La-la-laaaa-la-la-laaaaaaa

Continuing my trip back through the 1986 album charts

20/04/86 : Victorialand - Cocteau Twins

Well, this is a very pleasant surprise! Although, having said that, I usually find a whole album of their stuff to be a little too much - this is our second visit with them and last time I didn't give them a decent listen, so let's do better this time.

Yeah, there are some gorgeous sounds on there and I'd say that overall it's not quite as same-y as I feared - it's also only 31 minutes long so there's little danger of it outstaying its welcome. And, well, that's all I've got to say about it really - if you're not aware of the Cocteau sound then check it out because it's certainly not your average bear, but I'm not the person to attempt to explain how this is better or worse than any of their other albums.

We're at #10 in the charts this week with a new entry on the start of a seven week run - this is their second most successful album (after Heaven Or Las Vegas). The top five this week were Bryan Ferry/Roxy Music (a new entry about to start a run of five weeks at #1), Hits 4, Dire Straits, Whitney Houston and A-ha with the next highest new entries being Chris Rea (#11) and Siouxsie & The Banshees (#13 - it's a shame I didn't get to listen to that). 

For a change, Wikipedia has a reasonable amount of interesting content - it's their fourth album and was recorded without Simon Raymonde, the band's bassist. So, unsurprisingly, Liz Fraser and Robin Guthrie decided to go ahead without any bass on this album. The album's title refers to an area of Antarctica claimed in the name of Queen Victoria and some of the track titles come from the book accompanying David Attenborough's 1984 series - perfectly random! But, most unusually of all, the album played at 45rpm because apparently there were "difficulties in the mastering process in reproducing the minimal soundscapes" - I guess that explains the short run-time. The critics were nice enough about it, but unsurprisingly it didn't do anything away from these shores - it's hard to imagine your average American having any time for such fey nonsense.

"Customers also listened to This Mortal Coil, Dean Can Dance, Tarnation and Sun's Signature - I've heard some of the first two, but that's all I've got there. I didn't mind this album, but I'm still not sure how much Cocteau Twins anyone really needs in their lives.

13/04/86 - Not his best, but not his worst
27/04/86 - Well, at least he sounds happy