The Dreampop Enigma of Cocteau Twins & LORELEI | New British Canon
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If you were an indie kid in Britain in the 1980s, there were three main bands. The Smiths, obviously, with Morrissey’s Wildian wit and Johnny Marr’s iconic jangle. New Order, of course, continuing the legacy of Joy Division into more electronic and dance-able territory. And last but not least were the Cocteau Twins. A singular band infused with the swirling effects-assisted guitar textures of Robin Guthrie and the swooning ethereal croon of Elizabeth Fraser. Through their nine-album career, they produced some of the most beautifully haunted music in British alternative including "Wax and Wane", "Sugar Hiccup", "Pearly Dewdrops Drops", "Carolyn's Finger", "Iceblink Luck" and "Cherry-coloured Funk", not to mention their work with This Mortal Coil on "Song to the Siren". But one song amid the chiming splendour of 1984’s Treasure stands out as their key moment, the perfect sum of their dream-pop parts. This is New British Canon and this is the story of “Lorelei”.
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#CocteauTwins #MusicDocumentary #80sAlternative
Soundtrack
Luar - Beyond ( / luarbeats )
Jesse Gallagher - The Inner Sound
B-Side - Pen Unubis
Luar - Anchor ( / luarbeats )
00:00 Introduction
01:17 The Beginnings of Cocteau Twins
06:02 The Release of The Spangle Maker EP
09:36 The Recording of Treasure and "Lorelei"
15:06 The Lasting Influence of Cocteau Twins
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I think at some stage you should do 'A Design for Life'. A number two single about class consciousness; a hit that ushered in years of strings in indie music as a shorthand for maturity; part of and apart from Britpop.
Oh also, the personal drama behind it isn't bad.
Plus! Not from England.
A piece on The Darkness
Crazy how far and wide a beautiful bit of music reaches. This was a great treatment of a great period.
@@jonmeyrick 0
@@jonmeyrick 0 and nncmn bbn bbn bbn n bbn nnnq
Robert Smith of The Cure listened to Cocteau Twins while getting ready on His Wedding day. That says a LOT
Awww that's sweet
The first Cocteau Twins song that he heard was Pandora ✨✨
yep. the album Treasure, to be exact!
Tell me WHO DIDNT LISTEN TO CT ON THEIR WEDDING DAY.
That's Roberts favorite band!
The funny thing is that the Old Grey Whistle Test version of Lorelei is a rarity as it was me playing the guitar and Robin playing the bass! We were actually just on stage messing about while they got the lights and cameras in the right place and had swapped instruments for a laugh. At the end of the run through they said “great! That’s it, we have everything we need! Next band up please...” We argued that this wasn’t a proper take, and we weren’t even playing our right instruments” but they wouldn’t have it. We had a big falling out with the producers and didn’t appear on the bbc again for about 10 years or more! Pretty funny now though. Robin was always very self effacing about his guitar skills but even I, the fat fingered bassist, could just about manage the two notes that dominate this track. Haha.
Ha! TV people...
That's a great story.
Was it just a TV thing or did you also abstain from playing live on BBC Radio?
monad we turned down Top Of The Pops but we simply didn’t get offered any tv or radio after this episode for many years anyway. No big deal as there weren’t many good tv shows and when we did come back we played a live radio set from the lovely Mark Radcliffe and Marc Riley. If only they’d been around 10 years earlier! Haha.
Damn TV and the precious videotape, they probably were always in need of more. These days you can just pop another hard drive on when you want to keep shooting. My first exposure to Cocteau Twins was the Lonely is an Eyesore compilation. I spent $26 of my hard earned cash on the limited edition, from the hot lady at Record Bar with the red hair. I spent one summer drinking cheap wine with my friends and playing as many Cocteau Twins songs as possible. And Moon in the Melodies. I fucking loved that too. There will never be another like Cocteau Twins, a confluence of circumstances and talent. Thank you, Simon.
Thank you for your contribution that you share with us. Simon is it really you?
Simon Raymonde wow hi Simon hope life is good for you thanks for your talent
Prince was absolutely obsessed with The Cocteau Twins. That tells you everything you need to know. One of the best bands ever.
Really?
T E they’re very influential even on modern artists like The Weeknd
Prince was a great music lover. He was obsessed with the Paisley Underground scene too. He wrote a song for the Bangles which made them jump from indie scene to mainstream. He was a great supporter of Rain Parade, the early incarnations of Mazzy Star and all. Great guy. His final years, the mental health issues and another very speculated health problem are a big sad chapter in his amazing artistic life.
