4.52am Issue: 032 4th May 2017 The Little Triggers Issue

TAPED: 1984
Cocteau Twins & Japan
One of the great loves of my teenage
years was an array of gradually improving
Walkmen, a horrendous amount of
headphones that always broke at the
plug, and a suitcase full of batteries
whenever I went away. The Mix Tape
was king, and then the bootleg when
concerts took over my head, heart and
wallet. But the tape was always there,
and one of the joys of the renaissance of
vinyl and along with it the fact that there
is something to have, hold and read while
you listen to that new band you have
discovered, is that there is an artefact
that is yours to keep and that along with
vinyl, the humble cassette tape has
hitched a ride. I hate to think how many
digital songs I’ve ‘lost’ over the years, but
there are tapes and records that go back
aeons that can still make me smile.
‘Hatful of Hollow’ on cassette is the sound
of a million bus rides to me, and always
will be.
And call me sad, old and mid-lifey if you
like, but in recent times I’ve been
collecting cassettes again, not just of the
old music – although that I definitely
have done – but also of new music that
is getting small releases, and I have to
say that I am loving it. The Good Good
Blood album we reviewed last week is a
classic in the truest sense and better than
90% of everything I’m hearing at the
moment, and I am probably guilty of
understatement at that.
However this morning the tapes I am
listening to as I write this drivel are
both from 1984 – I was 16 if not sweet
– and hearing them again especially on
an analogue, slightly hissy format is
almost chilling, not least because it
showed the explosion of one band and
probably the bracketing of another.
In ‘Treasure’ the Cocteau Twins were
probably at their most opulent. The
gritty clanging noise of ‘Garlands’ far
behind them, Raymonde and Guthrie
had grown to create a perfect backdrop
for Liz Fraser’s voice which they
continued to equal, but I don’t think
ever surpassed. This for me was their
perfect album and listening on cassette
makes you even more aware of how
good it was.
The second is the first (I think) of the
seminal Japan’s best-ofs, ‘Exorcising
Ghosts’. Again the format adds a slight
grit to the beauty and urgency of the
tracks and makes you appreciate the
bass lines as well as the hovering layers
of synth. But it is David Sylvian’s other
world lounge lizard voice that still sells
the chills. As for Auto-reverse, don’t get
me started.