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There are very few bands from the 80s that have been able to mark and define new musical territories, laying the foundations to venture into ambient, electronic, psychedelia, and the much-maligned new-wave which has gifted us with so many "hidden gems". One of these was the band Cocteau Twins, which has had a significant impact on the collective imagination of the new rock that has evolved up to the present day.
The ethereal yet unsettling singing of Elizabeth Frazier and the simultaneously dark and angelic arpeggios of Robin Guthrie animated the new wave movement of the early Eighties and have remained absolutely relevant and even more fascinating today. An album perpetually in unstable balance between dark, ambient, and new-wave atmospheres that intertwines patterns woven with electronic and psychedelic threads of rare suggestion. Elizabeth's "sacred" voice climbs fragilely in hypnotic and circular scales supported only by unique and unmistakable delicate harmonic structures, a real "trademark" that has made this duo a reference standard for lovers of the genre.
An imaginary soundtrack for a hypothetical Tim Burton noir film for the nocturnal and "insane" atmospheres it evokes, the double album instead collects the efforts of recordings made between 1982 and 1996 and desired by the great John Peel, who wanted them in the BBC studios on several occasions. The result is this stunning double album with dark and magical versions of their famous hits such as "Ivo," "Feathers-Oar-Blades," "Beatrix," and the magical cover of Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit." A magnetic, at times irresistible album. The only flaw, if we really want to nitpick, is the somewhat too monotonous and "granitic" production: almost a live performance with little attention to sound and arrangements which, if crafted and refined in the best way, would have created an "unassailable" product over time. A small flaw that dissolves like magic when the first notes of "Waxe and Vane" from disc 1 start... spine-chilling!
Tracklist and Lyrics
01 Wax and Wane (03:51)
Carrying prose
Broke my real friend
The devil bites dirty
We wax and we wane
The devil bites dirty
We wax and wane
(x4)
Licking our wounds
The devil bites dirty
Rattling we'll taste
We wax and we wane
The devil bites dirty
We wax and wane
(x4)
Caring is a bury gin shot
The devil bites dirty
Up 'till the wee wanes
Oh, we laugh in their faces
The devil bites dirty
We wax and wane
(x8)
02 Garlands (04:19)
Garlands evergreen
Forget-me-not wreaths
Chaplets see me drugged
I could die in a rosary
Die in a rosary
Die in a rosary
Die in a rosary
Die in a rosary
Well, with these brave garlands
They never find out for her
They never find I'm lying
Well, with these etchings
Cravings convince
My cravings commence
Garlands evergreen
Forget-me-not wreaths
Chaplets see me drugged
I could die in a rosary
Die in a rosary
Die in a rosary
Die in a rosary
Die in a rosary
Well, with these scarve's scars
Cravings convince
My cravings commence
Well, with these splint's scars
I'm all that to you
I'm all that's who
Garlands evergreen
Forget-me-not wreaths
Chaplets see me drugged
I could die in a rosary
Die in a rosary
Die in a rosary
Die in a rosary
Die in a rosary
Well, with these scarve's scars
Cravings convince
My cravings commence
Well, with these splint's scars
I'm all that to you
I'm all that's who
03 Alas Dies Laughing (03:28)
Flaxen, the dress is born
Crush a crushing stone
Tie a starching walls
Wake takes a mumbling form
Wake takes a mumbling form
Flaxen, the dress is old
Fingers, this dress is tied
Tie a starching walls
Wake takes a mumbling form
Wake takes a mumbling form
Wake takes a mumbling form
Wake takes a mumbling form
Wake takes a mumbling form
Wake takes a mumbling form
Wake takes a mumbling form
Wake takes a
Wake takes a
Wake takes a
Wake takes a
Wake takes a
Wake takes a
Wake takes a
Wake takes a
Wake takes a mumbling form
Wake takes a mumbling form
Wake takes a
Wake takes a
Wake takes a
Wake takes a
Wake takes a
Wake takes a
Wake takes a
Wake takes a
04 Feathers-Oar-Blades (02:19)
Their fate
And hot
Their face
They're haters
Then they form, then hands
Then they form, then hands
Crestfallen
Weaken
Here comes the oppressors
Oppress, fallen, weaken
Feathers-oar blades
Spitting their feathers
Spitting out oar blades
Spitting out oar blades
Crestfallen
Weaken
Here come those oppressors
Oppress, fallen, weaken
Ordered
To attention
The choice of this party
Use your hands, he talked to him
Use your hands, he talked to him
Spitting out oar blades
Spitting out oar blades
Spitting out oar blades
Spitting out oar blades
Spitting out oar blades
Spitting out oar blades
Spitting out
Spitting out
05 Hearsay Please (04:25)
At least tonight it should be so
For I swore
By and by
Of your
Justice please
For I swore
By and by
Of your
Justice please
Hearsay please
At least tonight it should be so
For I swore
By and by
Of your
Justice please
For I swore
By and by
Of your
Justice please
I swear
I swore
By and by
By and by
I swear
I swore
By and by
By and by
Hearsay please
At least tonight it should be so
For I swore
By and by
Of your