@Lauren BIG MAMA Doughty
True, the devil came to collect.
@@te9591 I had no idea but makes sense. He had impeccable taste.
Two things: 1) I consider every single fan of the Cocteau Twins to be a member of my soul family. 2) Sugar Hiccup takes you higher than any drug ever could!
😉
Never listened to Sugar Hiccup till I saw your comment. I wasn’t disappointed. Thank you
It sounds AMAZING on coke. So I've been told
that song is so beautiful. I want people to think of me whenever they hear it ❤
@@dreamymimiasmr8848 it truly is
"When I started to understand the lyrics to a Cocteau Twins song, I knew I was wrecked" - Iain Banks, The Crow Road
„For those that listened, they meant everything“. Yep, that sums it up in my case.
Yep, exactly that
it really does. being a teen in the 80s and meeting someone else who was into them was pretty special.
Agreed! Well put.
@@thebeardedseeker5633 it still is special, they're largely unknown
@@schuco2 So true. I found them about a year ago from Pandora I think. So glad I discovered them, one of my favorite bands of all time
In terms of their sound, a band completely isolated within a bubble of their own uniqueness. It's the musical sound of heaven.
Well said!
Apt. And astute. only other band that I might say that about is New Order.
It breaks my brain every time to find out these wonderful bands were top 40 in Britain. In the mid-80's U.S., this would be some deep cut indie music. Only the coolest older sibling or record store clerk would know about Cocteau Twins.
Same.I was just having a conversation with my partner about this. When I was young in the mid 80's in Canada nobody played or listened to music like this. It was so hard to find good music with all the mainstream garbage North America was producing. I was that older sibling that you spoke of and at that time music defined you and people thought you were weird or a freak for listening to this type of music.
Cocteau Twins were relatively well known in our area. As odd as it sounds, Northern Utah was musically progressive in the 80s for some reason. We had a huge goth scene.
Sorry but they weren’t top 40 at all… they were outside the mainstream top 40 by a calendar mile. The top 40 was for the people who lived in the realm of music mediocrity.
Not in Denver. I moved from LA to the Denver area in 85, I was shocked how far ahead in music and culture Denver was.
Its not dream pop, its just one of the many different sounds of the 1980s Post Punk.
Dream Pop is a recently made up American named genre for stuff that sound like this. In the 80's and 90s there was no genre of music know as Dream Pop.
Its was not considered pop or mainstream music at the time.
The current generation, through Wikipedia is totally rewriting the history of music through Wikipedia when they were not there.
My parents named me after their song, that’s great. (:
That is so very cool :)
me too! 😁 i always get asked if i was named after the styx song, its a bummer when no one's heard of CT's Lorelei 💔
I named my cat after the song "Otterly."
Ramirez wasn’t a very good song.
I can never understand what Elizabeth Fraser is saying but it sounds beautiful ❤️️
She deliberately did not use proper words for first few albums, just sounds. I thought this was common knowledge, it has surprised me how many seem not to be aware of this.
@dennis pickard That's brilliant
You're not really supposed to understand it. Even if you can hear words, it isn't meant to be telling you anything. Call it lyrical abstract art (surely music is an art form), you can interpret it however the hell you want.......
Take for instance Prodigy's "Breathe" where Maxim is shouting "Exhale, exhale exhale" I can hear it "EggSale eggSale eggSale".
Always 😍
I have seen numerous people say that she made words up and sung them. She and Robin Guthrie called it Coctilian as though it were a new language.
I’m 17 year old senior in high school, and the Cocteau Twins saved my life
They saved me at that highschool age...now I'm turning 29...it's still the best music I have ever needed. I hope everyone remembers the first time they heard the cocteau twins. They make the darkest moments in life redeemable.
josh.steezy .hendrix - I’m 66 - same
Good for you! Im A Metal guitarist in my late 50s and I was introduced to the Twins in the late 80s early 90s and their sound influenced me as much as Van Halen and Fear Factory. They are THE BEST! Check Robin Guthries' solo work; his guitar sound influenced every single "Shoegaze" band that ever lived.
Shut up and never comment again. No one cares how old you are.
@@clvrswine next time do that before it contradicts you
The Cocteau Twins are one of the most unique & beautiful bands ever. I am so fortunate to have seen them in 1985 at The Palace in Hollywood , CA. Treasure , is indeed a treasure of an LP. Ethereal & magical.
I remember that show! All my older friends went, I was heartbroken I couldn't go I wasn't old enough to get in - the palace was 18 & over!!
