Pure Class
Continuing an eclectic mix of music this week we have dance, blues, world, and prog. Record of the week comes in the shapely form of the Cocteau Twins. Many fans standby their early indie music as their best although I prefer the latter period albums, this one Heaven or Las Vegas, or Four Calendar Cafe.
They were very much of their time and were mainstays of the excellent 4AD label which I imagine is no more? (Actually, completely wrong there, 4AD is still going strong). Like a lot of the artists on the label the albums were beautifully presented with arty covers like the one featured here. In fact the dreamy blurry images used for the Cocteau Twins releases suited their dreamy and blurry music too. The whole act was pure class really. A band I'll continue to return to many times over the years.
So if you haven't heard them how would I describe the sound? It's unusual, unique and recognisable. The vocals are ghostly and the guitar is treated through a flanger or chorus. It's a lush poppy 80s sound. Closest contemporaries would be Stereolab or My Bloody Valentine.
Probably the highest praise I can bestow upon the Cocteau Twins is they were one of those bands that stopped me in my tracks when I first heard them with a "What is that?"; I was a passenger in a friend's car and they put one of their albums on (I think it was Four Calendar Cafe) and it was one of those moments when you hear something new for the first time (I've had a similar experience with very few bands - Can were one, Stereolab another, and David Sylvian specifically with Secrets of the Beehive strangely too).
Why not take a listen now?
Random Rock Trivia Fact: Cocteau Twins lead singer Elizabeth Fraser had a romantic liaison with Jeff Buckley.
A small but perfectly formed discography:
Garlands (1982)
Head over Heels (1983)
Treasure (1984)
Victorialand (1986)
The Moon and the Melodies (1986)
Blue Bell Knoll (1988)
Heaven or Las Vegas (1990)
Four-Calendar Café (1993)
Milk & Kisses (1996)
God ELP us
Emerson Lake and Palmer are a hard listen. Even for fans of prog, as I am, they seemed to employ the least likeable elements of the form - pretentiousness, irrelevant classical references, and disconnected frantic solos. Three members who did really seem to be three separate musicians seeking to show off their musicianship and out do each other. Also no guitar - what's that about?
The best tracks on this album (their debut - no chance they'd have got a record deal today) are the song based "singles" Take a Pebble and Lucky Man but even they sound terribly dated. The latter is a nice Greg Lake song but what is that closing organ "solo" all about? Even Keith Emerson wasn't a fan of this hastily recorded and subsequently iconic solo -
I didn’t think much of the solo. Honestly, it’s a lot of shit.
Well, I've ignited your interest now haven't I? Here it is...
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1. The Rhythm Kings - Struttin' Our Stuff
2. Cocteau Twins - Heaven or Las Vegas
3. Carlos Barbosa-Lima - Chants for the Chief
4. Groove Armada - Vertigo
5. Emerson Lake and Palmer - ELP
6. Genesis - Wind and Wuthering
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