900. Stark, jagged, and perhaps even a tad gothic, it's a reminder that there was more to the Cocteaus than the much hated 'ethereal' tag which clung to them around their later releases. It was on the following year's Head Over Heels, though - after Heggie had left - that Guthrie and Fraser really began to eclipse their influences. Tracks like 'Sugar Hiccup', a cosy fug of magical textures which Fraser's voice transcends, have the capacity to heighten enjoyment of whatever you're doing while listening, as well as aiding creative thought. How many 1980s babies, one wonders, were conceived with the Cocteau Twins playing in the background?
Arguably, the group peaked with 1984's Treasure, the album which saw Simon Raymonde join the band on bass. 'Ivo' - a nod to 4AD boss Ivo Watts Russell - is typical of the album's sensuality, and the stunning closer 'Donimo' (sic), all massed choirs and blissed out atmospherics, sounds exactly like the kind of thing that St Peter might now have on his i-Pod.
Last up is 1986's Victorialand, another gorgeous record which saw the nascent 1980s technology begin to catch up with Guthrie's imagination. Part instrument al and mostly autumnal-sounding, it came not long after a collaboration with US minimalist composer, Harold Budd. The record's current billing as a chill-out album makes perfect sense, as Guthrie utilised more acoustic instruments and instrumental passages than on previous LPs.
Before the Cocteaus split in 1997, there would be two more albums for 4AD, and two for Fontana. A 2000-penned biography of the band on the former label's website states that Fraser is "currently working on a new album", but that record has yet to surface. While we're waiting, I suggest that you re-engage with the work that Fraser, Guthrie, Heggie and Raymonde recorded for 4AD between 1982 86. Suffice to say that, even when it's underpinned by clunky old beat boxes, genius is timeless."
"They came from Grangemouth, Scotland, a nub of petro chemical production which the Cocteaus' guitarist/producer Robin Guthrie would later describe as "a shithole". Plenty of scope for dreaming, then, and in 1982, when Guthrie and his bassist pal Will Heggie formed the group with chanteuse Liz Fraser, the trio set about re-imagining indie rock. Primitive drum machines were coerced into musicality, and Guthrie's guitars were an impressionistic wash of effects. What made the Cocteaus truly arresting, though, was Fraser's voice. Extraordinarily malleable, and often drawing on an improvised language - yes, hello there Sigur Rós - it didn't seem of this world.
The band's signing to 4AD was mutually beneficial beyond the usual parameters. The Twins' sound bolstered the label's cutting edge cachet, and 4AD's commitment to the band was total and unquestioning, even when they refused to be photographed for album sleeves. Unsurprising, then, that these four mid price records, recently remastered by Guthrie, came to your scribe with a press release that vouched for 4AD's enduring love. They seem to have forgiven the group's eventual 1992 departure for the Fontana label, seeing it as a kind of drunken fling which everybody now recognises as a mistake.
1982's Garlands was recorded for just £900. Stark, jagged, and perhaps even a tad gothic, it's a reminder that there was more to the Cocteaus than the much hated 'ethereal' tag which clung to them around their later releases. It was on the following year's Head Over Heels, though - after Heggie had left - that Guthrie and Fraser really began to eclipse their influences. Tracks like 'Sugar Hiccup', a cosy fug of magical textures which Fraser's voice transcends, have the capacity to heighten enjoyment of whatever you're doing while listening, as well as aiding creative thought. How many 1980s babies, one wonders, were conceived with the Cocteau Twins playing in the background?
Arguably, the group peaked with 1984's Treasure, the album which saw Simon Raymonde join the band on bass. 'Ivo' - a nod to 4AD boss Ivo Watts Russell - is typical of the album's sensuality, and the stunning closer 'Donimo' (sic), all massed choirs and blissed out atmospherics, sounds exactly like the kind of thing that St Peter might now have on his i-Pod.
Last up is 1986's Victorialand, another gorgeous record which saw the nascent 1980s technology begin to catch up with Guthrie's imagination. Part instrument al and mostly autumnal-sounding, it came not long after a collaboration with US minimalist composer, Harold Budd. The record's current billing as a chill-out album makes perfect sense, as Guthrie utilised more acoustic instruments and instrumental passages than on previous LPs.
Before the Cocteaus split in 1997, there would be two more albums for 4AD, and two for Fontana. A 2000-penned biography of the band on the former label's website states that Fraser is "currently working on a new album", but that record has yet to surface. While we're waiting, I suggest that you re-engage with the work that Fraser, Guthrie, Heggie and Raymonde recorded for 4AD between 1982 86. Suffice to say that, even when it's underpinned by clunky old beat boxes, genius is timeless."