Date: Sun, 14 Jan 1996 10:22:48 -0500 From: Another Reason to Cut Off an Ear (ICEBLINK@DELPHI.COM) Subject: Review of "Milk & Kisses" (rather long). Here's my unofficial review of Milk and Kisses. I've had it for a week and have listened to it at least 50 times already if not more. Let me just say that anyone who is expecting something along the lines Four-Calendar Cafe can just forget it. This is nothing like anything they have done before, and yet it's the best of everything they've ever done. Those who think they're "has-beens" are in for a surprise, IMO. Only a handful of lyrics are comprehensible, and that's usually only if you are REALLY listening ("Rilkean Heart" and "Half-Gifts" notwithstanding). I can't remember when I've heard Liz's voice as dynamic and utterly amazing as it is on this album. Milk and Kisses is exactly what it's title says it is, and a lot more. Violaine Basically the same vocal line as on the Otherness version. The music is the Cocteau Twins' own idea of a rock song. Totally. The bass is quite funky and there's a delayed fuzz/guitar effect throughout that gives it a 'shimmy' sound, along with the signature Cocteau guitar throughout and some keyboards. 2/3 of the way through, the guitars take over and starts to really move. It's a kick-ass tune that literally rocks. Then there's a pause, where you might think the song is over, and then the bass comes back in and an ambient refrain kicks in with a high- octave Liz singing along. Very up-tempo and spacey in some parts. I can see Seefeel's influence in here, although it's very un-techno. Serpentskirt The guitar and drums start out sounding very David Lynch, if you can get the idea of that...but it's an extremely MOVIE soundtrack kind of song. The vocals are quiet at first and build up to a sort of chorus and then 1/2 way through the song they roll over the melody into something utterly ecstatic and Liz takes you on an upclimbing multi-layered magic carpet ride until they break it back down to the original melody and fade out. This song is somewhat reminiscent of "Aikea-Guinea". Tishbite The single. If there's even a song CLOSE to being 'weak' on this whole album, it might as well be this one. And this song is GOOD. There's an organ in here (they use the keyboard MUCH more on this album than ever before) and chimes and a happy drum beat. The lyrics are semi-comprehensible, but they're good. The song is about Liz being in a relationship that's all one-sided and she feels needy because the guy isn't as into it as she is and she's sort of preaching to herself. There's some guitar strumming and some distortion mixed low beneath the vocals. Towards the end, Liz starts doing that loud back up singing style (like on "Bluebeard"), only it sounds MUCH more like the way she was singing on the Four- Calendar Cafe Tour. Great stuff, though... She sings all the way to fade out. Lyrics I can make out so far: "Oh now I'm lost and don't know what to do....if he'd just hold me....I feel a connection, a deep connection, but it's not reflected..." Half-Gifts Nothing like the Twinlights version. The vocals are basically the same, with some extra lyrics. ("I still have a life, and it's a rich one even with mourning; Even with grief and sadness"). The music is totally UN-Cocteau. It sounds like a carousel-waltz. Reminds me of something you would hear when you open a music box. Bass, drums, and keyboard. Almost no guitar. Calfskin Smack Makes you wanna dance. Great song, very uplifting and positive sounding. >From what I can make out of the lyrics (which isn't much), the song is about Liz reflecting on a failed relationship but in a positive way. One lyric stands out: "I had to fall on the ground...Life just seems right now....ooooohhhh la la la la la; But when I had you; oooohhhh la la la la; I didn't always want you, baby; ooooh la la la la I'd cry myself out..." I guess trying to make herself feel better about it or something. Who knows. The vocals are brilliant. Good guitar solo in the latter half of the song. Throughout, Liz does this sort of "oooh lalalalala". It's great. Rilkean Heart Again, barely resembles the Twinlights version except for the lyrics and the vocal melody. Extra lyrics here, too: "I'm cleaning up my emotional life and I'm getting in touch with myself every day; I need to ground myself in my own sense of being as an entity; An entity on the planet". This is a GORGEOUS SONG. It's SO SOOTHING to listen to, and you just HAVE to love it. The vocal arrange- ment is slightly different from the Twinlights version. You'll know what I mean when you hear it. It's SUCH an optimistic song. The guitar is reminiscent of some of the guitar on "Bluebeard", although without the country twang. Lots of chimy guitars when she sings "I understand that you're confused...feeling overwhelmed..." and "You're lost and don't know what to do...but that's not all of