Cocteau Twins were an influential and prolific Scottish band. Cocteau Twins - Early Years. Robin Guthrie (guitar) and Will Heggie (bass), both from Grangemouth, Scotland, formed the band in 1980. At a local disco, Nash, they met Elizabeth Fraser, who eventually provided vocals. The band's influences at the time included The Birthday Party, Sex Pistols and Siouxsie & the Banshees. The name Cocteau Twins itself comes from an early (unreleased) song by Simple Minds. Their debut recording, ...

Including:

• Cocteau Twins - Early Years
• Cocteau Twins - Mid-80s
• Cocteau Twins - Early 90s
• Cocteau Twins - Mid-90s and the breakup
• Cocteau Twins - Discography
• Cocteau Twins - Albums EPs and compilations
• Cocteau Twins - Singles
• Cocteau Twins - Bootlegs

Read more here: » Cocteau Twins: Encyclopedia - Cocteau Twins

1995 saw the release of two new EPs: Twinlights and Otherness. The former consisted of four gentle acoustic songs, recorded with only piano, acoustic guitar and voice; Otherness, by contrast, was a collaboration with Seefeel's Mark Clifford, and featured four electronic remixes of Cocteau Twins' songs. Both EPs were labeled 'experimental' by the press, since they were very different from the EPs the band released in the past. As it turned out, some of the tracks on both Twinlights and Otherness were ...

See also:

Cocteau Twins, Cocteau Twins - Early Years, Cocteau Twins - Mid-80s, Cocteau Twins - Early 90s, Cocteau Twins - Mid-90s and the breakup, Cocteau Twins - Discography, Cocteau Twins - Albums EPs and compilations, Cocteau Twins - Singles, Cocteau Twins - Bootlegs

Read more here: » Cocteau Twins: Encyclopedia II - Cocteau Twins - Mid-90s and the breakup

Their early music was typified by slow and grinding guitar noise, and pounded drums, punctuated by Gira's morbid and violent lyrics, usually barked or shouted. Critic Ned Raggett describes Swans' early recordings as "aggressive beyond words." [1] Their first EP, released on labour, is markedly different from anything they would do later. It is a shocking, paranoid set of songs reminiscent of Joy Division, albeit more violent and slow. Their first full-length release, Filth (1983), featured driving, choppy rhythms and abrasive drums, but Raggett contends that "early Swans really is like littl ...

See also:

Swans band, Swans band - Early Music, Swans band - The Burning World, Swans band - Later Music, Swans band - Discography, Swans band - Studio Releases, Swans band - Live And Other Releases, Swans band - Singles, Swans band - See Also

Read more here: » Swans band: Encyclopedia II - Swans band - Early Music

Robin Guthrie (guitar) and Will Heggie (bass), both from Grangemouth, Scotland, formed the band in 1980. At a local disco, Nash, they met Elizabeth Fraser, who eventually provided vocals. The band's influences at the time included The Birthday Party, Sex Pistols and Siouxsie & the Banshees. The name Cocteau Twins itself comes from an early (unreleased) song by Simple Minds. Their debut recording, Garlands, released by 4AD in 1982, and was an instant success, as was the subsequent Lullabies EP. (In 2005, Deftones released a version of "Wax and Wane" from Garlands, becoming one of the few groups ...

See also:

Cocteau Twins, Cocteau Twins - Early Years, Cocteau Twins - Mid-80s, Cocteau Twins - Early 90s, Cocteau Twins - Mid-90s and the breakup, Cocteau Twins - Discography, Cocteau Twins - Albums EPs and compilations, Cocteau Twins - Singles, Cocteau Twins - Bootlegs

Read more here: » Cocteau Twins: Encyclopedia II - Cocteau Twins - Early Years

Michael Gira's disillusionment with their MCA exploits led to White Light From The Mouth Of Infinity (1991), a successful blending of earlier hard rock and later pop styles. Produced by Gira, the album blended acoustic rock, blues and hypnotic guitar noise successfully, producing an album more complex than anything they had released in the past. This album was followed by Love Of Life (1992 ...

See also:

Swans band, Swans band - Early Music, Swans band - The Burning World, Swans band - Later Music, Swans band - Discography, Swans band - Studio Releases, Swans band - Live And Other Releases, Swans band - Singles, Swans band - See Also

Read more here: » Swans band: Encyclopedia II - Swans band - Later Music

Swans band - Studio Releases. Swans [EP] - (1982) Filth - (1983) Cop - (1984) Young God [EP] - (1984) Greed - (1986) A Screw [EP] - (1986) Time is Money (Bastard) [EP] - (1986) Holy Money - (1986) Children Of God - (1987) New Mind [EP] - (1987) Love Will Tear Us Apart (red) [EP] - (1988) Love Will Tear Us Apart (black)See also:

Swans band, Swans band - Early Music, Swans band - The Burning World, Swans band - Later Music, Swans band - Discography, Swans band - Studio Releases, Swans band - Live And Other Releases, Swans band - Singles, Swans band - See Also

Read more here: » Swans band: Encyclopedia II - Swans band - Discography

The style the group began exploring with Head Over Heels reached its peak on Heaven or Las Vegas, released in late 1990. The most commercially successful of their many recordings, the album rose to the top of the charts immediately after its release. However, despite the success of the record and the tours, not everything was well with the band. They parted ways with 4AD following Heaven or Las Vegas, partly because of conflicts with its founder Ivo Watts-Russell, and were close to breaking up over internal problems due in large part to Guth ...

See also:

Cocteau Twins, Cocteau Twins - Early Years, Cocteau Twins - Mid-80s, Cocteau Twins - Early 90s, Cocteau Twins - Mid-90s and the breakup, Cocteau Twins - Discography, Cocteau Twins - Albums EPs and compilations, Cocteau Twins - Singles, Cocteau Twins - Bootlegs

Read more here: » Cocteau Twins: Encyclopedia II - Cocteau Twins - Early 90s

Will Heggie left the group after the tour that followed the 1983 release of the band's second EP, Peppermint Pig. The band's sound on its first three recordings relied entirely on Heggie's rhythmic basslines, Guthrie's minimalistic guitar, and Fraser's voice; Cocteau Twins' next full-length LP, Head Over Heels, had to rely solely on the latter two. This led to the growth of Cocteau Twins' characteristic sound: heavily affected guitars combined with Fraser's voice, by turns ethereal and earthy. Like its very dissimilar predecessor, Head Over Heels w ...

See also:

Cocteau Twins, Cocteau Twins - Early Years, Cocteau Twins - Mid-80s, Cocteau Twins - Early 90s, Cocteau Twins - Mid-90s and the breakup, Cocteau Twins - Discography, Cocteau Twins - Albums EPs and compilations, Cocteau Twins - Singles, Cocteau Twins - Bootlegs

Read more here: » Cocteau Twins: Encyclopedia II - Cocteau Twins - Mid-80s

The Burning World (1989) was the first and only major label album for Swans. Released on the MCA subsidiary Uni, and produced by Bill Laswell it further added to the acoustic element found in Greed. However the album has been regarded by some fans as a major disappointment, as much of the early line-up was replaced by session musicians and the distinctive heavy guitar element of their earlier work toned down signific ...

See also:

Swans band, Swans band - Early Music, Swans band - The Burning World, Swans band - Later Music, Swans band - Discography, Swans band - Studio Releases, Swans band - Live And Other Releases, Swans band - Singles, Swans band - See Also

Read more here: » Swans band: Encyclopedia II - Swans band - The Burning World