In the Eyes of Others - Cocteau Twins

AÑO: 5 | NÚMERO 49

THE 13th UN A R E V IS TA IM A GINA RIA

IN THE EYES OF OTHERS COCTEAU TWINS - BLUE BELL KNOLL (1988)

IN THE EYES OF OTHERS

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Today:

Cocteau Twins Blue Bell Know (1988)

Cocteau Twins - Blue Bell Know Label: 4AD Release Date: September 19, 1998.

It commemorates the thirty years of this great album of the fabulous Cocteau Twins, without a doubt this album is the beginning of the most refined era of the trio formed by Liz Fraser, Robin Guthrie and Simon Raymonde.

Cataloging this album as "classic" or "foundational" inside the dreampop would not be crazy, and we would be saying that it is an album that has marked a change in the sonority, not so much of the band but of the sonic structures of the genre.

To speak today of this era of the Scottish band is to enter a world of musical brilliance, although not so much in the personal of its members.

But Cocteau Twins has this essence that makes it so special ... before personal difficult moments they knew how to create discs that radiated bright lights in a world that was dimming and darkening.

Here we leave the look of many musicians who knew how to understand this magic.

Track 01: "Blue Bell Knoll"

BY FER AZPOO (ASALTO AL PARQUE ZOOLÓGICO)

30 años atrás, en 1988, los Cocteau Twins editaban Blue Bell Knoll, su quinto disco (anteúltimo en salir por el mítico sello 4AD), un disco de esos que rompen los esquemas y el sonido, dentro de la misma banda y hacia el exterior, pero no de forma explosiva como podría ser Nevermind de Nirvana, si no de forma más silenciosa. Un disco destinado a influenciar a algunos músicos de su misma generación y a muchos otros durante las tres décadas posteriores a su salida. El primer track, que le da el nombre al disco, abre con una base de teclados, a la que se va sumando en un crescendo la voz de Liz Fraser, suave y airosa, que logra emocionar casi sin decir palabras, como creando su propio lenguaje con inflexiones y pronunciaciones alteradas. Las guitarras de Robin Guthrie se van entretejiendo como los hilos de un tapiz, con los colchones de acordes y arpegios con chorus y delay que son su marca registrada y con un feedback que sobrevuela la atmósfera en la parte final del tema potenciando su gran melodía. Un clásico de uno de mis disco favoritos de Cocteau Twins, junto a su sucesor Heaven or Las Vegas (‘90), Treasure (’84) y el debut Garlands, de 1982

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Track 02: Athol-Brose

BY GABRIEL BOCCANFUSO THE NOCOVERS (ARGENTINA)

Athol-Brose es el segundo tema del quinto disco de Cocteau Twins, y además de tener la particularidad de haber sido lanzado en 1988, y ser el primer disco de su carrera en tener la distribución de las más grandes discográficas de Estados Unidos, no fue hasta 1990 en que fue lanzado como simple en Japón, acompañado por los temas "Carolyn's Finger" y "Iceblink Luck", luego de tener la mejor recepción en el país a través de un comercial en tv de una importante automotriz.

El tema comienza con un sonido percusivo que podría igualar al sonar de un satélite submarino, y se agregan a ese sonido un suave juego con platillos cerrados trayendo en 2 palmas, o lo que serían en total los 7 segundos iniciales, el impacto de un gran viaje que da esa sensación de paseo por la galaxia que transmite Cocteau Twins, un ascenso a lo celestial embarcado en las melodías sopranas de Elizabeth Fraser. El cambio que surge es como un descanso (a ese ascenso) impactado como en nubes ondeantes de cuerdas etéreas que caracterizan a Robin Guthrie, mientras la voz juega con tonalidades hermosas y casi naif en las que sigue desarrollando toda la canción como si fuera parte de un sueño implantado en efectos de reverberancias y ecos.

Athol-Brose dura casi 3 minutos, pero cada segundo es un fractal eterno a distintas formas y colores que te dejan esas ganas de darle "Play" otra vez.

