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Rating:
I will not mention Siouxsie Sioux in this review. It's the habit of all those who "touch" the first records of the Cocteau Twins. And no references to Joy Division. With all due respect to the aforementioned artists (whom I also love very much), the Cocteau Twins are something else.
"Garlands" is a debut album, not naive at all, as every respectable debut album tends to be, wedged between two sublime EPs: "Lullabies" and "Peppermint Pig".
The debut opens with "Blood Bitch": it's a continuous loop, that of the drum machine, which is heard from this moment: the ever-present Roland808 replacing a "real" drum kit makes everything even more obsessive and hallucinated. A distorted and shrill sound, on the other hand, born from Robin Guthrie's guitar, contrasts with the perpetual push of Heggie's bass. The line the band adheres to is essentially this, without, however, ever falling into monotony, even in tracks like "Wax And Wane", "But I'm Not", "Garlands", "Grail Overfloweth". This last piece, languid and unsettling, which has the task of closing this first LP, is perhaps the emblem of that claustrophobia often referred to in discussions of the early productions of the Cocteau Twins.
The central part of the album is certainly the most interesting: "Blind Dumb Deaf", despite the spectral atmospheres it evokes, anticipates a certain style typical of the band: the similarities with "Sugar Hiccup" contained in "Head Over Heels," their second work, or with certain sounds of "Treasure" (1984) and "Blue Bell Knoll" (1988), are very evident. "Shallow Then Halo" paves the way, instead, to that nursery rhyme style typical of Frazer (her surname is written like this on the booklet of this record: perhaps a printing error?) and so does "The Hollow Man": rhymes, alliterations, assonances...
Garlands, in short, is a great album. Perhaps not a masterpiece, but certainly a record that fans of solid Dark Wave must have. Consider yourselves lucky if you find it (or already have it) on vinyl: within the booklet are printed the lyrics of some tracks, otherwise indecipherable.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Blood Bitch (04:35)
Blood woman
Blood bitch
There's a corona
A corona swelling
Pressing hands
Against this scar
There's no warmth
There's no warmth to be felt
Don't damage my altar
Don't damn this cold flame
Neither one or the other
Has much form or shape
Cold burns powerful
Has powerful needs
Holds back
What's my worth?
There's a fire
I'll paint the blood bitch
The blood bitch black
Lift or carry us(curious?)
Your the same old son
02 Wax and Wane (04:02)
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)
03 But I'm Not (02:42)
Sorrowful stories
I hear all that's shown
His posturish shiver on his things
And she's always known
Things from the forest die here
But I don't
Dead forest things are offered here
But I'm not
Vassels live lies
Their faith never cries
Giving in, getting in
Wishing what her sad grin finds
Things from the forest die here
But I don't
Dead forest things are offered here
But I'm not
(x4)
04 Blind Dumb Deaf (03:55)
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
05 Shallow Then Halo (05:15)
Winged water
Feathered river
Dirty rich soil
Strong and fertile
The then shallow she
Earth as we know it
The then hallow she
A sky for the sacred
Stars in my eyes
Stars in my face
Womb in the belly
Capitol place
(x2)
The then shallow she
Earth as we know it
The then hallow she
A sky for the sacred
In my(x6)
Winged water
Feathered river
Dirty rich soil
Strong and fertile
(x2)
Stars in my eyes
Stars in my face
Womb in the belly
Capitol place
(x2)
In my eyes
At my
Stars in my eyes
In my eyes
At my feet
At my
In my eyes
At my feet
I have stars in my eyes
Stars in my eyes
I have stars in my face
Stars in my face
Stars in my eyes
I have stars in my face
Stars in my face
Stars in my eyes
Stars at my feet
Stars at my arms, Stars at my feet, (x3)
07 Garlands (04:29)
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
08 Grail Overfloweth (05:24)
Grail overfloweth , There is rain
And music, And there is love,
Grail overfloweth , There is rain
And music, And there is love
Grail overfloweth, There is rain
And there's saliva, And there's you
Flinch for him
More than the other fakes
I sleep
Horizontally
You told momma
You speak
You wish me to, See to you
Grail overfloweth
There is rain
Grail overfloweth
There is you and me
There is you and me
There is you and me
There is you and me
There is you and me
Grail overfloweth
10 Hazel (03:25)
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 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
12 Blind Dumb Deaf (03:44)
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
13 Speak No Evil (03:54)
My soul I sold
I can't forget to ask
There's nothing movin' it again
Wolf thirst said me
Hear no, see no, speak no evil
Hear no, see no, speak no evil
I heal, I hurt
I can't forget to ask
There's nothing movin' it again
Wolf thrist said me
Hear no, see no, speak no evil
Hear no, see no, speak no evil
Hear no, see no, speak no evil
Hear no, see no, speak no evil
14 Perhaps Some Other Aeon (02:57)
Perhaps some other animal
Perhaps some other aeon
Perhaps some other animal
Perhaps some other aeon
A change of head in hole
Oh well, if he shaves his headdress
Perhaps some other animal
Perhaps some other aeon
Perhaps some other animal
Perhaps some other aeon
Perhaps some other animal
Perhaps some other aeon
I was near when you died at birth
I was near when you were born in death
I've felt the faces within you
It is a more sacred sin then on this list
And on the way there
Perhaps some other animal
Perhaps some other aeon
Perhaps some other animal
Perhaps some other aeon
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