Harold Budd, Simon Raymonde, Robin Guthrie, Elizabeth Fraser: The Moon and the Melodies

The composer Harold Budd, generally celebrated for his "ambient" works and best known, probably, for his collaborations with Brian Eno, died Tuesday from complications of the COVID-19 virus at age 84.  Budd, a native of Los Angeles, was fascinated by jazz heard in the clubs of South-Central Los Angeles and took a course in music theory at Los Angeles Community College.  During a stint in the Army, he played in a band with Albert Ayler, who went on to a gloriously noisy, joyful, and sadly short-lived career before his untimely drowning death in 1970.  Budd then studied at Cal State Northridge and the University of Southern California and, while he influenced by such modern "classical music" figures as John Cage (in attitude if not compositionally), Morton Feldman and Terry Riley, he was profoundly affected by the immense spiritual qualities of the great saxophonist Pharoah Sanders.  After an avant-garde period in his composing, Budd, by the early Seventies, taught himself piano and moved into his ambient avocation, which included his association with Eno by the later part of that decade.

In 1986, Budd moved to London and found he could make a living with his music there and in Europe, rather than in America.  That year, he met the Cocteau Twins, a group ubiquitously labeled as "etheral" and this "unlikely collaboration," as expressed in Budd's website bio, was also his "first foray into popular music."  Purportedly, the composer's admirers were dismayed, but I bought the album when it was released on 4AD in fall 1986 and was very impressed with the merging of Budd's piano and the atmospherics generated by the band, especially on a track like "The Ghost Has No Name" where Richard Thomas (Dif Juz) plays a haunting saxophone accompaniment.  My later interest in ambient electronic music has only added to the appreciation of this fine recording.  It helps, perhaps, not to think of this as a Cocteau Twins album, no more than it is a Harold Budd record, but as a true collaboration.  In fact, Budd and Robin Guthrie, the sonic architect of CT, went on to work together on several subsequent projects and the composer collaborated with such "pop" figures as Jah Wobble, David Sylvian, Andy Partridge and Hector Zazou in addition to his own works.  His eager embrace of other music and musicians, outside of his "genre," was particularly admirable and The Moon and the Melodies is an especially notable example.

Cocteau Twins: Head Over Heels

Can it be 33 years since I first heard the Cocteau Twins on their remarkable compilation and first American release, The Pink Opaque (that was a great record buying day paired with my first listen to another favorite, Cabaret Voltaire, through their EP Drinking Gasoline) and was immediately drawn in to their utterly unique and compelling sound?

Last week, I listened to Heaven or Las Vegas, highlighted here previously, and marking my first listen to any CT music for several years and now I find myself listening to more of their music, buying the new 4-CD boxset Treasure Hiding: The Fontana Years (focusing on their last few years) and purchasing the hefty Facing the Other Way, a history of 4AD, the Cocteaus label for most of their career.

Several of the tracks from the stellar Pink Opaque came from the band's second full-length, Head Over Heels released on 4AD, on Halloween 1983.  At the point, the group consisted of vocalist Elizabeth Fraser and Robin Guthrie, who handled guitars, bass and drum programming, developing a fascinating soundscape for Fraser's stunning vocals, with bassist Will Heggie leaving the band earlier in the year and Simon Raymonde not joining until several months later.

While the debut album, 1982's Garlands was often written-off as a derivative of Siouxsie and the Banshees and a couple of EPs were issued that marked slight changes in sound, Head Over Heels retained some of guitar textures from the debut, but greatly expanded the sonic landscape, while Fraser moved more into a wider palette of vocalizing that was further developed by 1984's Treasure.  The diversity involved making her voice more of a focal point, while Guthrie introduced some acoustic guitar and, on one track, a saxophone, to flesh out the instrumentals.

For many, Treasure and the EPs that came before and after crystallized a classic Cocteaus sound, but Head Over Heels was a giant leap forward from Garlands and tracks like "Sugar Hiccup," "Five Ten Fiftyfold," "The Tinderbox (Of a Heart)," and "Musette and Drums" set the stage for further developments for the group, espcially when Raymonde brought his bass and ideas to complement what Guthrie and Fraser were doing.

