Customer Reviews

Garlands

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4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
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If you were to listen to the Cocteau Twins music in chronological order, a steady and firm progression from this album to their last is obvious. So Garlands, being their first album, sounds very raw and different from their later stuff; which is a product of years of refinement and aging.

But with that said, Garlands is just excellent. It's spacey, minimal, and a bit dark. But somehow the whole is so much more than the parts. Liz's voice is not as well developed here as in later offerings, but still manages to offer a very unique feel. Robin and Will provide guitar and bass respectively, and a very simple drum machine provides percussion. The end result is a barren, but great album. I really love Garlands.

But do keep in mind this sounds nothing like almost anything they've ever done. If you already have some Cocteau Twin albums and want to give this a try, be prepared for something very different

If you already have this and love it as much as I do, track down Lullabies. It's in a similar mode as Garlands.

Finally, GET THE IMPORT! If you can find the import of Garlands, it has 6 bonus tracks. 4 of which are a session on the John Peel BBC show, and the other two are gems in their own right.

This is perhaps a more guitar-oriented album than most other Cocteau Twins albums; the roaring gothic guitar lines of Robin Guthrie dominate the soundscape, but without displacing Liz Frazer's deadly vocal stylings, which seem more sweet on most future releases. It's a chilling, very gothic piece of work. Though their first lp, it reveals a different side of the Twins' music.

"Garlands" came out in 1982, so it belongs to a scene and an aesthetic very different from the one that the Twins belonged to in the mid-80s. Think of Joy Division, Lydia Lunch, or early Siouxsie and the Banshees. The mid-80s indie and alternative scene, or at least the part of it that the Twins identified with most, was less intensely morbid or dark than the dense post-punk that had preceded it; so that a later Twins album like Treasure has a certain aesthetic identification with New Order or the Smiths. In fact, the change that the Cocteau Twins underwent mirrors the one by which Joy Division morphed into New Order. It was actually a very good thing that the aesthetics changed, but on "Garlands", you can hear a band that easily holds its own with (and even surpasses) something like "Pornography"-era Cure.

out of all the Cocteau's albums, this is the only one i like. just like Dead Can Dance's first album, it totally different from the rest of their catalogue. it's atmospheirc and eerie. it's like The Cure's Seventeen Seconds/Fatih/Pornography with cEvin key of Skinny Puppy doing the 808 drum machine programming. but even that comparison doesn't describe it as well as just listening to it. i love all the tracks. i listen to it from start to finish. Liz's vocals are are so...*sigh*...perfect. Robin's guitars are so...*sigh* perfect. this album is definately gothic...nocturnal...autumnal...wintry...gloomy...a good rainy sunday album...or a good burning-the-midnight-oil album(much like a Joy Division album). it's such a dark and pretty little debut album.

This is my personal favorite album of theirs. Treasure was the first that I owned-- but Garlands reached into me like nothing else had before. It sounds like moonlight on a lake at midnight.

"Garlands", the first of many Cocteau Twins masterpieces is definitely the odd-one-out. If you've been listening to the Twins' other work, which has its own classic, unique sound, you'll definitely be shocked after hearing "Garlands." If the Cocteau Twins have a really dark album, this is definitely it, with its angry, menacing-sounding guitar and constant, dark beats via a drum-machine (which I really love, by the way). The vocals here aren't light and heavenly like on the releases to come (especially Victorialand); they sound spooky and haunting. The best songs, in my opinion, are "Wax and Wane," "Shallow then Halo," "Blind Dumb Deaf" and "Garlands."

I wouldn't recommend starting off your Cocteau Twins' collection with Garlands, because it isn't an accurate portrayal of the Cocteau Twins' sound. After Garlands, it completely changed. If you are interested in starting somewhere, I would highly recommend getting "Treasure" first, because it combines all of the Cocteau Twins' sound. However, Garlands is one of my most favorite Cocteau Twins albums and you should definitely own it.

