It'll End in Tears

by

This Mortal Coil

Edit

Of all the record companies who have influenced modern music,I reckon none have done so as much as 4AD records.From Indie rock to trance,from alternate sounds to ambient-this company had groups that were always one step ahead of the rest and were always willing to look beyond the mainstream.When This Mortal Coil were created-an amalgamation of all these groups it was certainly an exciting prospect.Groups like Cocteau Twins,Dead Can Dance,The Wolfgang Press,etc working together to write songs and also do amazing covers of songs by Tim Buckley,Alex Chilton,etc-it was a daunting prospect and one that worked so amazingly well.It also provided a great introduction to try out the music of those 4AD groups properly.

As you can imagine with so many people working on an album-the sounds of the tracks are quite diverse.The difference between Howard Devoto of Buzzcocks fame singing Holocaust with it's piano's and cello to the Indie guitar romp track 11 "Not Me".Liz Fraser does the most amazing cover version of Buckley's "Song To The Siren"-comparisons to the original are quite startling.She almost has this soothing spiritual lilt that sounds sort of Asian,and this accompanies the most amazingly gentle shimmering guitar from Robin Guthrie-I didn't know it was a guitar until I read the innersleeve and this was made in the early 80's long before studio trickery could be used so effectively.Compare this to Lisa Gerard's frightening hypnotic vocals on the track "Dreams Made Flesh"-they're described as "yang t'chin" vocals and they are just unbelievable.Her Dead Can Dance partner Brendan Perry plays what called a bass drone-which sounds like some sort of Ancient Greek instrument.There are long Pink Floyd type instrumentals and shorter minimalist tracks of romantic sentiment.Yet despite all these contrasts each track has a close bond.It's almost like going on some sort of spiritual journey in a storm-full of different emotions-soothing,harsh,ambient and raging.There is a great sense of blissed out satisfaction when you reach the end of the c.d.

For those people who are into listening to the "chilled out" experiences that seem to make up 90% of all compilations-then maybe you should check out where this concept had it's origins.This Mortal Coil are a group of sorts that very few people seem to be aware of-yet if you name some of it's members people seem more aware.I've given this c.d. to so many people and to a person they have all come back with the reaction of "where has this been all my musical life".One of the greatest albums ever released in my opinion!

In the 80s, the 4AD label specialized in bands that played moody, borderline mopey music. In 1984, head man Ivo Watts-Russell got many 4AD artists together to record this album. Most of the tracks include members of different bands playing together. Several cuts are cover tunes. I'm not as blown away by it as most of the previous reviewers (I wouldn't trade any of my Cocteau albums except "Garlands" for it), but it's a good album that should appeal to fans of the label's bands. The CD includes members of Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance, Cindytalk, Colourbox, The Wolfgang Press, Xmal Deutschland, and Modern English, along with a lead vocal by Howard Devoto on a cover of Alex Chilton's "Holocaust". This is mood music, music to veg out to at night.

The definite highlight is a cover of Tim Buckley's "Song to the Siren" by Cocteau Twins Elizebeth Fraser and Robin Guthrie. Other highlights are Fraser singing Roy Harper's "Another Day", Modern English's Robbie Grey singing "Not Me", and instrumentals "Fyt" and "The Last Ray". I prefer the 4AD compilation "Lonely Is an Eyesore", but I still like this enough to have bought it once on LP and again on CD.

(1=poor 2=mediocre 3=pretty good 4=very good 5=phenomenal)