you...." Ups FUN. This is another multi-layered vocal extravaganza. Liz really works her characteristic rrrrrr sound (roll the 'r' at the front of the mouth behind the teeth). Not a single understandable lyric (as with "Violaine"). She does some textured whispering in the background which is VERY soothing. The tempo is fast, though. There's a cool section in the middle where the drums get really fast and there's a guitar being strummed really fast and she's just scatting and rrrrr'ing all over the place and then it breaks back down into the main melody and fades. There's also a sample of Liz in some parts of the song, whre she sings the sound "SHO' - NAH" a couple of times. Eperdu More new ideas. They sampled the ocean breaking on the beach, which plays throughout the whole song. There's the intermittent cymbals tap-tap-tap-tapping through tons of reverb, giving it an even more ambient sound. The guitar and bass are subtle, with the guitar being more dominant. It's a plucked melody. Liz sings mostly scale-like melodies. No comprehensible lyrics. The song builds to a crescendo towards the end and then fades out, with just the ocean fading out. This song reminds me of "Memory Gongs" from The Moon and The Melodies, but with vocals and that ocean stuff. Treasure Hiding BRILLIANT song. It's a classic Cocteau Twins tune in that it's very quiet and slow until about 1/2 way through the song and then WHAMMO! Drums and tons of guitars and Liz totally breaking out. Very much like "Pur" or "Ooze Out and Away, Onehow" or "Frou-Frou Foxes in Midsummer Fires" to a certain extent. There's a lot of shimmering guitar and dark sounding bass in the beginning half. It is in many ways reminiscent of music from The Moon and The Melodies and Love's Easy Tears. Liz sings "The lips, the heart.....the heart, the soul....never beginning, never ending...." and some other stuff I can't make out yet. Then BOOM! It hits you like a huge wave and you get goose-bumps all over and the hair on your neck stands up. When Liz really breaks out, you can't understand much really except "treasure hiding" which she sings once. Other words are "Fire", "Purify". Then the guitar solo comes in, and it ROCKS totally. Sounds a lot like Slowdive did on "Just For A Day". The outro of the song is Liz singing "The lips, the heart...the heart, the soul" to fade. Her voice is very much like Edith Piaf on this tune in the beginning. In fact, she is reminiscent of Piaf quite a lot on this record. Seekers Who Are Lovers Another one of my all-time favorites now. From the Otherness version of this song, you would never expect it would sound this way. It's brilliant. The lyrics are probably 3/4 under- standable. What I can make out: "Despite disbelief, a love as big as a risk fills you up...the breath of god in my mouth, a love you can taste, that kissin' paste; You know it, have the path...clove of saliva, heated through your love; I can't stop, hungry for the mess; I forgot the use; My head fell off and the sky it crashed into my bones;...I was choking on the blood...Love, come into my veins...Some seek, you are a woman just as you are a man". There's much more, but that's what I can decipher. I don't even know how to describe this song. It's the best ideas their music has come to offer but used in ways they have never been before. Liz's vocals are different from what she's ever done before, and she does it SO well. There's a wind blowing in the back- ground throughout this song, which is perfect. And washes of guitar that are like water splashing on rocks. I wish I could give a more concise description, but then again if I did, it might spoil the surprises. Well, that's the low-down according to me. I'm probably forgetting a lot, but this hopefully whets your appetites adequately. You will NOT be disappointed, I assure you. If you ARE, then you should be flogged and forced to pierce your tongue like Robin has. :) Mike Borum iceblink@delphi.com Date: Sun, 3 Mar 1996 02:41:18 -0600 From: Darryl Stephen Roy (dsroy@OWLNET.RICE.EDU) Subject: Reviews: Bowery, Cocteau, Coil, Mellonta Tauta Cocteau Twins - Milk and Kisses Capitol Records 1996 Violane/Serpentskirt/Tishbite/Half-gits/Calfskin smack/Rilkean Heart/Ups/Eperdu/Treasure Island/Seekers Who Are Lovers Few sounds on this album will come as a suprise to fans who have kept up with the Cocteaus since Blue Bell Knoll, as this album is a summing up of the better elements of their last three albums. Elizabeth Frazier's high= , piercing vocals haven't rung so purely or been as effectively overdubbed since BBK, nor have her melodies been so joyous. Robin Guthrie's guitar also returns to this era, discarding the synthetic overtones he had on Heaven or Las Vegas, and the reverb aversion and generally countrified sound of Four Calandar Cafe. MAK differs from BBK in discarding most of the foreground keys and adopting a less polyrhythmic, more