Who is The Cocteau Twins

The original Cocteau Twins line-up consisted of Elizabeth Fraser (vocals), Robin Guthrie (guitars, drum machine) and Will Heggie (bass), all of whom originated from Grangemouth, Scotland. Their first release was the album Garlands that was released in 1982. Garlands has a very raw sound with scratchy guitars and driving bass which at the time drew comparisons to Siouxsie and the Banshees. Their subsequent EP, Lullabies developed this raw sound and added a rather dark edge. The artwork of the Lullabies EP (designed by 23 Envelope) was the first to feature a sepia tinted picture of a woman inverted on one hand which at first glance looks like a flower. This was a motif that was to repeated on artwork to subsequent recordings.

Lullabies was followed up the Peppermint Pig EP in 1983. This EP marked the one and only time that the band used an outside producer, Alan Rankine, and it is said that they were not impressed with the result. Personally I would disagree and I think that the title track in particular is one of the best examples of their early work.

Following their tour in 1983 Will Heggie left the band.

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Hear clips of Lullabies or buy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk
Hear clips of Peppermint Pig or buy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk

With Will Heggie gone, the Cocteau Twins were reduced to the duo of Robin Guthrie and Elizabeth Fraser. Their next album, Head Over Heels, allowed the band to explore their sound further and featured multi-layering of guitars and voices. The album opens with the wonderful When Mama Was Moth with booming percussive sounds under Guthrie's guitars and a delicate synth sequence. Other highlights include the glorious Sugar Hiccup, the jazzy Multifoiled and the grand finale of Musette and Drums.

Subsequently, the band released the Sunburst and Snowblind EP, unusually (for The Cocteau Twins) featuring a track from the album - Sugar Hiccup, albeit in a slightly extended form.

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During 1983, the band's record label, 4AD, embarked on a project known as This Mortal Coil. This project featured a number of artists, most of whom were signed to 4AD. Robin Guthrie and Elizabeth Fraser were a part of this project and their most notable contribution was a version of Tim Buckley's Song To The Siren - a beautiful rendition of the song with Guthrie's guitar being gently restrained and Fraser's voice at its most haunting and ethereal. It was during the course of this project that they met Simon Raymonde who joined the band as a bassist.

The first release of this new line-up was The Spangle Maker EP, the most well known track is Pearly Dewdrops Drop (which was also released as 7" single).

This was followed by the album, Treasure in 1984 which showed another change in direction with a highly percussive drum machine sound and experimental guitar effects. Highlights for me are Lorelei, the mysterious Beatrix, the dreamy instrumental of Otterley and the truly magnificent Donimo.

Hear a clip of Song To The Siren (as featured in the movie Lovely Bones) or buy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk

Hear clips from The Spangle Maker or buy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk

Hear clips from Treasure or buy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk

1985 to 1986 saw a particularly productive period for The Cocteau Twins. The Aikea-Guinea EP featured four tracks, but the title track is the most well known and a Cocteaus favourite. Later in the year the band released two EPs, Tiny Dynamine and Echoes in a Shallow Bay, within two weeks of one another. These two EPs have a similar feel to them and have similar artwork. These tracks were originally recorded to try out the production capacities of a new studio and were not going to be released. Subsequently however, the band concluded that the songs were good enough to be released which is presumably why they were put onto two EPs rather onto a single album.

The next album, Victorialand, featured just Robin Guthrie and Elizabeth Frazer with some help from Richard Thomas of Dif Juz (Simon Raymonde was working on another This Mortal Coil project at the time). This was a largely acoustic work with the band experimenting with some different sounds and saw them at their most ambient and ethereal. In fact there was some consideration given to releasing the album under a different name, but in the end it was released under the name of The Cocteau Twins.

The Love's Easy Tears EP was released in 1986 and featured another four outstanding songs, the title track and Those Eyes That Mouth being the strongest tracks.

Shortly after, the band released The Moon and The Melodies. This album was a collaboration with ambient artist, Harold Budd. This was not actually released under the name of The Cocteau Twins, but under the names of the individual musicians. The album fuses perfectly the best of both The Cocteaus and Budd and includes half vocal tracks and half instrumental.

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Hear clips from Tiny Dynamine or buy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk

Hear clips from Echoes in a Shallow Bay or buy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk

Hear clips from Victorialand or buy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk

Hear clips from Love's Easy Tears or buy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk

Hear clips from The Moon and the Melodies or buy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk

Blue Bell Knoll was released in 1988 and was the first of their albums to receive a major label distribution in the United States. It opens with the title track that has a dramatic keyboard loop, grabbing your attention from the very beginning. Other highlights for me include Athol-Brose, Ella Megalast Burls Forever and Carolyn's Fingers (which was subsequently released as a single).

Heaven or Las Vegas was released in 1990. It received very favourable reviews and was their most commercially successful album. Heaven... continued the sound that the Cocteaus found on Blue-Bell Knoll, but perfected it to produce a tighter sound. Highlights for me are the title track, Iceblink Luck, Fotzepolitic and the dramatic Frou Frou Foxes in Midsummer Fires.

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Following Heaven or Las Vegas the band went through a difficult period with Elizabeth Fraser and Robin Guthrie ending their long-term relationship. Subsequently, Guthrie went into rehab to address his addiction to alcohol and drugs, while Fraser underwent psychotherapy. Despite this turbulence, the band continued working and Four Calendar Cafe was released in 1993. This album is a little more pop orientated than their previous work and some of Elizabeth Fraser's lyrics are almost intelligible at times. As a result there was criticism from some die-hard Cocteaus fans that they had sold out. However, others differed and praised the continued evolution in the band's sound. The best tracks for me from this album are Evangaline, Bluebeard (which was subsequently released as a single) and Know Who You Are at Every Age.

In 1995, The Cocteau Twins released two companion EPs, Twinlights and Otherness. Twinlights featured two tracks from the forthcoming Milk and Kisses together with Pink Orange Red (from Tiny Dynamine) and a further track, Golden-Vein, which is not available elsewhere. Here though, the tracks are performed as acoustic versions featuring piano and strings. Otherness on the other hand is essentially a re-mix EP featuring tracks from Milk and Kisses, Victorialand and Heaven or Las Vegas. This EP was re-mixed by Mark Clifford and was electronic in feel.

Milk and Kisses was to be The Cocteau Twins final album. This marked a return to heavily layered guitars and Fraser's lyrics again became more obscure. For me the highlights are Violaine, Tishbite (which were both released as singles), Rilkean Heart and Seekers Who Are Lovers.

In 1997, while recording what would have been their ninth album, The Cocteau Twins split over irreconcilable differences.

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Hear clips from Milk and Kisses or buy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk