Date: Tue, 24 Oct 1995 09:11:13 +0000 From: Andrew Norman (nja@LEICESTER.AC.UK) Subject: Otherness Jens Alfke wrote: > > So where are our UK subscribers to describe it for us? I'm assuming the > US release will be tomorrow (Tuesday). I'll take a look. Almost missed it - I was walking out of the shop and happened to glance in the window, and there it was. I think it's the best Cocteaus release since HoLV, at least. The first two songs ("Feet Like Fins" and "Seekers Who Are Lovers") are quite radical remixes (I have to guess in the latter case, but FLF is unrecognisable), on "Violane" Mark Clifford seems to have kept the vocals intact (again, a guess), and "Cherry Coloured Funk" uses the vocals which are in the background in the original version. It's hard to be sure, but I don't think Clifford has added anything to the tracks, just used the original tapes as sources for new compositions. In an odd sort of way, it sounds more Cocteau-ish than the last EP, despite the main creative input being from someone who isn't in the band. I was a bit apprehensive, as Seefeel's recent style suggested that Clifford might throw most of the tracks away and use tiny snippets of Liz over a pounding beat, but it's more like "Quique"-era Seefeel than "Succour". I haven't seen a vinyl version, I assume there will be a double 7" format, as with the last one. -- Andrew Norman, Leicester, England // nja@le.ac.uk // 24/10/95 On my walkman this morning : Pulp - His 'n' Hers With tremulous cadence slow, and bring Date: Fri, 27 Oct 1995 11:49:40 -0700 From: "Michael S. Fischer" (msf@nsi.edu) Subject: Re: otherness I got my copy yesterday at Off the Record in Hillcrest, in uptown San Diego. It was an imported Fontana digipak (yecch), but it was reasonably priced at $9.99 (not bad for an import). The inside front cover is strikingly similar to that of Funky Little Demons by The Wolfgang Press. Track listing: Feet Like Fins 5.30 Seekers Who Are Lovers 5.41 Violaine 5.07 Cherry-Coloured Funk 5.07 Of the four songs, I think Violaine is the most original and brilliant. The new versions of Feet Like Fins and Cherry-Coloured Funk don't really sound much like their original versions, neither in instrumentation nor in form (unlike Pink Orange Red in Twinlights, where the instrumentation was different but the form was basically the same). To be frank, I don't like the new versions, nor Seekers Who Are Lovers that much. The new versions, in a nutshell, take a single phrase from their original versions and repeat them over and over and over for 5 minutes until you're utterly bored with them. *sigh* The instrumentation throughout is rather interesting. It's like Cocteau Twins meet percussion sounds normally used in techno and slow, deep bass like in gangsta rap songs. Kinda funny, but used in a reasonably okay fashion. Violaine is brilliant in its use of those elements--I call it Cocteau Twins meet The Police--percussion comes alive (complete with echoing rim shots and short bursts of high hat) against a syncopated, low bass line. To top it all off with whipped cream and a cherry, Liz has returned to her wonderful old voice--beautiful yet incomprehensible. --Otterley -- |\ Michael S. Fischer System Administrator _O_ | Internet: mfischer@nsi.edu The Neurosciences Institute | () Phone: 619.626.2000 Pager: 619.645.1394 San Diego, CA | Date: Mon, 13 Nov 1995 16:09:57 -0800 From: einexile the meek (einexile@NETCOM.COM) Subject: everyone is wrong about otherness Cocteau Twins - Otherness ------------------------- And I don't agree with anyone about it. Since it is indeed a mark Clifford treatment it obviously has a certain flavor to it, but to me, the disc is chock full of Cocteau Twins. Not a lot of "hip ambient guy vs washed up indie band" releases are terribly sympathetic to the original vision of the band in question, and to be fair I haven't heard the original vision of most of this material, but Mark Clifford seems to have done something very cool here, which I am tempted to compare best to The The's recent Hanky Panky album of hank Williams covers, which is that while tweaking the hell out of the record he has left it intact and created a reworking that is very faithful to what the band is about. Listening to this record, I can tell that he loves the Cocteaus, loves these songs, and with much care went about bringing out what struck him as particularly nice. And if I'm right, that's why this disc is more Cocteaux than it is Seefeel. Clifford has not injected this into the dark and mysterious world of Seefeel but injected little of himself to what was already there. It's an interesting look at him and at what Disjectia might bring out in him. It's also a full blown and rather good Cocteau Twins ep in its own right.