forceful drum sound, resulting in the most aggressive songs since "Head Over Heels" days. Normally Liz's threats are veiled in glossoalia and run counter to the generally pretty music, while on "Violane" and "Ups", there's almost = a palpable menace. Then again maybe its all wishful thinking by one who ha= s overdosed on sweetness and light. A few songs disappoint me: "Tishbite" retreads the fatigued textures of FCC (kill that organ!), while the pseudo-Casio accompaniment on the calypso (!) "Half-gits" sounds half-baked. But overall, it's an excellent return to form by the Cocteaus, though a rather safe move compared to the experiments of "Twinlights" and "Otherness". Oh, and you needn't worry about Liz's enunciation of lines like "Are you toxic to me", as she is largely inscrutable until the last song, where she muses on God's saliva, or something.=20 =20 (Thanks to moran for relinquishing what would have been his promo) Date: Thu, 14 Mar 1996 14:38:10 +0100 From: Emiel Efdee (efdee@LUNA.NL) Subject: Re: Neato Cocteaus Web Article >Nice article on 'twins and fontana relationship, marketing plan for >milk and kisses, on the web at: http://www.dotmusic.com/MWtalenttwins.html Thanks. And here it is... (without the nice picture) ----------------------------------------- THE COCTEAU TWINS: Settling In With Fontana The transition from independent to major label isn't always a smooth one. The Cocteau Twins discovered as much when the trio - vocalist Elizabeth Fraser, guitarist Robin Guthrie and bassist Simon Raymonde - left 4AD after their sixth album, 1990's Heaven Or Las Vegas, and settled at Dave Bates' Fontana imprint at Phonogram, where they released the Four Calendar Cafe album in 1993. Having just released two new EPs - the ambient-based Otherness and the acoustic-based Twinlights - and with a new album, Milk And Kisses, ready for release in January next year, the band can not only bask in artistic contentment, but reflect on how the relationship with Fontana has improved for both parties. The reason the Cocteaus left 4AD, Fraser says, was that the relationship had become too much like a family. "Everyone was super-sensitive, which wasn't healthy," she says. Part of the attraction of Fontana was that the band could take a more distanced approach - "like, 'here's the record, let's put it out'," as Raymonde puts it. But the reality of situation didn't quite match up to expectations. "Neither party really knew what to make of each other at first, which was as much our fault as we're not very articulate about what we want," he says. For a band that has always been cult favourites on the indie circuit, the transition to major label success has been a slow one. With each album, the Cocteau Twins' lush, layered sounds have matured gracefully to the point that their rich, delicate guitar and vocal-led songs now appeal to a wider audience. But at the same time, hit singles have not come easy. After touring with the Four Calendar Cafe album, the group were keen to get back into the studio and get a new record out. Milk And Kisses was recorded in Brittany and the band's own Spetember Sound Studios in Twickenham. It took them little over two months to complete - an unusually short time for such perfectionists. As Dave Bates sees it, album sales are directly linked to singles success, and he admits he signed The Cocteau Twins, not just because he adored their music, but because he wanted to break the band beyond their established circle of fans. "With a little extra effort from a label and the band, we could move them on to another level," he says. "But I understand there was a discomfort between wanting to achieve more and the things needed to do that." Both parties now agree that the channels of communication are more open. For instance, Raymonde says Fontana has accepted the band's desire to release two comparatively uncommercial EPs. "We're trying to say, 'that's how the business works for you over there, but not for us, so here's two EPs, which probably won't qualify for charts because they're too long, but this is our little bit and we'll play your game for a couple of weeks when you put this out'." According to Fraser, the acoustic EP was recorded during the making of Milk And Kisses while the ambient EP (recorded with Mark Clifford of ambient experimentalists Seefeel) was started after the album was finished. "For some reason, it made sense to us to make the first new move with the EPs rather than the album itself," she says. Raymonde adds, "We just felt comfortable enough to experiment in different ways, and EPs are a perfect length for that." In return, he says, the band will promote a single off the album, of which there are at least three up for consideration. Milk And Kisses follows the same song-based, poppy trajectory that Fraser, Raymonde and Guthrie started with 1988's Blue Bell Knoll, though Raymonde says