& then the cocteau Twins took a break - five l o n g years not touring l.a. again until 1990!!
@@MrDLOC11 The Heaven or Las Vegas Tour. That was great as well.
I was at that show, too! It was a miracle how we got in. We got there late. Everyone had gone in and we waltzed up to the front door and a guy met us (we didn't know him) and said "2 tickets for sale!" and we bought them and walked in. It was amazing timing. I don't remember much about the show, though.
David Ellis hell yeah, perfectly articulated my dude
I agree ☝️
@@misanthropic985 Thank You !
Just hearing her voice sometimes moves me to tears. No other singer has that effect on me. Liz is absolutely one of a kind.
This was basically a 20-minute endorphin rush. Cocteau Twins (and nearly all of their 4AD peers) were the backing track to my teenage years. What a band.
I discovered the Cocteau Twins with the Four Calendar Café album and absolutely fell in love with it. I still think it’s one of the more memorable 90s alternative albums
Simon Raymonde calls FCC one of the band's best albums.
Have you ever recorded music with a dreamy effects heavy style with your band MetalJesus? Would be cool if you did and included it as a background track in your next 16bit themed video....
This was the CT recording that introduced me to them. I went on to get everything prior. If it wasn't for FCC I don't think I would have managed my life very successfully during that time.
Never got onto that album, but maybe I should try again. Huge Cocteau Twins fan since the beginning.
And one of the best albums ever made, it’s a 10/10
Heaven or Las Vegas is a perfect album.
IIRC it's #1 on Pitchfork's(?) dream pop list. Yeah, accurate.
At 4AD it was considered the perfect album, almost creating a problem as Ivo felt that it completed the label, and there was no point moving on.
My sister is three years younger than me and I was always ahead of her in discovering music, so I think I influenced her taste a lot when we were growing up. A couple of years ago, I was at her place and she had just bought a copy of Heaven or Las Vegas, which I wasn't familiar with. She put it on her record player and as soon as the needle dropped, I was blown away. Since then I've been listening to that album from start to finish probably a couple of times a week. I'm just getting more blown away after each listen. It's truly perfect.
Definitely up there with my fave albums of all time
It is.
Make a series on the 4AD. The label rocked the world!!! I can’t imagine what the eighties would had been without the 4AD.
They signed Throwing Muses! Hooray!
80s music didn't happen, as we know it, without 4AD, Factory and Mute and, at lesser extent, with Creation and Rough Trade. That's it.
Seems like in the 80s we referred to music by label as much as by band, and 4AD was near the top
@@Ignatius1972 Don't forget Wax Trax and Play It Again Sam.
YES PLEASE - THE BEST!!!
They didn't really hit here in the US till Heaven or Las Vegas. I walked into a little indy record store in 1990, heard it playing, instantly slapped my money down, and never looked back. Bought Treasure and Blue Bell Knoll on import vinyl (paying what was big bucks then). I think I own everything they ever recorded digitally. Wonderful summary, thanks!
They were huge on campus on the west coast in the early 90's. So it's odd seeing them linked to other bands I do associate with the 80's such as New Order.
Heaven or Las Vegas was incredibly produced though, smoother and seamless
I first heard them when I met these two girls in my dorm first few weeks of freshman year 88. One of them let me borrow her albums....and they were indeed vinyl albums 😂. This was a few years before HOLV and In Texas.
Back when you could run a cool local skateboard shop, my cool local skateboard shop had just a small stand on their counter with a hodge podge of alternative CDs in it that were preferred albums of the people who ran it. Everytime I came in for a new deck or shoes I'd pick an album at random out of it and that's how I came across the treasure album. Those guys had taste.
You are absolutely correct - 1990 heard Iceblink Luck on Live 105 (San Francisco), and had to buy the CD. Great album, great band with a sound all their own.
I've never really cared what her lyrics are or what they are about I just revel in the sound it's more about a feeling than anything literal. I've been happily singing my gibberish version of her gibberish for years. Let's face it she could sing the ingredients list off a medicine packet and make it sound fucking amazing.
Or the Latin names of loads of butterflies...
@@simonradnedge2693 Especially those.
I generally agree, except for 4CC, Bluebeard specifically. My introduction to the band was at age 17. My then-new boyfriend dragged me to see them on the Four Calendar Cafe tour. I hadn't ever listened to them before. My mind was blown and as I fell in love with him I also fell just as deeply for them. Unfortunately, though, our relationship was pretty volatile and "Are you the right man for me... or are you toxic for me?" became the running theme of the relationship until it finally ended for good 6 years later. At least we both got to keep the band in the divorce ;)
CT fans know that it is much more than the sound, it's the feelings you get when listening, which vary so much. That's why we can never agree on what song or record is the greatest, because they all are.