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Track 03: Carolyn's Fingers

BY CHESS BOUGHEY , JESS BERRY AND CARMEN PALACIOS BERRAQUERO CAROLYN'S FINGERS (UK)

"I (Jess) have been familiar with The Cocteau Twins since I was a teenager, when my mother first played me her record of Blue Bell Knoll, which she bought when it was first released. My mother won a solid piece of respect from me that day.

I heard Liz Fraser’s shimmering, no-lyric voice and knew she had revealed something very special to me. Something truly unique and glowing with a delicate other-worldly magic, which trickled down through the adolescent barriers I had put up and landed in my heart, a symbol of all that was similar and true between my mother and me.

Always my favourite on the album, I sent the track “Carolyn’s Fingers” to Carmen while she was waiting to take a plane at the boarding gate of an airport. I was under the mistaken impression that Carmen was familiar with The Cocteau Twins; she was not, and unprepared for Liz Taylor’s incandescent vocals she nearly died. The early days of our band are firmly linked to Carmen’s then-house on King Street. We cluttered the living room of this house with dusty cables and enormous speakers as we rehearsed for gigs, and in the kitchen we sat, ate, talked, and set down the guiding principles of our band.

In this kitchen we played Chess “Carolyn’s Fingers” and our name was set.

The name of the track is as mysterious as the floating, other-worldly melodies. Who is Carolyn, and why her fingers? Fingers, for many of us one of the most expressive parts of our bodies. Creative implements, creating art, music, love, arousal, pain. Liz Fraser’s trilling phonetic sounds make no mention of Carolyn or her hands, and yet they remain present throughout the song.

For us, Carolyn is everyone and no-one. Her hands glow, cupping the beauty of her song in soft yellow light. Liz’s melodies cascade, rippling out from these hands like shining streams of water, bathed in the washy guitar so characteristic of The Cocteau Twins’ sound.

Certainly when listening to this song, for us, Carolyn is Liz herself. Wise, timeless and ageless, knowing and visionary. A myth of our own time. The delicate fingers of her voice continue to inspire and support us, and it is with great respect and love that we took her name for our band."

TRACK 04: FOR PHOEBE STILL A BABY

BY NICOLÁS CASTELLO NAX (ARGENTINA)

Mis letristas preferidos a menudo engañan al lector haciéndoles creer que hablan de algo, cuando en realidad: hablan de otros asuntos. Es una habilidad en el arte de hacer enjambres de palabras: la cual muchas veces resulta ser algo admirable.

En el caso de esta canción, leo la letra, pero no estoy seguro de que habla, parece un poco confusa. Empieza mencionando a una " pequeña Phoebe a quien nunca vio ": ¿Una canción de amor quizás a un nuevo ser por venir al mundo? no puedo confirmarlo ya que luego enumera acciones, como: “correr” y " brillar toda la noche". Parecería que hay una especie de contradicción lógica en las sentencias y eso me llama la atención (si es que hablara de un bebé). Podría intentar buscar a ver si en alguna entrevista Elizabeth dice sobre que trata la canción, pero prefiero no hacerlo, prefiero quedarme con esa incertidumbre que me simpatiza.

Como es característico de los CocteauTwins, la dulzura de las melodías te van llevando y envolviendo hacia otro lugar celestial. Esta canción especialmente luminosa tiene el sello de las canciones lentas del grupo, suaves, con un dejo nostálgico y más que escuchable. Por un lado: los arreglos de pianito \ sintes adornan a la canción de un modo excelente que condimentan y embellecen la sólida estructura que llevan las guitarras, el bajo y la batería. Por otro lado: las múltiples voces de Elizabeth son sublimes y se llevan todos mis halagos. No encuentro, ni me alcanzan las palabras para describir lo hermoso de esas voces; son como ángeles que te acarician los oídos y el alma, mientras te llevan lentamente hacia otro lugar.

