Echoes in a Shallow Bay

Release type:What's this?
EP
First released:
Oct 14 1985

Overview Edit

Echoes in a Shallow Bay is an EP by the Scottish rock group Cocteau Twins, released on 4AD. The EP features four non-album tracks. It was issued on 29 November 1985 two weeks after another EP entitled Tiny Dynamine. The EP was also re-issued in 1991 as part of The Box Set and in 2005 as part of the singles/EP collection Lullabies to Violaine.

The band did not originally intend to release these songs to the general public, presumably explaining the decision to release the material on EPs, rather than as what would have been their fourth album. The tracks on Tiny Dynamine and Echoes in a Shallow Bay were initially recorded to test the production capacities of a new studio. When the band decided the material was strong enough for release, they completed the recording process and issued the finished product on two EPs.

"Pale Clouded White" has been performed live. A remastered version of the song appears on the 2000 compilation Stars and Topsoil.

With Fraser's typically indecipherable lyrics it is difficult to be sure, but all the titles on the two EPs seem to have some link with Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths). The Great Spangled Fritillary is a butterfly and while there is no Pale Clouded White there is a Pale Clouded Yellow (as well as a group of butterflies known as whites), while Mellonella is the specific name of the Wax Moth Galleria mellonella. The lyrics of this track consist of Fraser reciting the scientific names of the families of British moths. Lepidoptera eggs do not have shells though.

The Overview appearing in this section is attributed to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echoes_in_a_Shallow_Bay. Portions of this Overview may be available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, version 3.0 or any later version, available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/. Additional terms may apply. See Wikipedia Terms of Use for details.

Add an image?

This particular version Edit

Record label:
4AD
Catalog number:
BAD 511 CD
Release dates:
  • Nov 4 1991 in United Kingdom

Genres

We're not sure what genre this release is; tell us what you think.

Track listing Edit

  • CD

    format:
    number:
    title:
    number name artist hh:mm:ss
    1
    Great Spangled Fritillary
    4:02
    2
    Melonella
    4:02
    3
    Pale Clouded White
    4:59
    4
    Eggs and Their Shells
    3:07

Credits Edit

Surely someone is credited on this release! Add a credit?

Other versions Edit

4 tracks format: 1 x vinyl
record label: 4AD
catalog number: BAD 511
release dates: Oct 14 1985 in United Kingdom
view details
Tell us about another version?

Trivia Edit

  • We don't know any trivia about this release. Add some?

Websites Edit

SoundUnwound is not responsible for the content of external websites.