Customer Reviews

Lullabies to Violaine: Singles & Extended Plays 1

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Lullabies was the Cocteau Twins first EP, released in Autumn 1982 a couple of months after their debut album Garlands, and Violaine marked the final release by the band in the summer of 1996. Now that the lavish 4CD box set has sold out, the discs have been made available in two double-CD sets, of which the first represents their 8 year association with Four AD, and the second their period with Fontana. This distinction is less marked in America, where albums from Blue Bell Knoll onward were all on Capitol.
Volume One largely replaces the lavish and extremely expensive CD box set of singles and EPs that appeared in 1991, which marked the debut of most of the tracks on CD, as all their singles and EPs prior to Iceblink Luck had been vinyl releases only, and only a few of the lead tracks had appeared on albums. Most of the discs from the set were then released individually, though an exclusive four-track disc of rarities was not.
Though less lavish, this attractive package contains the vast majority of the contents of The Singles Collection, on two discs averaging an hour apiece. All tracks have been mastered by Robin Guthrie with Walter Coelho at Masterpiece and where they sound dissimilar to the previous CD versions, they are in my view improved, with greater clarity in the detail.
There are no previously released rarities from vinyl and cassette compilations, including those from The Singles Collection four-track disc.
The one exception to this is Orange Appled, which began life on a Melody Maker give-away 7" vinyl EP in 1986. It was added in 1990 to the new CD version of Love's Easy Tears and retains its position here. I imagine a disc that did collect those odds and ends and added items like the NME version of Ivo and the In Our Angelhood demo from the Pleasantly Surprised cassette would be snapped up pretty pronto.
Contrarily, the extended 12" mix of Peppermint Pig (the version broadcast by John Peel in the 1983 Festive Fifty, where it was voted to no. 28 by listeners) was added to the CD EP release but is not included here.
Furthermore, two of the tracks are included in previously unreleased alternative versions. Aikea-Guinea appears in slightly different mixes everytime it is released, as the beautiful counter-melody sung in the background by Elizabeth Fraser becomes more extensive and further forward in the mix, quite subtly on The Pink Opaque, more noticeably on Stars And Topsoil, and here competing for dominance with the main vocal. Secondly, the annoying fade-in start has been abandoned - a big improvement as far as I am concerned.
Both versions of Pearly-Dewdrops' Drops, the 7" and 12" mixes, have been dropped in favour of a new mix which most closely resembles the 12" version but without the tinkly-bells and vocals at the start, and remixed particularly to feature a previously buried guitar part. Again, I like the new mix but it does mean that the definitive 12" mix (as also played by Peel in 1984 when it made no. 2 in that year's Festive Fifty) is unavailable now that the CD EP is out of print.
Strongly recommended, though, especially if you only have the albums. A different mix of Sugar Hiccups had appeared on Head Over Heels, and Iceblink Luck was also on Heaven Or Las Vegas. All the others were single or EP releases only, though some have since been included on compilations.

Don't get me wrong. I am not critiquing the quality of the songs themselves. I like Cocteau Twins and there are some outstanding track selections on this CD. However, the mastering of the songs on this CD is HORRIBLE!! All the songs are smashed and compressed with digital clipping so that there are no dynamics and the result is just a painful wall of noise. Outraged at how the Cocteau Twins catalog was handled for this CD, I immediately looked up in the CD booklet who the idiot was that mastered this CD, and ironically it turned out to be Robin Guthrie himself. =/ Apparently sometimes musicians shouldn't tamper with mixing consoles if they don't know what the heck they're doing.

Play this CD on a proper stereo and you'll hear what I'm talking about. All the sonic textures that make up the Cocteau Twins sound are just destroyed by severe digital clipping and compression. Open up the CD tracks in any audio editing program and look at the waveforms. You won't believe your eyes. And to add insult to injury, it looks like after Robin cranked up the amplitude on these tracks and clipped the signals, he then decreased the amplitude and added some headroom. Hard evidence that he didn't know what the hell he was doing and simply took control of the mastering responsibilities for this CD out of vanity rather than technical ability.

All I can say is, there are great tracks on this CD, but look elsewhere for better sounding versions of them.

After all this time, I finally have those early non-album Cocteau tracks from the 80's on two tight, pristine and affordable CDs (with some notable exceptions - see the review below by Laurence Upton who offers detailed commentary on exactly which songs and different versions made the final cut).

I expect the reason it took so long for this compilation to come out was out of deference to the serious fans who painstakingly collected all of these songs. Some people are no doubt unhappy that some of these previously rare songs have become so readily available, but I think they should drop the elitist attitude and be happy that more people are able to enjoy this great music. I myself had a few of these EPs on vinyl, but I much prefer hearing them on CD without all those noisy dust particles I could never get out of the grooves.

This collection effectively traces the band's evolution from their darker, harder-edged beginnings to the gorgeous, lush atmospheres of their peak and on to the more polished, pop-friendly sounds they would produce by the end of the decade. Some songs here are clearly better than others, but great ones abound ("Hitherto," "Pepper-Tree," "Pink Orange Red," etc.), representing the Twins at their very best. Plus, it's just really cool having such an essential document of the Cocteau Twins' history at my fingertips in such a compact little package. Therefore, I rate LULLABIES TO VIOLAINE, VOLUME 1 five stars.