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TRACK 05: THE ITCHY GLOWBO BLOW

BY MARSELLE HODGES THE BLUE HOUR (USA)

A voice of color and light. She sings iridescent as a dragonfly dancing above a marsh of dream-haze guitars and watery resonant bass. Itchy Glowbo Blow brims with memories of happiness and warmth. My best friend, Angie and I were obsessed with the album, Blue Bell Knoll. It was part of life’s soundtrack back then. Listening now, with pen in hand, I am reminded of how fewever understood the words to Cocteau Twins music—of how I had made up my own words to this song and kept them in my mind ever since. But isn’t that part of the wonder of it? The magic of their success, regardless? It’s not so strange if you think of fine art. How a painting captures each viewer differently. Speaks to them through their own personal imagery. That’s what the Cocteau Twins did. They spoke to so many through impression and imagery, allowing each of us a personal experience with their music - establishing a relationship that’s bigger than a song lyric. Elizabeth’s vocals rise and fall, shimmer and emote, winding their way around a sing along melody, taking me by my hand and leading me on a journey that transcends words. The song is a painting. It’s personal and speaks a language of its own. It isn’t just seen with eyes, or heard with ears, or felton fingers. It envelopes with its own breath and spirit. All these years later, I read the lyrics—something I never could back in the days of copied cassettes and lost lyric sheets. They are beautiful, But so are the words I made up. So good, in fact, that I may just use those words for a new song. Art inspires, pays itself forward.

TRACK 06: CICO BUFF

BY TOM LUGO STELLARSCOPE, PANOPHONIC, CIELO OCEANO (USA)

Cocteau Twins pushed the boundaries of melody and sound. Their ethereal approach to pop music was unique, captivating, and thought provoking. The shimmering guitars and composition arrangements by Robin Guthrie accompanied by the Elizabeth Frazer’s heavenly voice that ranged from soft whispers to melodious croons. Their progress and growth can heard from the gothic and post punk tendencies of “Garlands” to find the sound that would forget heir influential legacy by the time the recorded their album Head over Heels.

The album Treasure, brought to the fore front the ethereal and dreamy sounds that they would hone through the rest of their careers.

On the album Victorialand we find them working on more ambient based music and the album Blue Bell Knoll brings into focus the massive wall of sound while main taining their dreamy sensibilities. Heaven of Las Vegas was a commercial success, from the arrangements, contained approach, and more accessible vocal stylings the band had perfected their sound and the world listened. Four-Calendar Café and Milk and Kisses find them battling their own inner demons- alcohol and drug dependency, psychotherapy, internal conflicts, as well as a falling out with their long time label 4AD. All these issues ultimately caused the demise of a great band whose catalog of music was brilliant and innovative that has captured the imagination of fans and musicians for over two decades!

TRACK 07: SUCKLING THE MENDER

BY ALDO BERNUZZI IN HER EYES (ITALIA)

Che cosa dire su una canzone dei Cocteau Twins? La loro musica è un dipinto etereo, un viaggio onirico e surreale, in cui le parole in sè e per se non sono così importanti. "Suckling The Mender" è una danza soffice. Le percussioni gentili regalano un tocco esotico alla canzone. Profumo di fiori e suggestioni orientali. Una ritmica movimentata ma allo stesso tempo delicata e aggraziata serpeggia e si intreccia con gli arpeggi cristallini di Robin e con i gorgheggi angelici di Liz. Il basso di Simon è discreto e suadente. La colonna sonora perfetta per il paradiso.

TRACK 08: SPOONING GOOD SINGING GUM

BY GURDY PÉREZ RUIZ UN.REAL (PUERTO RICO)

Siempre me estuvo curioso el sonido de “congas” en estas producciones de Los Twins. Que más podríamos decir de los padres de facto del Dreampop. Elizabeth Fraser tan magistral como siempre y en perfecta armonía con Robin y Simon. En esta tema siento que los super poderes de los Cocteau están al 50%. Como si se aguantaran un poco.

Cosa que no es así en el próximo LP. Tan inspiradores, no importa lo que hagan y como lo hagan. Temazo como preparación a Heaven or Las Vegas.