It does my heart good that people are still talking about the Cocteau Twins ♥
Lazy Calm is my favorite song of theirs. It’s heavenly.
From Victorialand
What a great album friend
their best album imo
its also on The Moon and the Melodies which is their best album.
Yeah and also the Pink Opaque my best album but Garlands is number 1
@@seanevenson9139 love harold budd work in there. and absolute treasure.
I've never been one to care too much about lyrics, I just care how the music makes me feel. Cocteau Twins songs allow you to create your own meaning and it's perfect.
This was lovely. Would love to see a documentary on Slowdive as well.
ohh yesss thatd be amazing
Have you seen the video of their live performance of Catch the Breeze?
Slowdive are awesome. Glad they were shown in this video as I always think they're the only other band to do something in the same genre as Cocteau Twins.
Would love to see Slowdive as well!
Thought this was quite a good Slowdive doc
th-cam.com/video/Sjr6esFXJl4/w-d-xo.html
Cocteau Twins, one of my favorite bands ever. Such beautiful, brilliant music. One listen to Blue Bell Knoll on cassette was all it took...
My favorite album by Them is the one not mentioned here. Victorialand. An ethereal trip to icy lands exploring the unknown. The most beautiful and cohesive sounding album they have ever made.
I agree, my favorite. Actually my favorite album ever.
I found it a few months ago at a record shop while driving through Chicago and it’s honestly one of my most listened to records I own!
When I first played it I thought wtf. Now it's one of my favourites
True . A marvel
Carolyn's Fingers changed my life and is forever in my heart, Cocteau Twins are brilliant
Carolyn's Fingers was the song that made me feel I was shot with a diamond, too
Great song
I got married to this beauty of a track. Wonderful.
Hearing Treasure for the first time in the mid-eighties was a life changing experience. To me and to many other people...
Hearing it for the first time in my life just a few months ago is what finally got me into this band (wasn't alive yet in the mid-eighties)
@@alexjay3980 Great to know that the magic goes on ! I'm not really surprised though, this is such an otherworldly and timeless album.
Treasure was the first album of theirs that I ever heard when I was 17 in 1987. I fell in love with them from the first time I heard them and still do today. I was obsessed with collecting all of their music, whether it was on LP/EP, cassette, or CD. It’s a euphoric, spiritual experience to listen to them. 💜💜💜
preach.
“A world without the Cocteau Twins and their music would not be worth living in.”- Cynthia Cynthetica
"Heaven or Las Vegas" & "Blue Bell Knoll" are their best & "Lullabies to Violaine (singles & ep's boxset collection)" too.
I'm big fan in Moscow, Russia from nineties. It's one from 20 best artists on my opinian & #1 in dreampop.
This has got to be my favorite video of yours so far. Cocteau Twins means so such to me, I'm glad that others appreciate their music. They are criminally underrated.
“Birthday Party drummer, Phill Calvert”
*shows footage of Mick Harvey*
I just love how everybody has a story on how they first heard the cocteau's... You wouldn't really get that now.
I was 16, just out of school and had no direction in life, I got a job in a clothes store and remember "Treasure" being played over the loud speakers for the first time...
Since that day, I don't think there has been a day in my life that I don't listen to at least one Cocteau song.
Music is a great healer.
This band changed my life and will always be the band I turn to when I'm feeling down....
Thanks so much for this documentary!
I took a punt on Treasure, due to liking the cover, while at University. I think it was probably purchased in 2000, enchanted though took time to fully adjust to as so otherworldly. Perfect music, not pop at all.
First I ever heard of them was a very short clip of Pearly Dewdrops' Drops on London Calling (a Sunday night show on MTV), likely around the time of the video's release. Zero record stores within my teenage reach (west side of Cincinnati, OH) carried anything by the band, but a few years later when I was a sophomore in high school this senior I had a huge crush on was talking about the band (she had been listening to them on her Walkman), and I remembered once having tried to find music of theirs. I asked her where she got the record, and this is how I learned of Wizard Record & Tapes (RIP), a dark little cave of a place that sold imported vinyl. I purchased The Pink Opaque (their "greatest hits" album, I guess) and I was hooked for life.
