Customer Reviews

Moon & Melodies

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Although this album is not really a successful collaboration - there are five tracks which are in the Cocteau's vein and three which resemble Budd's mid-'80s work - the pure beauty and consistency of the music here is impressive. The music takes a rather subdued path, but a few songs are among the best either artist has ever done. The first fifteen seconds of "Sea, swallow me" are awesome: Budd's wonderful piano theme suddenly crashes into a mighty wall of sound, made of ringing guitar chords, nautical bass lines, and slow-motion drums. The spacy, peacefully floating "She will.." features a saxophone solo by Dif Juz's Richard Thomas, and "Ooze out.." slowly builds intensity before a furious finale. Some people will probably balk at the more dissonant "Memory gongs" (this track also appears on Budd's "Lovely thunder" album, it's called "Flowered knife shadows" there) and the meandering, improvised "The ghost..", but these pieces work best as background music, anyway. "Why do you love me?" with its pearling piano runs and lurking guitar feedback is another stand-out track here. This album was one of my favorites for many years and still sounds timeless. Essential for fans of dream pop.

This is a gorgeous fusion of evocative, dreamy sound, courtesy of Harold Budd & the Cocteau Twins, whose styles mesh as if made for each other. The music conjures ghosts, memories, winter stars, whispers of frost ... and yet there's a floating, detached warmth to it all, as well. It's the sound of crushed diamonds, languid chimes of ice, hushed thunder, blind white birds silently circling under the polar night skies ... it's a tangible chill that paradoxically nestles & soothes the listener, without ever becoming pointless New Age noodling. Absolutely perfect for introspection, reflection, drifting ...

I'm not as inclined to call this 1986 4AD release a "Cocteau Twins" recording. Although released the same year as Harold Budd's classic Lovely Thunder, for obvious reasons (Liz Fraser's vocal) The Moon And The Melodies was probably better remembered for being more radio friendly than Budd's commercial sounding "Thunder". Strange in that (being a huge Budd fan), I never purchased this recording until I saw the Cocteau Twins 1993 "Evangeline" video and noticed a distinct "Budd" characteristic about the sound I was hearing from my television set. Dark and lush shimmering textures with Budd's trademark icy sparse piano, The Moon And The Melodies is perhaps the pure definition of the "shoe gazer" pop that defined the decade of the 80's. This will most certainly turn Budd fans into Cocteau Twins fans...and vice versa.

olofpalme63

When I was a kid there was this really weird segment (you can't call it a sketch, since that's more like what you see on Saturday Night Live, but segment sounds a little bit like part of a worm...not what I mean) on Sesame Street where it looked like you were walking through a kind of dark house as viewed from the inside of a fishbowl. This album sounds like that.
I mean it sounds like the guy has water in his piano, and the Cocteau Twins are there too, egging him on.

In 1986 the three members of Cocteau Twins -- singer Elizabeth Fraser, guitarist Robin Guthrie and bassist Simon Raymonde -- collaborated with ambient pianist Harold Budd in this record called THE MOON AND THE MELODIES. Originally released under the artist name "Budd, Fraser, Guthrie, Raymonde", it nowadays tends to get lumped in with other Cocteau Twins releases, poor Harold Budd. Nonetheless, the album is indeed sure to appeal to fans of the Cocteau Twin's other albums of the period.

The material falls into two groups, tracks which include Fraser's vocals and percussion like the Cocteau Twins' other work, and ambient instrumentals for the stringed instruments and piano. To the first group belongs "Sea, Swallow Me", "Eyes are Mosaics", "She Will Destroy You", and "Ooze Out and Away, Onehow". (The last starts off quiet and ends with a bang like most great CT album closers.) These are more similar to the preceding Cocteau Twins release, especially the EPs "Tiny Dynamite" and "Echoes in a Shallow Bay", than they are to the following CT album BLUE BELL KNOLL where Guthrie's playing suffered from substance abuse and sequencers came to play a large role.

The ambient tracks are "Memory Gongs", "Why Do You Love Me?", and "The Ghost Has No Home." Budd's contribution did not come as much of a surprise for me, for Budd and Guthrie have a similar aesthetic and the instrumentals here are reminiscent of Guthrie's solo albums. Having not heard Budd's solo work, however, I have no idea how Budd fans might react to this album.

As a Cocteau Twins fan I find this to be as important a release as anything they released under their own name.

This is great, "floating bliss" ambient music at its best. The instrumental pieces are drifting and unstructured; you get lost in a world of swirling, half-remembered dreams, and that's the whole idea of this genre. The tracks with vocals are much more structured and sound a lot more like standard Cocteau Twins fare, not that that's bad. In fact, the whole album is much more a Twins album than a Budd album. He is appearing in the Cocteau Twins' world as opposed to the other way around. For a more pure Budd sound, pick up one of his albums, or even one of his collaborations with Brian Eno. Even more so than Budd's flavorings, the real outstanding addition to the Twins sound is the atmospheric sax work...just exactly the right coloring to this dreamstate canvas. The Twins would have been well-served to include it on their own albums.

This is a fantastic world to get lost in; highly recommended.

I have to agree with another reviewer that there are two distinct styles on this album, one leaning more towards Cocteau Twins and one leaning toward Harold Budd. But they do mingle a bit. "Hey you got 'Twins in my Budd. Hey you got Budd in my 'Twins. Hey, tastes great!"

This album is something of a cross between Victorialand ('Twins) and Lovely Thunder (Budd). I find the title very appropriate since it reminds me of watching the full moon in the sky and the night passing by from the back seat of a moving car while falling asleep. There is a wash of movement in there as the night passes by, you wonder how the moon stays in the same place even though you're moving. The sky is deep blue and you can see the stars as you nod off.

This is a good album that just works for some reason. It is also the album in my collection that is most certain to calm me and put me to sleep if I can't sleep for some reason. There is something about the combination of songs with drums and vocals and the ambient pieces that combines well after repeated listenings.

In some ways, this album might not excite you as a perfect Harold Budd album or a Cocteau Twins album. It works in a slightly different way than either of these types of albums, but is a great album to have in your collection, nevertheless.

I do not know if 1000 words in enough to describe this album. This album embodies eveything that the Cocteau Twins are - an incredible musical journey that can sound different everytime you listen to it. Harold Budd should have made 100 more albums with the Twins, the chemistry is nothing short of perfection. Sea, Swallow Me has got to be one of the best songs ever written!! If you are a fan of Victorialand, this album takes ambient-like CT to the next level. A must have for any fan of early Twins music.

I was listening to a collage radio station while studing, and I fell asleep at the desk. I heard the build-up to the last song on "The Moon and the melodies" and thought that I was a part of some beautiful angelic gathering.... As the build-up second half of the song caught my ears,I woke up and realized that this was a song I had to have!
I've been collecting ANYTHING "Cocteau Twins" ever sence! This CD follows in the tradition of the group's sound, and is a great addition to anyone collecting their works! Harold Budd's the 4th Twin in an already awesome ensemble of musicians! I can only imagine what It would have been like, if they had recorded and released more CD's for us to enjoy!

Another perfect, beautiful album. The music sounds very cold, depressing but it attracts. It's genius album. Btw, to those who like this album, and Cocteau Twins in general, I recomend U 2 buy "The Winter Guest" film by Alan Rickman. No, the soundtrack is not by CT, but the whole mood, sentiment of the film is very alike.