Since Garlands

[Brett]

I just wondered who was into the Cocteau Twins from the word go (presumably remaining a fan throughout)? Did you discover them via Garlands and if so, can you remember how you felt at the time? Also, how did those feelings change as the band changed styles?

This is not a kudos competition BTW. I myself got 'in' through Treasure and moved back and forward from there. It was an intoxicating time for me. It's a wonderful feeling to find something totally amazing and realise there are a half dozen older releases still to catch up on!

What was your entry point? :)

[PhillipT]

The Pink Opaque. I was hooked and went backwards from there. I looked forward to the release of BBK and purchase it when it came out.

-Phillip

[dprid]

I heard them the first time John Peel played them way back in 1982 or whenever it was. As I recall I *think* I may have actually had to wait for the record to be released as he was playing it off a cassette or a promo or some such thing. Either way it was a couple of weeks before I got it, and I absolutely played it to death!

[fredofla]

i got in rather late.......right around the time that Twinlights was released in the States (which was my 2nd official CT purchase just after being blown away by the likes of Victorialand.)

strangely enough, i spent a small fortune on Eighties synth-pop
at a store on Melrose called Vinyl Fetish, and i vividly recall seeing CT singles in vinyl righteously posted on the walls of the store (and yet never heard anything be them played in-store for some odd reason.)

so why do i recall this so well.....?

because at that time i was reading a biography on the amazing Jean Cocteau, and was very intrigued by the common name associations.

of course, it took nearly a decade of time to pass before i finally heard the music itself......and then connected all the names involved.

i have a feeling that there must be a lot of other "late-bloomers" when it comes to finding the shrine of the Twins.

their legions of fans are still growing year after year, i betcha.

[santeras]

First heard them mid 80's being played at the wrong speed by Annie Nightingale on radio 1 whilst I was in the bath, sounded amazing - even better when she played it again at the right speed! Don't remember the song and it was a few years before I actually bought any product, just blagged copies from friends until HOLV came out and I bought the cassette on day of release.
Uphill from there really.

and to my shame I still don't own all the recordings, havent even heard Victorialand or Garlands yet.
For shame!

Jx

[E-Lo]

Originally posted by santeras
and to my shame I still don't own all the recordings, havent even heard Victorialand or Garlands yet.
For shame!

Jx
OMG?! No Victorialand yet? You will faint from the beauty!

[someotherian]

Originally posted by santeras
First heard them mid 80's being played at the wrong speed by Annie Nightingale on radio 1 whilst I was in the bath, sounded amazing - even better when she played it again at the right speed! Don't remember the song and it was a few years before I actually bought any product, just blagged copies from friends until HOLV came out and I bought the cassette on day of release.
Uphill from there really.

and to my shame I still don't own all the recordings, havent even heard Victorialand or Garlands yet.
For shame!

Jx
being played at the wrong speed? i'd have put my money on victorialand, but you say you haven't heard that, so.. who knows.

[santeras]

being played at the wrong speed? i'd have put my money on victorialand, but you say you haven't heard that, so.. who knows.

As I said Ian, it was the mid 80's and don't remember the track at all, actually thought it was The Cure before the vocals kicked in (I can barely remember anything from back then, or I tried to block the horror out!)

Jx

[simon alexander]

My speechless baptism came circa 1983 at the time of Dewdrops/
Spanglemaker/Pepper Tree, though the Cocteaus' much-maligned evangelist in the UK music press, Steve Sutherland, also helped - his 'Surely this band is the voice of God' live review remains a piece of classic Melody Maker journalism from the period. (UK Cocteauphiles will know this as the time the Cocteaus nearly 'crossed over' in England, and allegedly even received a Top of the Pops invitation.)

Oh and once I travelled all the way from London to Birmingham for a Twins gig as a naive 16 year old with my friend (also called Simon) only to be turned away at the door of the venue (with our tickets in our hands) for stupidly telling the truth about my age. If Simon Raymonde thinks 'record companies are cunts', I can tell him that concert promoters can be double cunts! *

* No offence intended to the female sex organs. I learned from the Madonna interview on Jonathan Ross this week that cunt is like a really bad word in the States.

[someotherian]

Originally posted by simon alexander
I learned from the Madonna interview on Jonathan Ross this week that cunt is like a really bad word in the States.
a bit like the word 'Madonna', then? :rolleyes:

[santeras]

Not entirely sure i'd go flinging the word around over here either!
Cunt that is, not madonna. I simply refuse to utter her name as a rule. Mildly talented chancer with good timing and great PR. Surely i'm not the only one who see's thru the charade???

Jx

[Phil Lawton]

John

With you all the way on that one.

Very succinctly put.

[REPLICESS]

Originally posted by dprid
I heard them the first time John Peel played them way back in 1982 or whenever it was. As I recall I *think* I may have actually had to wait for the record to be released as he was playing it off a cassette or a promo or some such thing. Either way it was a couple of weeks before I got it, and I absolutely played it to death!