They changed my life too, but my story of finding them is very unremarkable and kinda nerdy haha. I literally was just reading wikipedia pages about goth stuff cause I was interested in it and reading about music I found Cocteau Twins, then I listened to an album online, then another, then another, eventually the whole catalogue, now one of their albums I reserve for meditation exclusively and the rest I play a lot when I feel down and need to get up again. Very weird that something so significant to me had such a silly start : P
@@Jordan-zk2wd it's the way of life and being open to stuff, nowt silly about it. - which album is for mesitation?
Meant meditation.
Cocteau twins had a big influence in my life... Every album was like a new discovery,full of mistery!
That voice hauntingly seductive!
Thanks for the correction!
My favorite Cocteau Twins project in general is "The Moon and the Melodies" album they did with Harold Budd.
Underrated
@@ivanmededovic5599 Yes, definitely. Unfortunately it didn't get broad exposure when it came out, and it is such a beautiful album.
@@ericcantwell5582 I love the moon and the melodies. I still play it regularly. It's great for just drifting off into a wee dream world of my own
Eyes are mosaics !!!!!
Amen
“pink orange red” best song ever
The cocteau twins were and still are magical. They mean a lot to me
I first heard the Pink Opaque and Treasure in 1988 in El Paso, when I had just moved there at age 14.
There were cool record shops and punks and skaters around...later I moved to Chicago and would lust after a singles box set behind glass cases..
People can’t understand how uk and euro imports were a lifeline to outsider American kids. We’d drive miles just to get the Face or ID magazine, nme and melody maker.
They were a window to a world beyond the metal or grunge jock cultures of the US.
Life changing, life saving.
Their songs hold up just as powerfully as they did 35 years ago. Spiritual
So cool 😆👍🏽
The most mythological band of the 80's.
"Pearly-Dewdrops' Drops" was the first Cocteau Twins song played regularly on mainstream radio in my area of the US.
Cocteau Twins were among the many artists I listened to on my headphones to not hear the fireworks in this summer quarantine. I almost forgot everything except for the fact that I was cradled to sleep by music I love
Her voice is just so evocative. Reminds me of Tracey Thorn and the feeling I get whenever I listen to ebtg..pure nostalgia
first time i heard carolyn's fingers i cried. i was a small child when this happened. you dont have to understand the words. you feel the cocteau twins. they will forever be in my heart.
I was 39, watching the 88 Seoul Olympics in the early hours, I switched channels for a moment, and the presenter said "this is the Cocteau Twins with Carolyn's Fingers". That's how near I came to missing out on the Twins. I went out and bought all the vinyl they'd done, and a good hi fi. The first moment I got on the internet I put "Cocteau Twins" in Google, only to read that they had just split up. Triumph and disaster.
I was hooked from the first time I heard "Crushed" on the "Lonely is an Eyesore" compilation when it was first released.
Such an amazing compilation.
Crushed is one of my favorite songs of theirs no question.
@@memorythree70 Its Honestly my favorite idk, its so beautiful.
Elizabeth has quite possibly the most angelic voice yo ever grace our ears. Hope Sandavol from Mazzy Star is right there in a close second. I've been listening to Cocteau Twins since around 1988. Many thought I was strange because my music of choice around that time was punk/hardcore. But listening to them with a good set of headphones would put me in another world. Thank you to the Cocteau Twins for creating such amazing music for our souls.
I was backstage with Swervedriver last year and Cocteau Twins was what they were listening to to get psyched for the show. The Twins one of the most important bands in history. But if you're here, you knew that already.
I bought a TR707 off Rob in 1985.
We used to drink in the same boozer in Bayswater. The Moscow!! Liz was once telling me a story about lions - but used to call them ‘Plain Tigers’.
Rob and Liz came with us to see Xmal Deutschland at the Lyceum!!
Who else misses being young ??? 😀
Cocteau Twins are relatively unknown and do not usually receive the recognition that they deserve for the wide influence that they have had on music that came after them. I was introduced to them through the album “The Pink Opaque”, and the song “Lorelei” was the stand-out among so many beautiful and timeless songs on that album.
One of my favorite concert experiences was seeing Cocteau Twins in Ann Arbor, Michigan in March of 1991 at a small venue, with Galaxie 500 opening for them. My friend and I sneaked down to some empty seats in the theater after Galaxie finished and some of the seats ahead of us were abandoned. We were maybe in the eighth or tenth row, near center, in front of Elizabeth Fraser. It was ethereal and surreal.
I was a junior in high school then. A wonderful age to experience that show, on their “Heaven or Las Vegas” tour....
Without, without a doubt. Without a doubt.