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TRACK 09: A KISSED OUT RED FLOATBOAT

BY BILLY TEQUIERO BUDAPEST POST-PUNK (ARGENTINA)

Casi dance, casi sad, casi…casi son muchas de las turbaciones que experimentamos al escuchar “A kissed out red floatboat” de la fabulosa banda de Grangemouth.

Cuando la obra trasciende, muta, y se hace parte de los oyentes “flota”. Recostado, parado, caminando, pesando sea cual sea la situación en la que uno se encuentre, es unánime esta sensación que experimentamos con su música. Flotar, flamear, sobrenadar, caer, hundirse, sumergirse hasta los propios antónimos parecieran encajar en este cocktail que se llama “Blue Bell Knoll” En una entrevista realizada a Elizabeth Fraser esta antinomia, este des-encuentro que experimentamos los escuchas de CocteauTwins ,se manifiesta en sus palabras “Al cantar, no me siento como otros dicen sentirse cuando me escuchan. Mientras otros perciben belleza, yo estoy siento dolor”.

TRACK 10: ELLA MEGALAST BURLS FOREVER

BY PHIL WILSON THE RAFT (UK)

soul..... And I like it.

This song starts as most of my favourite Cocteau's songs start, all instruments in at once. The guitars sounding like synths, the synths sounding like guitars and the bass ploughing a smooth melody underneath the etherealness of it all.

Liz is in full indecipherable lyric mode on this track. If you listen hard enough you may be able to pick out the odd word, but if you're listening that hard you're probably missing out on the 'feeling' of the track.

For a man with my limited vocabulary, it's hard to describe. It feels like all the seasons at once. It feels sad yet uplifting at the same time. It feels like it's trying to wake up my

These feelings are only heightened as the song draws to a close. The bass drops down a notch and Robin chimes in as only he can with a couple of layered guitar arrangements that seem to will Liz to push things even further. She accepts the challenge, soaring and swooping, reaching out to us further with her sound and her 'words'.

I'm left with a strangely familiar feeling during these final moments and it's this. Even though I have no idea what Liz has been saying, I've somehow understood every word.

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BY DANIEL LAND DANIEL LAND AND THE MODERN PAINTERS (UK)

Blue Bell Knoll was already a decade old when I first heard it. It was the summer of 1998, and I had been obsessed with the Cocteau Twins for six months. Blue Bell Knoll, released when I was eight years old, seemed impossibly ancient. The summer of 1998 was the end of my first year of sixth form college, the summer of my first tentative love affair.

It was also the summer of Massive Attack's 'Teardrop', which is – amazingly – twenty years old now. By sheer coincidence I saw a clip of the video for 'Carolyn's Fingers' during an interview with Massive Attack, in the runup to the release of Mezzanine. It was my first glimpse of what the Cocteau Twins actually looked like – Guthrie with his sparkly Gretsch guitar; Raymondeship-steadying and cool; Fraser bird-like,with impossibly darting eyes. Of course, these days I could just put ‘Carolyn’s Fingers’ into YouTube, but back then, no one I knew had internet at home. I was so happy to have caught a glimpse of the three people who were fast becoming my heroes.

Massive Attack said that the Cocteau Twins were one of those “super-cool bands” in the 1980s. So why did no one in my circle of friends know them? I was definitely the weirdest kid in my year group –gay, long-haired, snobby about literature, and raving about Brian Eno and Cocteau Twins and Harold Budd when everyone else was listening to Gomez, Morcheeba, and the Manic Street Preachers. Nothing seemed more out of place in the balmy mid-Devon town I grew up in than the spacey, ethereal music of the Cocteau Twins.

“Tear tearteartear tear…”

I bought the albums in this order: Milk & Kisses, Victorialand, Heaven or Las Vegas, Head Over Heels, Treasure, and then Blue Bell Knoll. No wonder I prefer the Cocteau Twins at their most ethereal – it was their later material that hooked me.Milk & Kisses remains my favourite album of all time – an unpopular choice even for a Cocteau Twins fan. But whilst Milk & Kisses is my favourite, there’s no doubt in my mind that Blue Bell Knoll is the Cocteau Twins best album. I wish more people – in fact, more critics – would make the distinction between ‘favourite’and ‘best’.

