Product Description

The Cocteau Twins' BBC SESSIONS, taken predominantly from the early '80s period of the band's first three albums and EPs, boasts a number of previously unreleased tracks. One suchcut, a rare cover, is a suitably anguished arrangement of the Billie Holiday classic "Strange Fruit". A number of songsfrom the 1996 album MILK & KISSES complete the set. The collection illustrates the early and late periods of the Twins'career, from their somewhat dark, mystical, and percussive beginnings to the celebratory guitar paeans of later work. One might say it is an incomplete meal, and idealists will doubtless crave a main course from the intervening decade. Butthere is still plenty here for current fans and newcomers alike to relish.
This collection presents the Twins in a 'live' environment for the first time on record-the acoustic rearrangements of the TWINLIGHTS EP notwithstanding. Fraser's stunning operatic vocals, far from being trite, are sublime and unique. She sings here with a refreshing spontaneity and passion that has not always been fully captured in the lush production of the later studio albums. This clarity and freshness set BBC SESSIONS apart sufficiently from the albumsproper for this collection to warrant a place in the devotee's library.

Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Wax And Wane
2. Garlands
3. Alas Dies Laughing
4. Feathers Oar Blades
5. Hearsay Please
6. Dear Heart
7. Blind Dumb Deaf
8. Hazel
9. Tinderbox (Of A Heart)
10. Strange Fruit
11. Hitherto
12. From The Flagstones
13. Sugar Hiccup
14. In Our Angelhood
15. My Hue And Cry
16. Musette And Drums
17. Hitherto (2)
18. From The Flagstones (2)
19. Musette And Drums (2)
20. Pepper Tree
21. Beatrix
22. Ivo
23. Otterley
24. Serpentskirt
25. Golden Vein
26. Half Gifts
27. Seekers Who Are Lovers
28. Calfskin Smack
29. Fifty Fifty Clown
30. Violaine

Disc 2:

1. Hitherto (2)
2. From The Flagstones (2)
3. Musette And Drums (2)
4. Pepper Tree
5. Beatrix
6. Ivo
7. Otterley
8. Serpentskirt
9. Golden Vein
10. Half Gifts
11. Seekers Who Are Lovers
12. Calfskin Smack
13. Fifty Fifty Clown
14. Violaine

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #65742 in Music
• Released on: 1999-09-27
• Number of discs: 2

Customer Reviews

Cocteau Twins - Early memories
Older fans with long memories will enjoy these tracks, whether they were at University or leaving school. I remember listening to Peel when I was 18 and looking forward to every Cocteau Twins session.

anyone who wants to get into the Twins - start here
A confession up front: the 5 star rating is an average. I went off the Cocteau Twin after "Heaven and Las Vegas", and the final few tracks on CD2 of this collection are, in my opinion, eminently ignorable.

THat leaves a mere 1 3/4 CDs of perfection. I started listening to the Cocteau Twins in 1983, and spent years neing entranced by their glamours. Even with bands one loves, time tends to bring newer pleasures.

My vinyl collection was stolen a few years back, along with it all Twins releases up to "..Las Vegas". Some were replaced (the first 6-7 LPs), but the early EP tracks were unavailable.

Recently I bought the BBC sessions CD, and suffered a revelation. Yes, they were every bit as good as I've raved about over the years. A slice of pure pleasure. What surprised me more is that I'd also "forgotten" - a useful euphemism for overlooked - how influential they must have been on all sorts of modern groups. Reading recent reviews, and hearing various "experimental" types, it feels like listening to the Cocteau twins through a watercolour painting: all images faded, no richness of texture or depth, full-blooded tastes wiped away to leave elusive echoes of repasts passed. Like the debasing of anything gradually, one only gains perspective when re-presented with the original. THIS is the original! Bathe in the pleasure.

Indeed, Twins sets and Pearls a perfect incomplete anthology
Cocteau Twins Beeb sessions has by many been long overdue and now, at last it has arrived, thanks, I think to 4AD going down the pan. This is indeed more than just peel sessions in a plain wrapper. Hearing early numbers such as wax and wane, Garlans and Alas Dies Laughing makes one realise that Massive Attacks 1998 release "Mezzanine" is not that far removed from the delight of those early Cocteaus tracks (the last time 808 drum machines were trendy). Although the press liked to portray there earlier stuff as goth, really, although quite dark sounding it is, it has far more substance than alot of that o'l pap. Fluttering dove sounding guitar noises, Liz Frasers sticatto vocal endings and Will Heggies haunting bass chunderings make this earlier stuff a definate audio enterpretation of the "Blair Witch Project".....I imagine (not seen the film). Moving on to a seesions from their second and third albums the darkness appears to lift leaving a sound that more in tune with a refreshing misty dew drenched spring morning, appart from the cover of Billie Hollidays "Strange Fruit", a song which vividly describes the pain and torture suffered by so many Black slaves in America such as the very brave Frederick Douglas (1818-1895). Both Versions of "From the Flagstones" are without doubt more moving than the studio version. "My Hue and Cry", another previously unreleased track... "Beartrix" and "Otterley", pointing to the beauty of that ornate garden of an album "Treasure", are also very groovy indeed.....(without the actual groove of course.....this is the Cocteaus after all). The real wonder for myself however is the live version of "Seekers who are lovers" and "Fifty fifty Clown", both of which demonstrate that Liz's voice has indeed matured perfectly and that the Cocteaus were still able to hit the nail on the head right to the end. My only missgiving is that tracks like "Lorelei" from OGWT and Pink, Orange, Red from channel 4s Tube were not on their. Thier are indeed many "other versions" that I have that I wished I could get a decent copy of. Nonetheless, maybe next time. Meanwhile, Robin Guthrie and Simon Raymonde have a great new label, called Bella Union, with loads of new bands plus thier own projects, and Liz Fraser, it seems, I hope, has a solo album comming out on Blanco Negro Records. So the world is still a good place to be!