Justice please
For I swore
By and by
Of your
Justice please
Boiled pain
Rip their castles
I swear
I swore
Boiled pain
Rip out cradles
I swear
I swore
Boiled pain
We can't stay his
I swear
I swore
By and by
By and by
By and by
By and by
By and by
By and by
07 Blind Dumb Deaf (03:41)
Blind dumb deafen offends
I was never a part of it
Blind dumb deafen offends
I was never a part of it
At the bosom
Or the breast
Or the forehead
Or the fist
Blind dumb deafen offends
I was never a part of it
Blind dumb deafen offends
I was never a part of it
My mouthing at you
My tongue the stake
I should welt should I hold you
I should gash should I kiss you
Blind dumb deafen offends
I was never a part of it
Blind dumb deafen offends
I was never a part of it
Blind dumb deafen offends
I was never a part of it
Blind dumb deafen offends
I was never a part of it
08 Hazel (03:21)
Oh, on the phone
No, not grapevine
Ti- tinted
Ta- tattletale
And on the phone
Tinted
Tinted
Tinted
Tinted
Eight ball
Eight ball
Eight ball
Eight ball
Oh, on the phone
No, not grapevine
Ti- tinted
Ta- tattletale
And on the phone
Julie outside
Julie outside
Tinted
Tinted
Tinted
Tinted
Eight ball
Eight ball
Eight ball
Eight ball
Oh, on the phone
No, not grapevine
Ti- tinted
Ta- tattletale
And on the phone
Julie outside
It's a scuttle
I'm a cheater
Julie outside
Oh, I slammed sleighs to him
No, not grapevine
Ti- tinted
I slammed the sleighs down
Tinted
Tinted
Tinted
Tinted
Eight ball
Eight ball
Eight ball
Eight ball
Oh, I slammed sleighs to him
No, not grapevine
Ti- tinted
I slammed the sleighs down
Julie outside
As a scuttle
Your playground
Across you
Julie outside
In vagrance
Playground
Julie outside
I won't need you
Julie outside
11 Hitherto (03:57)
Hidden to your heavy side
I couldn't tell your head is so deep
Hidden to her own hidden account
I must have let her dame holes
Hidden to your heavy side
I couldn't tell your head is so deep
Hidden to her own hidden account
I must have let her dame holes
Hidden to your heavy side
I couldn't tell your head is so deep
Hidden to her own hidden account
I must have let her dame holes
Hidden to your heavy side
I couldn't tell your head is so deep
Hidden to her own hidden account
I must have let her dame holes
Hidden to your heavy side
I couldn't tell your head is so deep
Hidden to her own hidden account
I must have let her dame holes
12 From the Flagstones (03:32)
At times I've seen you from the armyard
At times I've seen you from the flagstones
At times I've seen you from the balustrade
At times I've seen you from the flagstones
And you can't cajole
And you can't cajole
And you can't cajole
And can't cajole
At times I've seen you from the aureole
At times I've seen you from the flagstones
Like another goalstone
You may cajole
And you may cajole
And you may cajole
And you may cajole
You may cajole
And you may cajole
And you may cajole
And you may cajole
You may cajole
And you may cajole
And you may cajole
And you may cajole
And make a joke
At times I've seen you from the balustrade
At times I've seen you from the flagstones
At times I've seen you from the balustrade
13 Sugar Hiccup (03:41)
Sugar hiccup, hiccup, Sugar hiccup
Makes the earth tough and tumble
Sugar hiccup, Heavens curtsey and bow
Sugar hiccup, Makes a pig soar and swoon
Sugar hiccup, Sugar hiccup or she reels
Sugar hiccup, Sugar hiccup or she reels
Sugar hiccup
Sugar hiccup, hiccup
Sugar hiccup, Makes the earth tough and tumble
Sugar hiccup
Sugar hiccup or she reels
Sugar hiccup
Sugar hiccup
Sugar hiccup
Sugar hiccup
Heavens curtsey and bow, Sugar hiccup
Makes a pig soar and swoon, Sugar hiccup
Heavens curtsey and bow
Makes a pig soar and swoon now
Sugar hiccup or she reels
Sugar hiccup, hiccup now
Sugar hiccup, hiccup
Makes the earth tough and tumble
14 In Our Angelhood (03:55)
He's gonna chalk you out
In his angelhood
He's got the love, let- let us
Like he said he would, like he said he would
He's gonna chalk you out
In his angelhood
Please stand alone and let us
Like he said he would, like he said he would
Like he said he would
Like he said he would
Like he said he would
Like he said he would
Like he said he would
Like he said, the angelfish
In our angelhood
Now our heart's on the edge
Like you said they would, like you said they would
We're truly angelfish
In our angelhood
Now our heart's on the edge
Like you said they would, like you said they would
Like you said they would
In our angelhood
In our angelhood
In our angelhood
Judging you, Angelhood, Judging you
In our angelhood
In our angelhood
In our angelhood
Judging you, Angelhood, Trust in him
In our angelhood
In our angelhood
In our angelhood
Judging you, Angelhood, Trust in him
In our angelhood
In our angelhood
In our angelhood
16 Musette and Drums (04:11)
Did it again
We're fast follow trained, yes
Money and
Watching gets too hard
Writes a song
The favor of Juliet's
Somebody's
She turned thirteen oh
Tragedy end
Am I pretty enough
Musette and drums
Our answer Juliet's
Somebody's
She turned thirteen oh
Writes a song
The favor of Juliet's
Somebody's
She turned thirteen oh
Tragedy end
Am I pretty enough
Musette and drums
Watching is too
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