I bought the album from HMV in Exeter on a hot late afternoon. Oh, the heady days of the 1990s, when my nearest city boasted ten, fifteen good record shops (now there is only one).

Tuesday night was gay night at Boxes nightclubon Exeter Quay, and I had been invited to the home of my English tutor (a close friend at the time) for a pre-night out dinner.

The club turned out to be a bust, and being stood up by someone who was almost a date meant a forlorn bus-ride backto my sleepy little town in the gathering dusk. As we rolled through the deep woodlands of Stoke Cannon, I popped Blue Bell Knoll into my personal CD player. It was around mid-summer and the day was long; through the trees,I could see glimpses

of reflected sunlight on the flood-prone river Exe. I suppose I was a bit fed up that my evening hadn’t gone to plan, but I was also distracted and entranced by the music. In so many ways, Elizabeth Fraser's wordless singing articulated emotions that I was barely in touch with at the time. And that image – dark canopy overhead, glints of watery sunlight through the trees – even now, twenty years later, this is the place I go to when I hear this album.

"I just had this image of her revolving, and this going on and on forever and ever, eternally.

And so she should!” – Elizabeth Fraser Cocteau Twins always saved the best until last. 'Ella Megalast Burls Forever' is a logical endpoint for Blue Bell Knoll, and – in my opinion – the best track on the album. It is a piece of music that I've come back to over and over again during my development – bothas a person, and as a musician. Every time, I notice something new that amazes me.For instance, only recently did I realise how strange the bass on this song is. Most of the bass comes from those electric piano stabs at the beginning of every bar. The actual bass guitar is off doing something else – a winding, melodic thing; the kind of part you’d play on a guitar. A subtle thing, but an example of the kind of structural experimentation the Cocteaus engaged in all the time, and rarely get credit for.

The beauty of the chord sequence is what first struck me; those were the kinds of things I thought about in 1998. I used to spend hours picking away at chords on the piano, trying to come up with imaginative chord sequences. How on earth could the Cocteau Twins make C Major, E Minor, and F Major sound so amazing? It made no sense to me. It was only later, when I started properly recording, that I realised how much of the mood of a track can come from guitar textures and chord inversions. Once I’d realised that, I was amazed by the Cocteau Twins all over again,seeing how much effort Guthrie and Raymonde put into their arrangements and productions.

Listen to the last twenty bars or so – from 2:23 if you’re listening digitally. Just when you think you couldn’t squeeze any more instruments into the track, two interconnected, chiming, high frequency acoustic guitar parts arrive, panning around the stereo spectrum. I’ve tried in vain to get that kind of subtlety into my mixes; 20 years later I’m still amazed at how that part works.

After I finally plucked up the courage to start singing (in 2002), it was the power and subtlety of Fraser's vocals that blew me away. How she hovers over all of it like the saddest angel you've ever heard.In fact, the more I learn about singing, the more I realise that Elizabeth Fraser is the best and most distinctive singer of the last century. More than that – she’s three of the best singers of the last century. Because she has this library of voices (the soprano one, the howling one, the tender motherly one), each as accomplished and as powerful as the rest.

How brave the band were, to release this. How out on a limb they were; working in a form of their own devising, and only tangentially related to the culture of the time. I know thatHeaven or Las Vegas is many people's favourite Cocteau Twins album, but I think that Blue Bell Knoll is their best because it is, in many ways, the most refined expression of the Cocteau Twins sound. No coincidence that after this, the only place left to go, really, was towards the centre – a more stripped back sound, more obviously English lyrics. Whereas Blue Bell Knoll is rendered purely in their own language – they were never more abstract or distinctive.

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The13th U NA R EVISTA IMA GINA RIA