Ditto!

It was 'Grail Overfloweth', - It took my breath away, goosebumps, the lot.
I wrote to John the following day, begging him to play it again asap! which, of course he did as he's a big, big fan :)

And you're right, it wasn't yet released.

[Brett]

Originally posted by santeras
madonna. I simply refuse to utter her name as a rule. Mildly talented chancer with good timing and great PR. Surely i'm not the only one who see's thru the charade???
Jx


Have you heard any new material? I'd recommend you take steps to avoid doing so. Her rap is the most abysmal thing I've ever heard.
Utterly pathetic.

[REPLICESS]

Originally posted by Brett

Her rap is the most abysmal thing I've ever heard.
Utterly pathetic.

Yup - she sounds just like the 44-yr-old mum of 2 that she is ..... *cringe*

[Phil Lawton]

I always get the impression that she has a hairy back, too.

[fredofla]

her music has taken a turn for the worse since she's learned how to play guitar.

her acting has taken a turn for the worse since she married her film director husband.

she has, however, finally dropped the annoying Brittish accent affectation.

much like her new "natural" hair color, she's back to being a semblance of "Madonna of suburban Michigan, USA."

sure looks like a another phase to me.

this posture of a renewed sincerity and personal renewal is not wholly convincing.

the lady doth protest too much.

she's certainly no Bjork; not by a country mile.

[watchlar]

Originally posted by Phil Lawton
I always get the impression that she has a hairy back, too. roflmao

[zed]

...i always thought tht if she didn't bath REALLY a lot, she'd tend to smell like day old fish 'n chips oil. cold.......:rolleyes:


Z.ballerina

[simon alexander]

'Borderline' and 'Dress You Up' were, however, lovely sherbet sprays of pop confectionery that definitely still stand up. And I've always liked the genuinely moving 'Live To Tell', too, especially that long pause before 'if I ran away' in the middle. Much more accomplished and enjoyable than a lot of Bjork's over-experimental sonic postmodernism, for whom it was musically downhill since the brilliant Sugarcubes. (Out of this world in 'Dancing in the Dark' though.)

Should I duck now?

[simon alexander]

Originally posted by REPLICESS


Yup - she sounds just like the 44-yr-old mum of 2 that she is ..... *cringe*

Erm . . .isn't Liz also a 40-yr-old (this year) mother of 2, too?
Sorry, I'm from the 'Campaign to Put Middle Aged Mothers in Music'.

I guess, to paraphrase Morrissey, some mothers are better than others.

I'll see myself out.

[REPLICESS]

Yes, but you wouldn't catch her 'Rapping' - which is my point ! :p

[someotherian]

Originally posted by simon alexander
I'll see myself out.
i think you should simon.. seeing how you were the one that turned this into a madonna thread.. :rolleyes:

[simon alexander]

Well - me and about half a dozen others!

[mmmender]

simon, might i direct your attention to the brilliant thread started by FREDofLA entitled "Madonna Tease (http://www.herb-bauer.com/~leesa/cocteautwins/vBulletin/full/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1694&highlight=madonna)"? you might find it mildly amusing.

[simon alexander]

Gulp - thankyou!

[Brett]

So.....

Has everyone followed Maddy since Holiday? Did you like her changes of style.....yadda yadda

(I'll refrain from a 'point of entry' joke here)

Stop this thread, I'm getting off!

roflmao

[Maria Jose]

So , going back to Garlands . . .
I read about the Cocteaus before I even heard them.
A few tracks from Garlands were played by my favourite radio station and the first records I bought were HOH followed closely by This Mortal Coil 's Sixteen Days 12" which I found at a department store sale for some two quid!

ballerina

[mattadore]

Like, I would surmise, a fair number of folks in the United States, my "entry point" (oooooer... sounds kinky) was "The Pink Opaque", as this was a comp. specially designed for the U.S. Market. A good friend and fellow misfit at my high school made me an awesome mixtape with selections from this, This Mortal Coil's "It'll End In Tears", Aztec Camera, Bauhaus, James, Hunters & Collectors, and Lloyd Cole & The Commotions... an eclectic mix to say the least, but man did I ever play the heck out of it. The first Cocteaus LP proper I ever bought was "Garlands", however...

[andylama]

My introduction was the issue of NME with the 4 track EP taped to the front, that contained Ivo (alternate version).

CT were the only people on that little record who I did NOT already know about, but that was the only track I listened to. I played that song so much that after a while, that stripe of the record was a different shade of gray from all the wear-n-tear.

So I guess the answer is actually "Treasure".

From Treasure through BBK was a very intoxicating time indeed! Every new release anticipated and savored in a near-swoon.

God, I miss that feeling! No band has done that to me before or since.