I agree with another reviewer who wrote that Cocteau Twins' older songs are more primitive and less accessible. But is this a bad thing? While I also enjoy their post-"Four Calendar Café" sound, some of the old songs are much stronger than the 1990s bunch. Close your eyes and listen to "Sugar Hiccup", "Pearly-Dewdrops' Drops" and my personal favorite "Aikea-Guinea" (all in nice, yet not that different, alternate versions), to name a few - those primitive drums have never sound so good, Raymonde's bass is an artwork in itself, Guthrie's guitar provides the ethereal central qualities so characteristic of Cocteau's music, and the structure development of these songs are as subtle as they are powerful. All this, of course, not to mention Fraser's airy, sometimes slightly eerie vocals. These 1983-85 tracks are as poignant as contemporary music can be and the examples I mentioned above provide enough reasons for buying this collection.

Sweep, cinematic, majestic, complex, innovative, beautiful...

These are adjectives I would use to describe Great Songs like Kookabura, From The Flagstones, Pink Orange Red... Some Great music is on the Lullabies To Violaine discs. One word I would NOT use to describe this music is "primitive".

CD's like Victorialand, Blue Bell Knoll, Heaven and Las Vegas are favorites, but some of the Cocteau's greatest work is on these discs. Songs like the acoustic "Pink Orange Red" provides new insight as why their songs work...they are simply beautiful, complex, melodic masterpieces.

In many ways the early work is more keenly, deeply emotional. Like nothing else ever was or ever will be again. This music touches a different part of the brain than the Rolling Stones, Al Kooper, U2...

Highly recommended if you like Mike Oldfied, Tears For Fears, The Cure, Brian Eno...

I only recently found out that this product existed after having visited the Cocteau Twins website. Both Volumes 1 and 2 are 2-CD sets. Much of the Cocteau Twins output was orginally done in the form of EPs having 4 songs per EP. This is a great way of getting to hear an hours worth of music on each CD without having to constantly change the CD your listening to (if you were listening to one of the original CD-EPs, let's say...) It's also a great collection of the many EPs they've put out, B-sides and remixes. When I first bought the set, I didn't know that there were alternate versions and remixes, so that's a bonus.

The Cocteau Twins were one of those mysterious bands that the really cool kids in High School were into. You know, the ones with lots of black clothing, complicated footwear, hip hairdos, and surprisingly easy access to mind-altering substances. In other words, not me.

In spite of this, I once unwittingly ended up with a Cocteau Twins album of sorts called The Moon and the Melodies via my obsession with the rather uncool music of Harold Budd. I didn't realize it at the time, though, since that record was credited to Mr. Budd with "Simon Raymonde / Robin Guthrie / Elizabeth Fraser" and I was way too uncool to realize that those three people were actually the Cocteau Twins.

I continue to grow older and more uncool each day, but I nevertheless decided to pick up Lullabies to Violaine -- a four CD retrospective of singles and other "non-album" tracks by this band from 1982's Lullabies to, well, Violaine in 1996. (It's available as either two double-CD sets or as a "limited edition" four-CD set with the same track listing and strange shiny rubbery packaging they call "Curious Soft Touch Milk" for some reason...)

Knowing that the Cocteau twins are considered one of the original and definitive "dream / ambient pop" bands, I was more than a little surprised (and somewhat annoyed) by the first six tracks on disc one -- "Lullabies" is not a title I would have chosen for these dissonant, distorted, agitated electro-punk tunes.

When "Sugar Hiccup" (there's a great title!) arrives, however, the clouds part and the Cocteau Twins hit on what would be their signature sound going forward. You soon find out why the adjectives "ethereal," "blissful," "dreamy," and "atmospheric" are always used to describe their music: massively echoed, reverbed, and chorused layers of pulsing guitars and synthesizers... unintelligible sweeping soprano vocals... piles of major 7th chords... and, so the kids can dance to it all, a steady drum machine beat.

Over time, the Cocteau Twins tinker with this appealing formula without straying too far from it. But sometimes this stuff is too saccharine and radiant for its own good, sounding a little too much like the ideal soundtrack to a Volkswagen commercial or something. Also, while it's nice to understand the words Elizabeth Fraser is singing for a change, these versions of "Winter Wonderland" and "Frosty the Snowman" just sound really silly.

Otherwise, there is plenty of genuinely sublime music to be heard throughout this collection, including several great tracks from the band's often dismissed and maligned later years. I especially enjoy it when they turn the drum machine down (or off) and let the music and vocals expand and breathe a little more. The alternate "acoustic versions" of some songs are also a welcome inclusion, allowing you to better appreciate the unique sound of this band without all the layers of production and processing.

So whether you're a die-hard fan needing to round out your collection or a newcomer looking to take the plunge into the Cocteau Twins ocean, Lullabies to Violaine is an ideal (and affordable) way to do it.

In a word, it's... cool.

Many of the songs on this collection are my favorite music - ever. I actually own the 10 disc box set that has all the same songs that came out years ago. Seems now they've decided that preserving the original EP's wasn't as important as packaging it to be more affordable. Good move. I say.

Just listen to the clips and decide for yourself.

All that is missing of the CT songs I like are "Blue Bell Knoll" and "Carolyn's Fingers". I love the early stuff (the middle part of this collections) and could listen for hours.

This is a no-brainer at full-album MP3 prices. If you like it, also consider Perfume Tree's Lifetime Away for the song "Virgin".

This seems to be the same music that is on a 10-CD boxed set I purchased many years ago--at a very steep price as I recall. The re-release is less expensive, and it is much more convenient to swap 2 CDs rather than 10.