Cocteau Twins' Garlands from 1982 is a relatively inauspicious debut for a band that was to have such a profound and lasting impact on the sound of pop and underground music in the late 20th century. While there's a good deal of craziness going on in the guitar-atmospherics department and Robin Guthrie's signature drum machine is already in effect, here it's all noticeably derivative of the textures the Cure had begun to create on Seventeen Seconds two years earlier (albeit more distorted and overtly creepy); and compared to the maelstrom of that band's contemporaneous release Pornography, it's positively tame. A heavy Siouxsie & the Banshees influence is evident in the vocals of Elizabeth Fraser, who has not yet developed the confidence, control, and nuance that elevates later Cocteau Twins releases to stratospheric heights. Her words are sometimes intelligible, which is of interest considering that at the band's creative peak a couple of years later she often neglects to use real language at all. When the lyrics can be deciphered, they often seem to focus on some vague relegious imagery (the words "halo," "rosary," and "grail" are all present and accounted for). The most dominant instrument in the mix is actually the throbbing bass guitar of Will Heggie. His technique is conspicuously similar to the approaches of Simon Gallup of the Cure and Peter Hook of Joy Division and New Order; that is to say that he pounds out simple minor key progressions in a steady eighth note rhythm. He also does it with a bit less flair than the aforementioned goth rock pioneers, and later. However at times his pulse seems to be all that's holding the songs together, as guitarist Robin Guthrie is preoccupied experimenting with effects processing and has yet to find his voice as a writer and musician.

Of Cocteau Twins' discography only Garlands truly fits the goth stereotype, and even still it's one of the more listenable examples of that genre - the album sounds pleasant enough playing to appeal to listeners beyond the gloom niche, even if very few songs ultimately prove memorable. Among these highlights are the hypnotic "Wax and Wane," "Blind Dumb Deaf," and "Garlands." The more elliptical compositions "But I'm Not" and "Grail Overfloweth" prefigure the beautiful ghostly music the band would later create, but are underdeveloped as compositions. Recommended only for hardcore Cocteau Twins fans and "goths."

Some CDs of Garlands include bonus tracks. Four of these are John Peel Sessions from 1983. These songs are more focused and energetic than anything on the album itself and two tracks feature Gordon Sharp of Cindytalk contributing eerie, dissociative background vocals. "Dear Heart" is the easy standout of the disc, showcasing Elizabeth Fraser's vocals trills and foreshadowing the jazzy extended chord voicings that would characterize later efforts like 1984's Treasure. It even has a catchy chorus hook (sort of).

Built around a jittery drum machine and an impressive gurgling bassline from Will Heggie, "Hazel" is more manic than any of their other music from this period. Fraser's vocals ascend in a weird modal melody as Gordon Sharp shouts in the background. Guthrie's distorted double-stops fill in the empty gaps.

"Hearsay Please" is one of the weaker bonus tracks, but is as good as the average song on Garlands. The re-recording of "Blind Dumb Deaf" is very similar to the original, but more lo-fi and perhaps more haunting because of it.

The remaining two bonus tracks are songs recorded to be the band's debut single but never actually released at the time. "Speak No Evil" is slow and sullen, featuring chaotic guitar spasms and mysterious drones. "Perhaps Some Other Aeon" is mid-tempo and futuristic.

These songs add a lot of value to the Garlands CD, but listening to all of this droney minor-key gloom in a row can be daunting. There are plenty of interesting ideas in these songs, but they lack the "angelic harps" guitar tones, enthusiastic singing, and sunnier disposition that make their latter works so inspiring.

Garlands, combined with the excellent John Peels session 1983, is perhaps my all time favourite album. I don't usually feel compelled to write reviews but because of the mixed reviews I've read about this musical masterpiece, I thought I might shed some light on the situation as I see it.

It seems to me that Cocteau Twins fans are divided into two camps. The first camp consists of those, like myself, who like the Twins grinding post-punky material from the Will Heggie period - their first bass player who played on Garlands, John Peel Session 83, Lullabies, and Peppermint Pig, and who left in 1983. The second camp consists of those who prefer the shoegazingly post-Will Heggie material, and this camp very much forms the majority as about 95% of CT music is from this period (1983 - 98). So is it any wonder that Garlands gets some negative reviews if 95% of those reviewing it have `second camp' expectations. That said, one must bear in mind that when Garlands was released before this second camp existed, even before shoe-gazing existed, the album made a serious mark on the indie-music zeitgeist of 1982. With no press exposure and only a handful of live shows the album reached the top 10 in the independent chart where it stayed for the following year. At the end of 1982 NME readers voted it among the best albums of the year. God only knows how the Twins would have progressed from Garlands if Heggie had have stayed - I'd dare to suggest that they could have made an impact like say Joy Division did.