this time they wrote and played more as a band. Bates firmly believes that the album returns to the standard of Heaven Or Las Vegas, which he felt was the Cocteaus' all-time best. As for playing live, the band maintain that they don't want to tour again in the manner of their last seven-month outing which featured added musicians. "We've no desire to do the bog-standard rock theatres or toilet-type of clubs again, or spend that amount of time away from home," says Raymonde. "We're thinking of doing a show with different stages in the evening, and incorporating all the new records, with just the three of us and a drummer again." The band have also fulfilled a long-standing wish to make a short film that they hope will achieve more than just a standard promo clip. The eight-minute film focuses on a couple of the acoustic songs, fusing typography and imagery. "We think it's brilliant," says Raymonde. "I'm currently trying to get it converted to 35mm and get it put on in the cinema, though people don't seem to see it as anything other than a promo." Given the band and Fontana's success in overcoming obstacles, the Cocteaus might well be up there on the cinema screen in 1996 as well as on the radio and the record player. Martin Aston ----------------------------------------- Emiel Efdee ... the Netherlands, March 14, 1996 ... efdee@luna.nl Date: Fri, 26 Apr 1996 13:23:35 +0200 From: Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen (larsi@IFI.UIO.NO) Subject: Stina Nordenstam + Annie Williams = Anja Garbarek Cocteau Twins - Milk & Kisses Y'all said that 4 Calendar Cafe sucked, so I didn't buy that one. (I have everything else the Twins have done, so that took some self control on my part.) Then y'all said that this album was better. So I bought it. =ABSnore=BB has been my must audible reaction so far. It's kinda like all those old CT albums I love, only not very good. (That doesn't make sense, but.) I've listened to the album tons of times, and nothing has stuck. Lalala. Boooring. I declare CT officially dead as of now. Date: Mon, 29 Apr 1996 17:59:40 +0800 From: Lim May Lin Melissa (art50981@LEONIS.NUS.SG) Subject: Re: milk and kisses On Sat, 27 Apr 1996, Lush Muse wrote: > i haven't seen or heard about faye wong being in the cocteau twins cd...i > have the ltd ed one in the gatefold type packaging and it doesn't even > mention faye wong...does the version with her in it have extra tracks? Actually, I've seen the version of the Cocteau Twins CD with Faye Wong doing vocals for _Serpentskirt_...it's a Hong Kong release, and...*smile* by the way, I live in Singapore, and over here, we can find this particular release, the original one and the limited edition one as well. In one of her earlier albums, Faye Wong did a cover of _Bluebeard_... and she has one of the loveliest voices I've ever heard too. Hmmm...if anyone's interested in her stuff, I could help you get them -- they're easily available here. :) -mel- Date: Tue, 30 Apr 1996 01:19:47 -0700 From: einexile the meek (einexile@NETCOM.COM) Subject: no opinion In order that I might avoid harming those subscribers who suffer from low self esteem, I have decided to modify my style of reviewing so that it now contains only objective fact and indisputable observation. This of course means that no response is necessary, since any disagreement that may arise will have originated from the reader's misunderstanding, through incompetence or childlike innocence, of either the music or the review or both. Cocteau Twins - Milk y Kisses ----------------------------- Great album cover, but the music is kind of shitty. Notice I did not say album *art* since only the cover is particularly impressive; a nice image that led me to believe it had perhaps been chosen by the people who brought us Treasure and not by the people who brought us Four Calendar Cafe. But no, I didn't really pay attention to the rest because the rest is in The Popular Style Of The Day, all that obligatory blurry shit and unreadable typography. Admittedly some of it is very nice, but still. I blow the artwork out of proportion because there is a Back To The Good Old Days theme here, and it's not working. I didn't say this when Tishbite came out--or maybe I did but was nice about it, because I wanted to wait for the album--but this is all a big sellout, and we're not supposed to notice because we are the ones the band has sold out to. It doesn't work. The music is phony and hollow. It doesn't want to be trapped in this regulation Cocteaux Sound cage they've stuck it in. Not that it deserves better but it's wrong here. They've forced the wrong stuff into the wrong box, or maybe the reverse. There's no mistaking that the fault lies with the poor songwriting; the album has about two "moments", which inhabit the first two songs; the rest is cliche after convention after stereotype and it doesn't really let up. This