These are the best lines from Lorelei. I sing this out loud when I am very certain.
Thank you for this feature. I love CT.
Hello from Manila, Philippines.
Her just clapping her hands on stage really aligns with the image I had of her. She's so adorable.
In the mid 80's i was living in a house on the edge of a cliff 350 feet above the Pacific ocean, listening to CT, Dead Can Dance, Eno, Lush, Shriekback gazing out at the Farallone Islands as the sun set over the blue horizon ( on the 5 days a year when i wasn't wrapped in an opaque fog).
13:20 "What's surprising ... is how little Guthrie's doing on guitar..." Um, that's Simon Raymonde, the bassist. The band thought they were just doing a sound-check for Whistle Test, so Raymonde and Guthrie switched instruments for laughs. They weren't happy with this recording being shown ... which is funny, since it's such a great performance!
I have not even started this and I’m already in love. Many thanks for talking about this group whose name should be on everyone’s lips.
Enjoy the journey
They´re just simply the most amazing thing ever recorded!
The Aikea Guinea EP, which came out shortly after Treasure must be the moment when they actually realised the sound they wanted to achive. Kookaburra is just not from this dimension.
Fun trivia: After Liz broke up with Robin, she started a passionate romance with Jeff Buckley, the son of Tim Buckley, who wrote Song To The Siren.
stellaVista Liz and Jeff are truly the most star crossed lovers of rock. Someone should do a movie. (Imagine the soundtrack!!!). I don’t know if it is true, but I heard she got the call while recording Teardrops on the Fire with Massive Attack (known for the House TV show about the cranky Dr.). They asked if they should come back later but she said no and completed the project then and there. I just never ever get enough of Liz or Jeff. And somehow after many listenings I always hear something new. Good doc. Also learned some things. Thanks! 🙏
@@HearturMind "she finally allowed a TH-cam release of “All Flowers in time turn toward the sun”" From what I've read, I don't think Liz was happy about that song being released. She apparently said “unfinished, you see. I don’t want it to be heard.”.
Blahdelablah-It has to be hard for her on so many levels. I am sorry to hear she did not want that release to happen though. I had hoped it was a sign she was in a better place with those things. Thanks for the clarification. I will edit.
Absolutely one of my favorite bands. I just wish they could hear their music through our ears, because it's all good.
my daugther is 11 years old and she almost know all cocteau twins songs
good parenting
zzz who cares?
Fraser’s duet with Jeff Buckley kept me sane in April.
Found out they worked together around that time and it's honestly one of my favorite collabs
Imagine if they had a kid ..
"Throughout the Dark Months of April and May"
It kept me sane in June. Honestly...
Weren't they involved with eachother??? That's what I thought
I remember discovering them in the early 80’s! Always loved them and always will! Liz Frazer has such an incredible voice!
The backstory on how the "Otherness" EP came together would be fascinating. Mark Clifford of SeeFeel remixing these key Cocteau tunes seems to have accidentally predated the advent of Burial-esque Dubstep (Various Production, Clubroot, etc) by at least10 years.
Back in the 80s "Treasure" was the first CD I ever bought. I wanted it so badly I bought it before I even had a CD player.
Their unique sound is so dreamy. I imagine pleasant dreams sound like Cocteau Twins music
I listened to the Cocteau Twins for the first time in my life a week ago today! I am amazed. I have returned to them and This Mortal Coil every night this week. Are you psychic? Are you watching me? How did you know I needed this video?
since you're digging this stuff, see my reply to Paul D above you ^. :)
Better late than never! Welcome aboard!! :-)
Right? I just added some of their songs to my Road trip playlist and saw this, I'd say YT is working in not so mysterious ways ;)
Okay, what's the CT song that made you realize that you will never stop listening to them?
@@tdsims1963 Bluebell Knoll my utter complete favourite
Fun fact: Layne Staley girlfriend was a big fan of the Cocteau Twins
Really? To bad she overdosed. Goth and Grunge are cousins in spirit.
Derp
Everything by the Cocteaus is gold but the Love´s Easy Tears EP is platinum. Those Eyes, That Mouth...
never heard anyone else say that but that is my favorite song of my favorite ep!! it can't get any better
Just listened to Those Eyes, That Mouth in the car
To me there's "Love's Easy Tears" EP, and then there's everthing else. Besides "Five, Ten, Fifty- Fold" being my favorite Cocteau's song.
Wore out "Love's Easy Tears" EP/Tape..... And it was my Sister's.
Probably my favorite song by them, such otherworldly beauty.
