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"...Exploration...Creating..."
There are some Box Sets that I just love to pieces and this unassuming little sucker from Universal covering the Cocteau Twins brief but beautiful stay at Fontana Records in the mid Nineties is one of them.
If I am completely honest however, after the wonder of the 4AD Records years especially the double-whammy crescendo of "Blue Bell Knoll" (1988) and "Heaven Or Las Vegas" (1990) – the opening salvo "Four Calendar Café" with Fontana in October 1993 left me (and quite a few others) feeling a little underwhelmed. This possibly explains why the second LP did not have the huge impact it should have done. But unlike their Fontana debut of 1993, the March 1996 album "Milk & Kisses" blew my convoluted Irish noggin away – some tracks on it literally sublime to me ("Calfskin Smack", "Rilkean Heart" and the carry-me carrying-me "Tishbite").
And then there were the two CD singles for "Tishbite" which featured four new tracks – all in my book utterly gorgeous – especially "An Elan" on CD2 that brings me to tears. "Mud And Dark" and the 'I’m doing a fine job...' "Summer-Blink" from the superb "Evangeline" CD single of September 1993 are the same. The Kate Bush-shimmering vocal acrobatics of Liz and sheer prettiness of both "Rilkean Heart" and "Golden-Vein" from the 1995 "Twinlights" EP is devastating stuff (they are radically different versions to what I think are overdone versions on the "Milk & Kisses" album). It seemed to me that they were touched with greatness at this time and few seemed to notice or care anymore. But I love it. In fact, I play CD3 "EPs & Rarities" more than I do the albums. Let's get to he details and the ethereal...
UK released 12 October 2018 - "Treasure Hiding: The Fontana Years" by COCTEAU TWINS on Universal Music Group (UMC)/Fontana 5771558 (Barcode 602557715583) is a 4-Disc Compilation Hard-Card Slipcase Box Set that plays out as follows:
Disc 1 "Four Calendar Café" (41:06 minutes):
1. Know Who You Are At Every Age [Side 1]
2. Evangeline
3. Bluebeard
4. Theft, And Wandering Around Lost
5. Oil Of Angels
6. Squeeze-Wax [Side 2]
7. My Truth
8. Essence
9. Summerhead
10. Pur
Tracks 1 to 10 are their seventh studio album "Four Calendar Café" – released 18 October 1993 in the UK on Fontana 518 259-1 (LP), 518 259-4 (MC), 518 259-2 (CD) and 518 259-5 (DCC).
Disc 2 "Milk & Kisses" (42:48 minutes):
1. Violaine [Side 1]
2. Serpentskirt
3. Tishbite
4. Half-Gifts (4:17 minutes)
5. Calfskin Smack
6. Rilkean Heart (4:02 minutes) [Side 2]
7. Ups
8. Eperdu
9. Treasure Hiding
10. Seekers Who Are Lovers
Tracks 1 top 10 are their eight studio album "Milk & Kisses" – released March 1996 in the UK on Fontana 514 501-1 (LP), 514 501-4 (MC) and 514 501-2 (CD) – April 1996 in the USA on Capitol CDP 7243 8 37049 2 7 on CD. There was also a Limited Edition 5-Flap Special Packaging CD available for "Milk & Kisses" in the UK on Fontana 532 363-2.
NOTE: Both "Half-Gifts" and "Rilkean Heart" appear on the "Twinlights" EP on Disc 3 but in radically different versions and playing times
Disc 3 "EPs & Rarities" (78:28 minutes):
1. Mud And Dark
2. Summer-Blink
Tracks 1 and 2 Non-LP tracks from the CD single to "Evangeline" released September 1993 in the UK on Fontana CTCD1
3. Winter Wonderland
4. Frosty The Snowman
Tracks 3 and 4 Non-LP tracks from the EP CD "Snow" released December 1993 on Fontana COCCD1
5. Three-Swept
6. Ice-Pulse
7. Bluebeard (Acoustic Version)
Tracks 5, 6 and 7 Non-LP tracks from the "Bluebeard" UK CD Single released February 1994 on Fontana CTCD2
8. Rilkean Heart (2:22 minutes)
9. Golden-Vein (2:49 minutes)
10. Pink Orange Red (4:29 minutes)
11. Half-Gifts (4:15 minutes)
Tracks 8, 9, 10 and 11 are the "Twinlights" EP CD released September 1995 in the UK on Fontana CTCD3. The tracks "Rilkean Heart" and "Half-Gifts" appeared again on the "Milk & Kisses" CD album in March 1996 but in radically altered versions (hence noting the playing times). "Pink Orange Red" first appeared on the November 1985 "Tiny Dynamine EP" 12-Inch Single on 4AD Records BAD 510 as the lead song (4:38 minutes); the version here is different at 4:29 minutes.