Cocteau Twins: Heaven or Las Vegas

This blogger can remember very clearly the surprise--no, shock--at hearing a song from Cocteau Twins on a pop radio station while in a Target store back in 1988.  Having been a fan of the group for a few years by then, it was surreal to find this "cult" group being played along with whatever ruled the airwaves twenty-seven years ago.

The reason was that the band had signed an American record deal with Capitol, while maintaining their English tie with 4AD, and the song heard on the radio, "Carolyn's Fingers," was from the first release under the new deal, Blue Bell Knoll, a fine record.  Not long after, the band toured the U.S. and seeing them live in Hollywood in 1990 was quite an experience.

The next album, Heaven or Las Vegas, is about a flawless a recording as this great band could have made.  The production values were, certainly, better; Elizabeth Fraser's voice was in top form; he lyrics were actually becoming discernible from time-to-time; and the band's approach to writing 3-4 minute (excepting two longer pieces of 5 minutes or so) gems of atmospheric, lush and compelling songs was at its apex.

It's hard to pick highlights on an album so filled with excellent songs.  The opener, "Cherry Coloured Funk" starts with Fraser singing lines in a lower tone before her double-tracked chorus moves to a gorgeous higher register chorus.  "Pitch the Baby" is a shift in sound--simpler, more direct, and less of the ethereal sound that had been the band's trademark with a funkier bass line by Simon Raymonde than had been offered previously.

"Iceblink Luck" is one of the band's better-known pieces, with a sinewy and fluid bass and Robin Guthrie's understated rhythm guitar undergirding Fraser's crystalline vocal and another double-tracked chorus, which actually offers some clearly-heard vocals ("you're really both sad turns" and "that will burn this whole madhouse down", for example.)

As the band began moving more toward sounds that reflected the electronica that was dominating much of the music scene at the time, "Fifty-Fifty Clown," was an example of the growing interest, but with Fraser's voice (again, more double-tracking here to allow high and low register complemented voicings) adding a human warmth that really harmonizes well with the instrumental.

"Heaven or Las Vegas" is a gorgeous song.  It starts off simply and then builds as Fraser's voice soars in the chorus and Guthrie and Raymonde provide that reliable backing to support and rise up with her.  At just under five minutes, the tune is really a masterpiece of putting all the right pieces together, including a very nice bridge and a rare Guthrie solo that fits perfectly with the movement of the piece.

"I Wear Your Ring" is another primarily electronic piece, but here Raymonde's bass stands out with its fluid, flowing line as the dominant instrumental element.  Fraser sings beautifully here, as she moves into that higher-register chorus (yes, double-tracked!) and then a highly-memorable bridge, which is repeated to close out this excellent song.

To this listener this is where the album starts to hit its heights.  "Fotzepolitic" really soars with Raymonde's bass underpinning one of Fraser's prettiest melodies.  Here, the band perfects the basic instrumental underpinnings allowing for Fraser's singing to take center stage, as it needed to do.

"Wolf in the Breast" is a beautiful ballad, with Guthrie's guitar setting the stage for another memorable vocal performance.  A haunting guitar done drifts over the piece to add a little touch of atmosphere and then there the bridge has a rumbling drum machine and a delicate guitar line to add variety to a standout track.

Raymonde's memorable bass line in "Road, River and Rail" really holds the piece together as Fraser sings with great simplicity and mounfulness.  Notably, there are no dominant multi-tracked vocals (a bit of overlapping, though) here at all and this serves the tune well.  Guthrie provides more drone over his trebly rhythm work and it is executed very nicely.

"Frou-Frou Foxes in Midsummer Fires" starts off in a very subdued fashion with a piano line supporting Fraser's higher-register singing and then builds, with stronger drum patterns and more pronounced, if light, rhythm guitar from Guthrie to push the song forward to a little heavier territory, with a softer bridge for a change of pace.

After Treasure, this may be Cocteau Twins' finest record, though some who prefer the pre-1987 phase of the band will offer Head over Heels as a better album.  All said, Heaven or Las Vegas is a real gem from a group that was in its own sonic world for a fifteen-year career of memorable music.