In fact, with the exception of Head Over Heels and the odd gem like From the Flagstones, Lorelie, or Aikea Ginea, I find a lot of their later stuff rather insipid. I even find some of Liz Frazer's vocals a little grating (eg, Pearly Dewdrops Drops) and I feared the band ran the risk of becoming a parody of themselves with overblown alliterated assonance-laden titles (eg Spooning Good Singing Gum or The Itchy Glowbo Blow). But that's just me however!

As far Garlands itself. From its spectacular abstract sleeve, which aptly represents the intense journey the listener is about to take, right down to Liz Frazer's final wail to see Grail Overfloweth out, Garlands is powerful stuff and I've never heard anything like it. The album is the coming together of three musicians, all uniquely brilliant in their departments, who have a mutual understanding and manage to create a synergic result. Robin Guthrie's high pitched screeching guitar is almost juxtaposed alongside Will Heggie's low-pitched morose bass. And then throw Liz Frazer's powerfully raw vocals into the mix. I'm undecided as to which is my favourite track. Wax and Wane was the initial one that hooked me, as I'm sure it did for many listeners, but as time went on, I find myself falling for the albums less linear songs like The Hollow Men. Basically I like them all. If purchasing this album try to get it combined with the excellent John Peels session 1983 - Hearsay Please has possibly got the best intro I've ever heard, second only to that of Dear Heart.

My only two criticisms of Garlands, although not criticisms but more observations. I sometimes think the album, even though timeless in my opinion, would have fared better if it had have been released about three years earlier so that it really would have tied in with the post-punk movement of 1979. Another thing I often wonder about - what might the album sound like if it had a real drummer rather than a drum machine - maybe this could be Robin Guthrie's next project!!

All in all, it seems people will either love this album or hate it and I most certainly fall into the former.

If you know the Cocteau twins, it is good to know this album. What makes them special is the existential undertow of their work which may be overlooked, due to the ethereal value of their sound post Garlands. But what makes all of their later 'shimmering' music special is represented here (sans shimmer).

Garlands is a dark album. One could regard it as the epitome of true Goth. I prefer to think of it as sonic paganism. The music is flat, in other words, it has very little variation in timbre & tone, very much unlike their later, more colourful, airy work. In many ways Frazer's voice is used more technically than on other albums. Her haunting pigeon like vibrato, which can only be heard in the background of her later work can be heard up front here, as well as the `far away' sound of Guthrie's guitar work, which paints monstrous nocturnal imagery that bands like Souxi & the banshees could have only dreamed of, and the amazingly dark & subtle bass lines of Will Heggie whom I personally think bought the most to the atmosphere of this album, adds its own tension.

Don't get put off by the tinny drum machine as I first did. In many ways, this could in fact be their best work. It is not for the light listener, does not fit easily into a social life, it has however a distinct place in ones personal self exploration, which after all is what music, is.

If you ever wanted to get back to the child that lay in bed wondering where it all goes after you die, this is your album. If not, stay clear. You don't need to know what Liz Frazer is singing to understand what she is saying. The music says it clear enough.

This is music at it's most haunting and extreme. The music is harsh and Liz Fraser's voice may be a little uncertain but it only adds to the frightening element this album has to offer. Definite highlights are Wax And Wane, But I'm Not and Blind Dumb Deaf. Not for the faint hearted and definitely not for those who prefer Cocteau Twins' later material

After hearing the incredible "Treasure" and "Victorialand", this one was a bit of a disappointment, though the edgy tunes are quite infectious, especially "But I'm Not" ,"The Hollow Men", and the John Peel Session tunes, which are a foreshadowing of the more interesting stuff on "Head Over Heels/Sunburst and Snowblind". Interestingly, that breathy yodel that Fraser does on these early albums was imitated by Fiona Apple on her latest. Nothing like the original!