987 This Mortal Coil - Blood (1991)

987 This Mortal Coil - Blood (1991)


Double studio album - Dream Pop



About the Act:

This Mortal Coil were a British "music collective". The official "Members" were Ivo Watts-Russell who founded new wave record label 4AD, and John Fryer, but their recordings featured a large revolving cast of guests, primarily from bands on the 4AD label but not exclusively. They produced three studio albums between 1984 and 1991.

About the Album:

This double album was the third studio album by the music collective This Mortal Coil. It features a plethora of musicians. Vocals are mostly by Alison Limerick, Caroline Crawley, and Dierdre Rutowski. 

My History with this Album:

None

Review:

Wow. It is not possible to get more different from the previous album reviewed, which was Guns 'n' Roses. This is going to be hard to describe. Airy, spacey, ethereal, minimal, downtempo. OK, not that hard. This is a double album of songs, almost all sung by female vocalists of the mellow and spacey variety. The instruments are mostly classical strings and synth pads, and the predominant feeling is of emptiness and dreaminess. It floats like a feather in a mild breeze and demands absolutely nothing. This would be really good music to go to sleep to. Occasionally there are percussion sounds, but usually low in the mix, and the beats are slow. Sometimes there are snatches of sound effects, one track has an extended section of a baby burbling to itself. Sometimes it's quite unusual musically.

This is nothing like I expected. I expected bitter goth darkness, angst and maybe anger. There was a boy in my class at school who followed cutting-edge music with great fervour. First he was into heavy metal, then punk, then new wave. I'm sure he had a "This Mortal Coil" badge for a while. Maybe that's why I expected something different. 

It's long and slow and it draws you in. It's apparent simplicity is deceptive, this is not that straightforward to carry off. It breathes. It's not so much melancholy as wistful. Do I like it? Yes. Do I love it? Well kind of, a bit. In the right mood it could wash over me like a shower of feathers. It is not a good album to listen to if you want to stay awake.

7.8/10



Spotify:
Youtube:
Wikipedia:


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

840 Various Artists - The Best of Girl Groups Volumes 1 and 2 (1990)

Image
 840 Various Artists - The Best of Girl Groups Volumes 1 and 2 (1990) Compilation (double) - Girl Group (Soul/Bobby Soxer/Do-Wop) About the Album: This is a highly acclaimed compilation in 2CDs by Rhino Records. It's the sort of thing that in this country you might expect to see at 3.99 in a Garden Centre. My History with this Album: None Review: There are not many multi-artist compilations in this series for reviewing. There is not information about it on Wikipedia, but the reception seems to have been positive. It is choc-full of hits with a smattering of lesser-known songs, and it's hard not to imagine Grease or similar situations - girls with cardigans and white socks, listening to the juke box while sipping milkshakes in the drug store. On one level it's a fun collection of songs that you could use to feel nostalgic, or as the music for a themed party. On another level it's kind of like a cultural artefact. I feel honour-bound to describe it, even though if I drop
Read more

944 Manu Chao - Próxima Estación Esperanza (2001)

Image
 944 Manu Chao - Próxima Estación Esperanza (2001) Studio Album - World Music About the Act: Manu Chao is a French-Spanish musician of Spanish descent who grew up on the outskirts of Paris. In the mid-80s he was in a Spanish/English rockabilly group called Hot Pants. In 1987, with his brother and cousin he founded the band Mano Negra, combining punk and world music influences and playing on the Paris Metro. This band took off and had 4 studio albums. In 1995 Manu "went solo", forming the band Radio Bemba Sound System to be his backing band. The punk elements were less prominent, but he started to make music that "replicates the sound of street music and bar scenes from a variety of cultures". He has been really popular in parts of Europe.  About the Album: This album was Manu Chao's second studio album as a "solo" artist. In Spanish, the name means "Next Station: Hope", after a real station on the Madrid Metro. The album reached top 10 slots
Read more

591 Harry Smith, Ed. - Anthology of American Folk Music (1952)

Image
 591 Harry Smith, Ed. - Anthology of American Folk Music (1952) Compilation Album - Americana About the Act: Harry Smith is not the performer here, he is the collector. He was a film-maker, occultist, and eccentric. About the Album: Harry Smith had a collection of early 78rpm records of various "folk" styles dated from 1927 when such things first started to be commercially available to 1932 when the Great Depression put a stop to the sales of folk records. In 1947 he approached a label, Folkway Records, about releasing a collection of them transferred onto LPs. This they did in 1952, without seeking copyright permission, making this technically a bootleg. It was released as three double-LP boxed sets, and sold very poorly. In the first year it sold 50 copies, 47 to libraries and colleges. It was reissued later, and gained traction and sold better. It now has a reputation for being one of the most influential compilations in the history of Americana, and is cited as being a ma
Read more