Rui,
Absolutely agreed 🎯
Blue bell knoll my favourite album of all time just embraced them last month again xxx
‘For those that listened, they meant everything’. And 30 + years later, they still do to me.
in the 80s, when I was 25 and moved 1,000 miles from home, I was blessed to find George Gimarc's "Rock & Roll Alternative" radio program each Sunday night. I got to hear all sorts of new music--much from Europe--long before they hit the mainstream. I remember being absolutely gobsmacked upon hearing "Song to the Siren" and to this day--35 years later--it's one of my all time favorite songs, or renditions of that song. It also introduced me to 4AD and many of their other amazing artists like Dead Can Dance, Bauhaus, and Modern English. So much great music!
Such a brilliant band, I was lucky to see them live.
Hi I saw them 3 times very lucky
Started listening to them in the start of quarantine and they helped me SO MUCH pass through this dark times. They saved my 2020. Forever grateful ❤
yessss!! i can't tell how happy i am to see this. I love the Cocteau Twins and discovered them just last year when i (not nowing who they were) picked up the Spangle Maker EP at a record store for little money and was just blown away by the dreamy guitars and the overall distinc, magical aesthetic of their sound. it is still my favourite Cocteau album/EP.
I first heard them in ‘86 and they have been my obsession and musical inspiration ever since. Their b-sides are some of their best songs and Need Fire from the Judge Dredd soundtrack is criminally overlooked as the amazing track that it is. Hell they even made fruity carbonated drinks seem Dreamy and desirable...
I would love to see a video about John Peel! I've been going over some tapes I made of his show in the 80s and remembering what a force for good he was.
One of my favorite bands ever!! Along with RIDE. Slowdive, MBV, The Verve, Swervedriver, Stone Roses, Pale Saints, Moose and Jesus and Mary Chain.
These bands still have loyal fans here in the States. 🇺🇸🇬🇧
Thank you for this. As a American kid wandering around aimlessly in Manhattan (yes you can do a lot of that in NYC), my discovery in a shoe store on St. Marks Place of The Cocteau Twins bellowing out over the speakers (song: P-DD's) forever changed my outlook on music.... Hooked ever since. Of all the fantastic bands mentioned in this video, none come close to the sound and uniqueness of The Cocteau Twins.
My brother had a goth friend in high school which was surprising since he was the opposite of goth. But that got us talking to him and he raved about Cocteau Twins, Coil and Skinny Puppy. It was a hard sell in 1998! It was at that awkward age of 10 to 15 years old and I didn't get it at all.In 2004 however, all of those bands were a revelation to me. I can't imagine not hearing them as anything but brilliant. Instead I liked Atari Teenage Riot and International Noise Conspiracy. But that was like, the new shit then.
International Noise Conspiracy? In the words of Obi-Wan Kenobi, "That's a name I've not heard in a long time".
ponponvinsky what’s Noise Conspiracy? If you don’t mind me asking
@@little_horrors_05 A Swedish garage band from the 90s that, during the early 2000s, was lumped together with others bands on the so called "Garage Revival". In 2002 one of their singles, "Capitalism Stole My Virginity", got some airplay on MTV stations all around the world. After that, one of their albums was produced by Rick Rubin, but they never went beyond cult status.
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Oh man I used to love Atari teenage riot!
Thank you. Finally a modern documentary on the Cocteau Twins..
Iceblink Luck makes my hair stand on end to this day
Back in the late 80's and early 90's a local Philadelphia radio station 97.5 pst had a truly wonderful show that took place every Friday night called "Post Modern PST". I was present and accounted for every Friday night, blank tape at the ready, finger hovering over the record button in anticipation of a song or artist that struck a chord, so to speak. Twas the year 1990 and Heaven or Las Vegas had been released and the single "Iceblink Luck" has just dropped and i was immediately smitten. I went out as soon as i was able and purchased the album straight away, listened to it in its entirety, and by the end of the last song, was moved to tears. I hadn't known such a thing was possible. That such sonic voluptuousness could be created by mere human beings. It was revelatory. On the long list of things that i am happy that exists, they are at the very top of the list. Thank you Liz, Robin, and Simon for everything you've done.
All possible and correct praise has already been given to Cocteau Twins in the comments. So, I'll just add that CT came to me in 1984, through the Treasure album, and it impacted me so much, that even today, 38 years later, they are still my number 1 band, as if they were a permanent soundtrack of my life, accompanying me in the car to work, on trips, at parties, on nights of reflection... They are always with me. Today my son is a big fan, his girlfriend loves them too. I can say that this band totally influenced my life. Be happy Liz, Robin and Simon.
