In a message dated 4/14/02 5:39:29 PM, SCJoniGuy writes:
<< Santa Cruz...sounds like a relaxing time! Hope you got your batteries
re-charged OK.>>
We did [enjoy our 4/5 days in Santa Cruz), thanks -- it's a lovely place, and
we stay at a motel within walking distance of both the wharf/boardwalk and
the downtown shopping district. The have a fantastic local transportation
system, so you can go almost anywhere without renting a car.
Unfortunately, R's sister called late last night, after we'd gotten back, and
pretty much reduced R back to the trembling mess he was. God help me if I
find myself in the same room with her. I've held my tongue in the past, but
i can't anymore. Hell, I've even got Rev. Vince saying prayers for me. :-)
<<As far as the videos, no hurry, I'll be here when you're ready.>>
Tanx, buddy -- I'll have a list of taopes and the appropriate check in the
mail by the end of this week; ansd if i get my borsing ability back, I'll
get a paypal account. Sounds great.
<<Another lister tried to turn me on to the Cocteau Twins a while back, made
me a sampler of all their best stuff. I didn't care for them. Doesn't mean
there's anything wrong with them, just that they're not my cup of tea. Glad
you found those rarities though; I know how it is to find something cool like
that! >>
Yeah, a lot of people don't get CTwins. One friend said they sounded like
"fairies on crack." Lol. But I like the use of several instrumental lines,
plus Elizabeth Fraser's incredible voice growling and soaring for sometimes
three or four melody lines.
As for lyrics, well, of course, forget it. I gave my friend Stephan (whose
first language is French -- his English is excellent but heavily accented)
"Heaven or Las Vegas" to use while he was painting his house, and he nearly
went crazy trying to make sense of the lyrics. In CT's later work, they use
more and more longer phrases of real English, but sometimes the gibberish
sounds like Celtic, or Dutch/Scandianvian, or whatever. Their singer,
Elizabeth F, insisted on one short CD in which she sang pretty much entirely
in English.
But their use of harmony and counterpoint are spectacular, and their breaking
of the "rules" for melody (and their occasional use of "out-of-tune"
instruments) enthrall me. Sometimes there are as many as five or more layers
of melody going on at the same time. (Same with Sundays on their first two
albums.) Speaking of HOLV, you might try giving another look/listen; it
brought back their career, here in the US; other goodies include The Pink
Opaque for a smorgasbord of their early work. Many people think Victorialand
is their best work, but I like Blue Bell Knoll, the aforementioned HOLV, and
the hard-to-find Moon and the Melodies (technically not a Twins CD, but it
has most of the cast, and Elizabeth's vocals are among the most haunting I've
ever heard).
They got somewhat sluggish after HOLV -- Four Calendar Cafe got panned, with
some reason (two great songs, though: Bluebeard and Pur). Their last album,
Milk & Kisses, is sweet and dreamy, with some standout songs. Violaine and
Treasure Hiding are spectacular for the many-voices/call-and-response
passages -- I've often wondered if JM ever heard any of their stuff. Anyone
know? I know she's mentioned liking Bjork, with her unorthodox key changes,
etc., and I can see a similarity between CT and Bjork -- and also the
Sundays: Their second album, Blind, is on my short list of "Flawless" albums,
i.e., albums that have not even one clunker.
Has this question ever been thrown out on the list -- Flawless albums?
Some examples for me:
*Everything But The Girl's first album
*Marti Jones' album that had the song "Crusher" (forgot the name of the album
again, and who was that, who offered to make a cassette of it for me? --
please contact me off list)
*Bonnie Raitt's Luck of the Draw, and probably several others
*Sheryl Crow's Globe sessions
*Of Joni: Blue, C&S, Hejira, WTRF, NRH , TI and BSN. (FTR's flaw is [imho,
of course] You Turn Me On...); Hissing just barely misses cuz of Shadows and
Light [sorry, Lama -- it's flawless otherwise], and DJRD just misses with
Tenth World, although I know there are/wore those who think it's a perfect
bridge from Otis and Marlena to Dreamland.
There are so many other ablums by so many artists that are flawless, but I
can't list them all of them here -- it would take all night.
Getting *way* back to the original topic -- my booty from Streetlight
Records: all of them were CD reprints of old C Twins 7" and 12" EPs. They
seemed to have been done in '91', and remixed in the bargain, but leave it to
me to only find out only now. Here's what I got (and I'm happy to record and
give it to other jmdlers just for postage):
*The Spangle Maker (orig '84 , has title song, two versions of Pearly
Dewdrops Drops and Pepper Tree)
*Lullabies ('82', has Feathers-Oars-Blades)
*Aikea-Guinea ('84, has title song, Kookaburra, Quisquose, and Rococo)
*Iceblink Luck ('90, has title song, Mizaker the mizan, and Watchfar)
*Tiny Dynamine/Echos in a shallow Bay ('85, may have originally been two
smaller EPs. this one is the best of the lot, eight songs, all good)
*Sunburst and Snowblind ('83, has Suggar Hiccup [from Head over Heals], From
the Flagstones, Hitherto and Because of Whirl-Jack)
*Peppermint Pig ('83, has two versions of the title track, also Lifeline and
Hazel)
Also recommended: The BBC Sessions. A wonderful 2-disk find, with lots of
early stuff not heard anywhere else, including ***Strange Fruit*** -- perhaps
the oddest version of Lady Days amazing song I've ever heard, but haunting
nevertheless.
Enough already -- sorry I got so carried away. Bob, I'll have the check and
the list in the mail tomorrow. And everyone else, especially you Cocteau
Twins fans out there, please feel free to contact either on- or off-list., if
you want me to make some kind of tape.
Best to everyone!
Walt
The Spangle Maker
