Cocteau Twins 'Garlands' - Which CD

[Woodface]

This band did not register with me at all in my youth, odd really as I was quite into the indie scene.

 

[guey]

I'd completely forgotten a couple of the early EPs were produced by Alan Rankine.

 

[Seeker_UK]

I only have two pieces of Cocteau Twins on vinyl: 'Garlands' LP and 'Peppermint Pig' 12". I know the band hate that 12" but I love it.

As I'm catching up with all the 80s stuff I missed first time around, I feel a big spend up is coming getting their catalogue.

 

[Seeker_UK]

Put on the Lullabies to Violaine CDs and the job is done. You don't even have to get up - well OK three times as there are four discs - job done!

Isn't that going to suffer from being compressed?

 

[Seeker_UK]

Just go the invoice from the Discogs seller for 'Garlands'; seems I remembered the wrong price and it's only cost me £10.


Which is nice.

 

[manicatel]

Heaven or Las Vegas is another one that really works for me. I have the original vinyl & it’s a marvellous sounding thing to my ears.
One of those that ends a listening session, as I think “yep, that’ll do for me, no need to put anything else on afterwards”.

 

[Tony L]

I only have two pieces of Cocteau Twins on vinyl: 'Garlands' LP and 'Peppermint Pig' 12". I know the band hate that 12" but I love it.

As I'm catching up with all the 80s stuff I missed first time around, I feel a big spend up is coming getting their catalogue.

Highlights for me are probably Garlands, Head Over Heels, Treasure, the Echoes Of A Shallow Bay and Tiny Dynamine 12” singles and Heaven Or Las Vegas. I have this lot plus a few more 12” singles on vinyl. For some reason I never bought Blue Bell Knoll, so I may be being unfair by omitting that one. I played the two Fontana albums the other day and rather enjoyed them, Four Calendar Cafe being the better of the two.

Unlike Michael Fremer I can’t see any redeeming features in the remasters, they are an object lesson in wrongness IMHO.

PS I saw them live pretty early on, just Robin, Liz and a R2R tape machine, at Mountford Hall in Liverpool and they were just brilliant. That night a small echoey band in a large echoey room just gelled perfectly, just beautiful ambient soundscapes.

 

[Tony L]

One of those that ends a listening session, as I think “yep, that’ll do for me, no need to put anything else on afterwards”.

The only place one can go from there is Durutti Column‘s LC, and obviously one should.

 

[lordsummit]

For what it’s worth, the 2020 remaster is pretty good, much better than the massively compressed 2003 also on Qobuz. It sounds much more like the LP I’ve heard at yours. It’s not competing in the loudness wars, I had to turn it up.

 

[Tw99]

The original CD I've got is one of the quietest masters in my library. The rip has almost no Replaygain reduction, where modern stuff can be -8 or -9dB.

 

[RobFTM]

Yes I have that, but the 12"s really do sound quite a bit better. A lot of shelf space, but with the cover art and loving presentation they feel like an investment in what was best about the 80s.

Well we can certainly agree about the artwork. All of the 4AD sleeves were pretty special in my view. The Cocteau Twins ones especially so.

 

[RobFTM]

Two in a row.

I listened to Garlands last night then followed it with Mother Juno by The Gun Club. If you've not heard this album I urge you to seek it out on Spotify or whatever. Listen to The Breaking Hands and for the very first 30/45 seconds it IS the Cocteau Twins. Clearly when Robin was producing it he didn't let the apple fall very far from the tree !

 

[Elephantears]

Listen to The Breaking Hands and for the very first 30/45 seconds it IS the Cocteau Twins.

Wow, you're not wrong! I think with the slide guitar it also prefigures Mazzy Star very strongly. Perhaps someone has written a study of the segue between goth and shoe gaze? If so this would clearly be a topic.