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JazzDigger Home > G - Jazz Artists > Michael Garland > Item 18
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Garlands
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by Cocteau Twins
Price:$1.00
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Listener Reviews & Comments
This was the first major album to be released by the Cocteau Twins and, ironically, the last to cross my ears. Having begun my exploration of their music with the singles boxed set, and proceeding with their middle to later works, Garlands was always hovering just out of audible reach. But now that I finally own it, it is comforting to see that, aside from some comparatively primitive drum programming (I mean that in no derogatory sense...it is simply a technological sign of the times), there is still present the vivid timelessness that pervades all of their work. Elizabeth Fraser's voice is youthful, full of vibrancy and frustration, but by no means immature. Even then, her statements, however incomprehensible they may have been (on an exoteric level at least), carried their weight with palpable confidence. Fraser's utilization of rapid vocal fluctuations has a haunting effect (a technique which progressively gave way to a wider range of vibrato experimentations), and her ululant cries still resound with as much power as they ever did. "Wax and Wane" is a definite standout on this album, the afore-mentioned technique being displayed quite extensively and with an avian precision. "Shallow Then Halo" and the title track are also very intriguing, sounding like darkened folk-songs from a torn northern country. The album closes with "Grail Overfloweth," a mournful statement full of gorgeous half-tones that lingers long after it is finished. Having never heard the original album, I cannot compare it with the newly remastered version, but as with any such dichotomy, the former always has a wonderful archival flavour to purists that is undeniably resplendent, so I would imagine that both have their merits. Garlands is a concise album which speaks of much more than it seems. It is filled with raw emotion, throbbing bass lines, and a wonderful texture of pain. It may be a challenging listen to the CT initiate, but certainly one worth taking. This is the ritual that blossomed into its own religion...
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Garlands
by Cocteau Twins
Price:$1.00
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