does not mean that the music is *offensive*...not for the most part...only that it's boring and just a little on the irritating side. One gets the idea that they don't care anymore, and i don't blame them. I don't think they're doing what they wanted to do. If they did, the production would be adequate, the atmosphere would have highs and lows; instead we are left with a careless mess that is paradoxically both muddy and cloying. I cannot accept that they reveled in its creation. I think they *were* doing what they wanted, back in 1993; they put out a pretty weak album which was nevertheless honest and passionate...and we pissed all over it. So we're getting what we deserve, aren't we? This comeuppance builds to something approaching actual torture as the album draws to a close, where Seekers Who Are Lovers teases at gorgeous washed with hints of Medusa, only to build into an overlush cacophony that is one of the ugliest spectacles in recent memory. We said we'd lost them, but we were lying and we knew it and we were just being bitter and mean, and now thanks to that behavior we have in Milk and Kisses the album we pretended Four Calendar Cafe was. Tell me there is no poetic justice in this world. God is great. Date: Thu, 12 Dec 1996 16:25:27 EST From: Jeremy L Orr (j.orr@JUNO.COM) Subject: Mud & Cookies ---from Matt Greer (quoting...Jens?): > > Biggest disappointments: probably either the Cocteau Twins' "Milk & > > Kisses" or Tortoise's "Millions Now Living Will Never Die". Not that I > > actively dislike either one, they just didn't at all live up to the ultrahype. [Was there much hype for _M&K_? I've been sorta out of the loop this year...I never even saw a video from the album.] > well you said you where posting this to start conversation/arguements > so im gonna disagree with you on milk and kisses...i think its a good > effort by CT, and since we already had "four calendar cafe" we had an > inkling as to where "milk and kisses" would land. and i think its got > some good gems on it, such as "seekers who are lovers" > > it cant compare at all to their older stuff IMO, but it still is a decent > album "A good effort"? Being one of those people that loves their older stuff, I suppose I'm going to get written off as one of those "whining maggots on the World Wide Web" that pines for the good old days of 1987 or whatever, but come on. _Milk_&_Kisses_ is...well, I don't hate it, but it's just so stunningly mediocre that I can't get worked up enough about it to bother hating it. But "a good effort"? Isn't that pretty much like saying "nice try"? Sorry, but I'm going to have to be a little more critical than that. I thought "Tishbite" (the single version) was tolerable at first, and I liked some of the b-sides (especially "An Elan" and "Round") pretty well, so after hating most of _Four-Calendar_Cafe_, maybe my hopes were too high for _M&K_. First, I love "Violaine". I even think it's one of the best songs they've ever done, even though I wish they'd come up with some sort of introduction for it, rather than just blaring in. I like the second track a lot, too...and since I have one of the "Violaine" singles, it's the only thing that keeps me from selling the album. For some reason, the longer version of "Tishbite" on the album really annoys me. The silly organ part, which is mixed less obtrusively for the single, has got to go, although it's still not as bad as the organ part in the "still a junkie for it" song (sorry, don't have the CD here in front of me). And it just gets worse from there. I remember listening to it in the car, on the way to work after having just bought it, and by the time I'd gotten to the 8th or 9th track, thinking "man, I wish this would hurry up and end so I can put in something good". Considering that they immediately had me in the palm of their collective hand when I first heard _The_Pink_Opaque_ back in 1989...to think that now their current output inspires such revulsion is pretty sad. Also, I think it's funny that people that say they like the album always point to "Seekers Who Are Lovers" as being one of their favorite tracks. It seems like basically, this album, along with _FCC_, divides the camp into those who can handle cheese and those who can't. The one saving grace is that I didn't find the lyrics to be nearly as audible as they were on the last album. As for the top ten stuff, well, I think I'll bow out of the voting this time around. I've heard maybe a dozen new releases this year, so technically, _M&K_ might even make it onto my list by default! But if anyone of any genre put out an album as arresting, intense, and flat-out brilliant as Jawbox's self-titled album, I'd be surprised. ;G) (Oh, and if anyone got the Simpsons reference in the subject line...could they also tell me whether or not there is a Simpsons-related mailing list..? Or am I gonna have to start one?) ---Jeremy "!"