For Garlands, they were dubbed as heirs of Siouxsie And The Banshees because the guitars and bass sounded like what the Banshees did on their second album Join Hands (1979). The "Spellbound" video from 1981 including in this blog documentary is a bad choice and is irrelevant because the Banshees had already moved on to another sound back then. Fraser's voice was also reminiscent of the vocal abstract harmonies that Siouxsie had sung on the instrumental "Pure" from the debut album The Scream (1978). Cocteau Twins took the bass and guitar sound of the Banshees circa Join Hands (1979) and added an electronic drumsmachine, and there was also more fuzz on Guthrie's sound too. Liz Fraser was a huge fan of Siouxsie, she had a Siouxsie tattoo on one arm until the mid 1990s, the guys of Massive Attack related this in an interview for Mojo magazine in 1998 because the first conversation they had with Liz Fraser for the recording of Teardrop had been about the sample that Massive Attack did with a Siouxsie song Metal Postcard for their song "Superpredators", Liz loved the result, she told them and that's when she talked to them about her tattoo with Siouxsie's name that she kept for more than 15 years from the late 1970s until the mid-1990s
Interesting. I was more or less a worshipper of the Banshees, and it was after hearing the Cocteau Twins on John Peel and recognising a kindred - though highly individual - sound that I really got into them. I have every album, single, 12" and EP of theirs until the late 1980s on vinyl, but the hypnotic, fuzzed-up Banshee-esque buzzsaw guitar and supplicatory vocals of 'Blind Dumb Deaf' from the first LP is still my favourite. A couple of the early EPs remain as fresh and startling as ever too.
I can’t put into words how much I love this channel, absolutely brilliant work, keep it up!
I had all their albums when I was a teenager, but knew almost nothing about them . Just totally mysterious. It's funny hearing that they didn't like those albums. To me they were my secret treasures, almost nobody else knew about in my school.
France in the 80s, 2 of my siblings, along with our mom were involved in a local radio and that's where I discovered the CTs. I can admit I didn't really get it at the time... I was in my early teens and although I sang and I liked pretty sounds and such, I don't know what it was at the time but I didn't click, fast forward to the 90s and Teardrop with Liz and Massive attack and I rediscovered their work, then on and on with Jeff Buckley...
Thank you for your work and sharing their beautiful music, lyrics, quirkiness and overall impact on our souls and music in general.
I'm so lucky to have grown up with spotify!
I discovered Cocteau Twins last year but over the bast four months i've fallen in absolute love with their sound.
Their music was undeniably unique and will live on forever.
Love the Cocteau's. Never understood what Liz was singing about (I think she's Scottish) but it's like she used her voice as an instrument. She gives so beautiful textures in her singing. Her version of Song To The Siren makes me cry. No other song does that.
Challenge accepted
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17:58 speaking of which Fraser literally just did guest vocals on a new Jonsi single. Shit slaps
Middle 8 and Trash Theory upload on the same day. What a wonderful day!
You made my day with this video! I *love* cocteau twins
Sometimes when I listen to the CC I get overwhelmed with so much beauty.
Garlands and Head Over Heels still continues to be my two favorite albums. I first heard them at the age of 17 in 1987. Hauntingly ethereal, right to my soul. Their music, Siouxsie & The Banshees and The Cure made me into the black eyeliner wearing, big blue-blacked hair goth boy that I was. I miss those days.
I've never been this excited to see new video on TH-cam aaaaaaghhhhh!!!!
Cocteau Twins are my everything. I love you. I cannot express adequately how this band has comforted, nourished, shaped, and inspired me. You always sound new. Absolute gratitude. ❤️
This was one of the most heartfelt entries for TrashTheory - thank you. I didn’t catch on to Cocteau Twins until Heaven or Las Vegas - incredible to learn what came before, in 2020 of all years
Cocteau Twins really aren't just mere music but are a force of nature, an invocation, an expression of every emotion and mood that exists in heaven and on earth transending all time and space. And like nature, she can devestate in one instant and then nurture regrowth the next. There has never been anything else to come from man even remotely comparable to their sound and there never will be. Cocteau Twins are indeed everything to me.
Fantastic series - thanks so much for sharing all this great research with us!!
liz fraser's voice is always going to be the love of my life. i wish i could listen to those first two albums for the first time again.
I highly suggest “Spooning Good Singing Gum” Truly a mesmerizing hit by the Cocteau Twins