12. Feet Like Fins (5:30 minutes)
13. Seekers Who Are Lovers (5:41 minutes)
14. Violaine (5:07 minutes)
15. Cherry Coloured Funk (5:49 minutes)
Tracks 12, 13, 14 & 15 are from the October 1995 UK CD EP "Otherness" on Fontana CTCD4.
NOTE: "Feet Like Fins" originally appeared on the 1986 4AD Records album "Victorialand" with a playing time of 3:26 minutes; the version here is much longer and altered. Both "Seekers Who Are Lovers" and "Violaine" appeared in March 1996 on the "Milk & Kisses" album, but also in radically altered versions (hence the playing times are noted). "Cherry Coloured Funk" was originally on the September 1990 album "Heaven Or Las Vegas" on 4AD Records with a playing time of 3:13 minutes; the version here is extended and different
16. Tishbite
17. Primitive Heart
18. Flock Of Soul
Tracks 16, 17 and 18 are CD-single 1 of 2 for "Tishbite" released March 1996 in the UK on Fontana CTCD5 – Tracks 17 and 18 Non-LP
19. Round
20. An Elan
Tracks 16, 19 & 20 are CD-single 2 of 2 for "Tishbite" released March 1996 in the UK on Fontana CTDD5 – Tracks 19 and 20 Non-LP
Disc 4 "Sessions & Rarities" (50:27 minutes):
1. Smile
2. Tranquil Eye
3. Circling Girl
4. Alice
Tracks 1 to 2 are the Non-LP B-sides to CD-single 1 of 2 of "Violaine" released July 1996 in the UK on Fontana CTCD6. Tracks 3 and 4 are the Non-LP B-sides to CD-single 2 of 2 of "Violaine" on Fontana CTDD6
5. Circling Girl (released 1996 on the compilation CD/Magazine Volume 15)
6. Touch Upon Touch (released 1996 on the compilation CD/Magazine Volume 17)
7. Serpentskirt
8. Golden-Vein
9. Half-Gifts
10. Seekers Who Are Lovers
Tracks 8 to 10 are a BBC Session done for Mark Radcliffe, 12 March 1996)
11. Calfskin Smack.
12. Fifty-Fifty Clown
13. Violaine
Tracks 11 to 13 are a BBC Session done for Robert Elms, 10 April 1996)
The hard-card slipcase box set holds four gatefold card sleeves and a 24-page oversized colour booklet. The distinctive James Isaacs artwork for all the EPs is reproduced, a release date poster for the first album (18 October 1993) and a publicity photo of the Scottish Band looking all Alt-ethereal while CHRIS ROBERTS waxes profundis about this extraordinary band in his April 2018 liner notes. It's all very tasteful and the credits do the contents justice too – crisp, clear, well laid out. Mastering was done by ALEX GORDON at Abbey Road Studios (fab all of it) and the notes rightly point out that two tracks are missing - "Serpentskirt" featuring Faye Yong and the Judge Dredd soundtrack oddity "Need-Fire" –neither of which could appear due to licensing issues.
Can you even categorize what sound Elizabeth Fraser, Robin Guthrie and Simon Raymonde make – is it Scottish moppets do Trio Goth, throw an Ethereal in the mushroom stalls of Sainsbury's, Alternative Rock for lonely thistles, Confuse Inmates in the House of the Bewildered? All I know is that once the Cocteau Twins sound gets its swirling gorgeous hooks into you – you are done for. Take album tracks like "Theft, And Wandering Around Lost" and this box sets title tune "Treasure Hiding" – the only other band that maybe gets close is Dead Can Dance or perhaps the shoegazing of My Bloody Valentine. And what can you say about the utterly extraordinary thing that is Elizabeth Fraser singing. Check out "Ice-Blink Luck" or "Heaven And Las Vegas" on YouTube where fan comments have described her largely indecipherable warbling as like hearing angels singing when you get to Heaven (I’m getting to Heaven?).
You can locate the albums at a reasonable rate and most of the EPs too – but this clumping together makes for a fabulous listen – especially Discs 3 and 4 that feel like long-lost CT classic albums both 4AD and Fontana forgot to issue.
Hidden treasure indeed – get your honeypot-emptied out baby, because you need these musical bumble-bees in your home making all that drab other genre stuff seem unoriginal by comparison...
