Sunday, August 21, 2016

Cocteau Twins - Four-Calendar Cafe - 1993

After the glorious Heaven Or Las Vegas, a lot of us CT fans were eagerly anticipating Four-Calendar Cafe, hoping for a continuation of the marvelous sound from the previous album.  Although a wonderful album, FCC was nowhere near being as good as HOLV.  Heaven Or Las Vegas was the Twins at their all-time high.  After that, it was Robin Guthrie getting high all the time.  His problem definitely showed in his work, as it suffered a lot.  It was all Elizabeth could do to keep the integrity of their sound intact.

There were quite a few good songs on this album, though.  Obviously, my favorite was Bluebeard, a pure pophook wonder.  For me, it harkens to Karen Carpenter in melody and performance.  A very special song.

This album has a special place in my heart, as it came out the same time my wife and I started dating.  When I listen to it, it reminds me of the days that we first shared with each other.  Her and I have a couple albums like this, in fact, but this one pulls specific memories that I love.  I remember listening to it one time when she was driving me to class at the University in the winter time.  Freezing outside, but her love kept me warm inside.

I've included the two tracks from the Snow single, along with the b-sides from the singles and the acoustic Bluebeard track (yuck).  I changed up the color of the cover to give it some more contrast, and make it look a little less muddled.  Of all the CT cover designs that they released, this one is my least favorite.

4 comments:

  1. Each to their own opinion but this album is just as good as Heaven Or Las Vegas - just a continuation of the Cocteaus going mainstream...

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  2. hello, really great blog and music here!!! Sadly this is down. Any chance for re-up? thanks best regards Olli

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  3. great great album. definitely underestimated.

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