Category: Year by Year

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Year by Year: Cocteau Twins – 1991

1990 had by far been an intense yet successful year for the band – following the release of the ‘Heaven or Las Vegas’ album, the final few months of 1990 (October through December) had seen the band tour Europe, North America and Canada, which then continued on into 1991, with the North and South American tour to promote the ‘Heaven Or Las Vegas’ album that kept the band occupied during March and April of 1991. Along the way, the band also parted ways with 4AD records following some degree of acrimony, a move that would be reflected upon at a later date as not necessarily the best of moves. Simon Raymonde’s ‘In One Ear’ book also provides a bleakly dramatic tale of the human toll of the tour to support promotion of ‘Heaven or Las Vegas’ by way of a rather dramatic end to the tour on a personal level. By this point in time the band were now finding that their relationship with their label, 4AD, was being brought to a close. So, its perhaps little surprise to find that 1991 was otherwise a low-activity period other than the intense touring schedule.

Cocteau Twins - 1991 - Singles Box Set - front cover
^ Cocteau Twins – 1991 – Singles Box Set – front cover

Yet, it was not a quiet year for releases, with a box set of their singles and EPs (in enhanced form with complementary bonus tracks added as appropriate) proving to be a very welcome release on CD format. Continue reading “Year by Year: Cocteau Twins – 1991”

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Year by Year: Cocteau Twins – 1989/1990

1989 was the first year in the band’s history that would see no significant new releases from them, with various album CD re-presses seemingly the only new product to emerge. No live work either – in fact, there had been no live appearances during 1987 or 1988 either – a three year gap, that would not be broken until late 1990. But the band were far from idle during the year. 1989 saw the band acquire and fit out their September Sound studio [1], the former Eel Pie studios owned by Pete Townshend, where in time they would record at their leisure and what was to be the venue where all the band’s subsequent albums would be recorded. 1989 was a significant year on a personal level for the band members too, with the birth of Elizabeth Fraser and Robin Guthrie’s daughter, Lucy  Belle, in September 1989. The month was also significant for Simon Raymonde, though of a sadder nature with the passing of his father, Ivor Raymonde, as detailed in his excellent and moving autobiography published earlier this year, ‘In One Ear: Cocteau Twins, Ivor and Me’. [2]

Cocteau Twins - various 1990 releases
^ Cocteau Twins – various 1990 releases

1990 by contrast was an extremely significant year, with the eventual release of ‘Heaven Or Las Vegas’, which would prove to be the band’s final new album recorded and released for the 4AD label and the work that many fans consider to be their finest album – and, by the latter quarter of 1990, a return to live touring once more, though with a significantly different band line up.

Continue reading “Year by Year: Cocteau Twins – 1989/1990”

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Year by Year: Cocteau Twins – 1988

1988 saw the band return from what, to the outside world, probably looked like some kind of extended break, but had witnessed the band finesse their studio in Acton and record the album ‘Blue Bell Knoll’. Along the way, it also saw the band make changes in their relationship with 4AD records, including signing a new deal for five further albums for the label and their American releases made via Capitol records, as well as further worldwide territories.

Blue Bell Knoll LP / CD / Cassette / DAT

LP version (4AD CAD 807)

The original release of the vinyl album came packaged in a tri-fold sleeve and, unlike previous releases, it was not the work of 4AD’s in-house designers 23 Envelope, but by designer Paul West and Jeremy Tilston, with photography by Juergen Teller.

Cocteau Twins 'Blue Bell Knoll' 1988 UK LP fold-out front cover design
^ Cocteau Twins ‘Blue Bell Knoll’ 1988 UK LP fold-out front cover design

Continue reading “Year by Year: Cocteau Twins – 1988”

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Year by Year: Cocteau Twins – 1986 – The back catalogue CD releases

1986 CD re-issue series

Released in early July 1986 (mostly?), 4AD issued all of the Cocteau Twins albums to date on CD format, in some cases compiling and enhancing or combining some of the releases along the way in the same way that some of the cassette editions had been released before.

CD: ‘Garlands’ (4AD, CAD 211 CD)

Released in early July 1986, this initial CD version ran with the enhanced track listing that the 1983 cassette release introduced, by way of including the band’s second John Peel session of January 1983 as bonus tracks – and then went a step beyond the cassette by also including a further two tracks. These were the tracks intended to be the band’s very first single release, ‘See No Evil’ and ‘Perhaps Some Other Aeon’, which until that point were only ever released on i) a giveaway flexidisc with ‘Vinyl’ magazine in Holland for ‘See No Evil’, and ii) the ‘An Hour Of Eloquent Sounds’ compilation cassette, respectively, although in a very different recording – the version of ‘Perhaps Some Other Aeon’ on this CD is quite different by comparison to that earlier cassette release version.

The main image on the front cover is retained from the vinyl version, but the rest of the design is different and incorporates the additional photographic image that was first used on the 1983 cassette edition.

Cocteau Twins 'Garlands' UK 1986 CD front insert design
^ Cocteau Twins ‘Garlands’ UK 1986 CD front insert design

Continue reading “Year by Year: Cocteau Twins – 1986 – The back catalogue CD releases”

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Year by Year: Cocteau Twins – 1986

Much like 1985 had been, 1986 was another productive yet non-standard year, with  the band shying well away from the traditional album and accompanying singles music business way of doing things. This year saw a stripped-down duo version of the band release a unique, subsequently well-loved minimal sounding album, one full-band, full-blooded EP and a collaborative album that didn’t even mention the band by name… plus a few more compilation releases yielding different versions or exclusive tracks once more…

CD: ‘The Pink Opaque’ (4AD CAD CD513 / Relativity EMCD 8040)

Cocteau Twins - 'The Pink Opaque' UK/US CD - front
^ Cocteau Twins – ‘The Pink Opaque’ UK/US CD – front

1986 got off to a start with the first ever CD release by 4AD (apparently), in the form of the compilation album ‘The Pink Opaque’ – this CD version was issued in the UK with a release date of 17th January 1986 and I’m unsure of the US release date – the significance being that this was a joint pressing between 4AD in the UK and Relativity in the US. The CD has an identical track listing to the vinyl/cassette release of this compilation from the previous year. So, it is primarily of interest as far as versions go of containing the remixed/re-recorded ‘Wax and Wane’ and the non-album previously cassette-only ‘Millimillenary’. It’s worth noting too that the version of ‘Pearly-Dewdrops’ Drops’ is the 7″ version. Continue reading “Year by Year: Cocteau Twins – 1986”