Third chapter (and last) of the This Mortal Coil project, a multifaceted entity conceived by the boss of 4AD, Ivo Watts-Russell, that brings together under the same roof the best musicians of his roster, the genuine 4AD, a true label-fetish of a certain dark-wave genre in the mid-'80s.
As with the two previous albums, a large number of cover versions form the backbone of the work, alternating with connecting tracks, mostly instrumental, assembled by Ivo himself and the trusty sound engineer John Fryer.
It is amusing to attempt to trace the numerous threads of the tracks reinterpreted here: but such is the eclecticism that in the end, the effort may prove futile. It ranges from Rodney Crowell's country songwriter "Til I Gain Control Again" to Gene Clark's "With Tomorrow", one of the founders of the Byrds; from the more sophisticated singer-songwriter style ("Late Night" by Syd Barrett or "Several Times" by Pieter Nooten, already with Clan of Xymox, a leading 4AD band) to the Turkish poet Natzim Hikmet who inspires "I Come and Stand at Every Door" on the nuclear Holocaust of Hiroshima, a song recorded by Pete Seeger in 1962 and present, in its most famous version, on the third album by the Byrds.
What actually counts is the stylistic transfiguration these tracks receive within the context of the project: elegant sounds, refined atmospheres and a nocturnal and surreal romanticism constitute the filigree of the uninterrupted 76 minutes of "Blood." The early '80s dark gives way here and there to acoustic guitars, a string quartet, even the garage rock of "I am the Cosmos", but these are episodes, in reality, "Blood" is nothing but the musical transcription of a dilated dream.
With this album, released in 1991 and perhaps slightly inferior to the first two amazing chapters, This Mortal Coil return to the shadow hidden behind the name of the supergroup: a citation from the famous monologue of Hamlet (yes, indeed "To be or not to be") in which Shakespeare evokes "this mortal coil," a metaphor for life.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
05 Loose Joints (02:26)
[_________________________]
[_________________________]
[_________________________]
06 You and Your Sister (03:14)
you say my love for you's not real
but you don't know how real it feels
all I want to do is to spend some time with you
so I can hold you, hold you
your sister says that I'm no good
I'd reassure her if I could
all I want to do is to spend some time with you
so I can hold you, hold you
friends fail every day
I want to hear you say
you're believe
your eyes aren't deceiving
fears will soon fade away
smile now, don't be afraid
all I want to do is to spend some time with you
so I can hold you, hold you
so let me whisper in your ear
don't you worry they can't hear
all I want to do is to spend some time with you
so I can hold you, hold you
09 Bitter (06:25)
The half-moon is aching, bitter and sad.
We are wet. we are stripped to the bone.
It's out of our hands, the dream we're bound to dream.
We are wet, always alone
How many ways can you say goodbye
That was nothing
?? something
How many days were in dreaming
In many ways just a lie
In better days I'd be dreaming
As my life passed me by
Now pardon me for trying
Trying to tear apart
And pardon me for lying
It's just easy, so easy, to start
13 Late Night (03:03)
when I woke up today
and you weren't there to play
then I wanted to be with you
when you showed me your eyes
whispered love at the skies
then I wanted to stay with you
inside me I feel alone and unreal
and the way you kiss will always be a very special thing to me
when I lay still at night
seeing stars high and light
then I wanted to be with you
when the rooftops shone dark
all alone saw a spark
spark of love just to stay with you
inside me I feel, alone and unreal
and the way you kiss will always be a very special thing to me
if I mention your name
turn around on a chain
then the sky opens up for you
when we grew very tall
when I saw you so small
then I wanted to stay with you
inside me I feel, alone and unreal
and the way you kiss will always be a very special thing to me
inside me I feel, alone and unreal
and the way you kiss will always be a very special thing to me
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