Cocteau Twins: Treasure

In late 1985, the same day the Cabaret Voltaire record, Drinking Gasoline, was purchased at a Music Plus store in Brea, the compilation album (and first U.S. domestic release) The Pink Opaque by Cocteau Twins was added to the acquisition, making it one of those great record buying days, comparable to getting Hüsker Dü's Zen Arcade and Minutemen's Double Nickels on the Dime at one visit or King Sunny Ade's Aura along with Black Uhuru's Anthem or Coltrane's My Favorite Things with Ornette Coleman's The Art of the Improvisers.

What a difference between the industrial sounds of the Cabs and the ethereal, shimmering textures of Cocteau Twins, focusing on the otherwordly vocalizing by Elizabeth Fraser!  Although in one important sense, there may be a major common thread--both created bodies of work that resonated with fans because it was far less about technical mastery of instruments than in setting a mood or an atmosphere that was, in its own way, a form of virtuosity.

Cocteau Twins fans tend to be pretty intense about the band's music and, probably, detractors are equally so about their dislike of it.  Fraser's trilling, swooping chirps, vibrato, and other mannerisms, coupled with evidently nonsensical lyrics, at least until later albums, probably rub many people the wrong way as pretentious and self-conscious.  Robin Guthrie's arrangements could be dismissed as simplistic and overtly romantic.

Yet, admirers could argue that Fraser's vocals are a thrilling combination of otherworldly intonations and soaring beauty, while Guthrie orchestrated a backing sound that perfectly matched her singing, provided you were willing to be drawn in to a sound that really was unusual and unique.

Perhaps none of their records captures the blend of exquisitely mannered vocalizing and an empathetic and complementary instrumental backing as the 1984 album Treasure (though others might argue, persuasively, that 1991's Heaven or Las Vegas is just as skillfully executed.)  After a Gothic debut album, Garlands (1982) that hinted at what was to come and a sophomore effort, Head Over Heels (1983) that was a significant improvement, Treasure was a huge leap forward in the band's development.  The album was recorded in August and September and released very quickly on 1 November 1984.

From the first track, "Ivo", named for the owner of the band's groundbreaking label, 4AD, the lushness of Guthrie's arrangement and the sweeping vocals of Fraser are totally in sync.  What distinguishes the instrumentation from the earlier records was its greater diversity.  While critics and even Guthrie himself often downplayed his guitar skills, "Ivo" reveals him to be quite capable of executing a solid solo.  Excellent as this song is, the followup, "Lorelei", provides a grand scale of power through both Guthrie's playing and Fraser's singing that is a highlight of the record.  There are jazz-like, choral, medieval (something reminiscent of Dead Can Dance--perhaps), ambient and other sounds that make each track stand out from the others and breathe more life into the pieces.  The closer, "Donimo," does what a final track should--it leaves a memorable impression ending on powerful instrumental flourishes while Fraser's vocals soar to the heights after being understated for much of the song.

But, the biggest difference between Treasure and its predecessors is the presence of bassist Simon Raymonde.  He keeps the unearthly flights of fancy grounded and establishes rhythm without showiness, playing just the notes that are needed.  In any band, the guitarist and vocalist get the lion's share of the attention and, while the band was aided here by drum machines, drummers are often right behind.  The odd man or woman out, inevitably, is the bassist, but an excellent one is a steady anchor and Raymonde fits the bill perfectly.

Treasure is generally acclaimed as the Cocteau Twins' best record and it is hard to argue against that sentiment.  The band did go on to make many fine records up until their disbanding in the late 1990s.  Though there was a reunion planned for the Coachella music festival a few years back, Fraser opted out not long after the announcement is made and there is no reason to assume a reunion is possible.  More recordings by this amazing band will be featured here in the future.

Cocteau Twins:  Treasure (4AD, 1984)

1.  Ivo
2.  Lorelei
3.  Beatrix
4.  Persephone
5.  Pandora (for Cindy)
6.  Amelia
7.  Aloysius
8.  Cicely
9.  Otterley
10.  Donimo