The Cranes: c or d?

For what it's worth I don't like them at all - terrible singer, no melodies, cumbersome arhythmic banging-about etc etc

Famously dubbed The Appalling Cranes by the NME. Bit of a cause celebre at MM, which I went along with for a bit.

The first album (whose name I couldn't remember), _Loved_ (a completely different album from their first album), and the new one (whose name I couldn't remember) are good. I was listing three albums, not two.

Quite like "Jewel" (the Cranes' song, not the snaggle-toothed pseudo-folk diva) as well.

I too was at that Rose Bowl show. Mmm, volume.

There was a song they played near the end of their set that featured the guitarist doing horrifically nasty things to his car while the vocalist pitched a petulant fit into her microphone. The only other Cranes song I've heard that is halfway similar to it is "Lillies" (which I know came out several years later); I would love to find out what song that was because it was fantastic. I would describe it as proto-Korn metal (only good) with a pissed-off Strawberry Shortcake coming down off of a PCP binge on vocals.

(Er, on second thoughts, I think it's a couple of hundred miles away at the moment. Similar Sharkboy box, anyone?)

Hm...you DID get that mp3 I have from the same year that has the queasy London version which also goes on forever and has him mentioning the various songtitles from Wish, I trust.

I am sad that this description hasn't made anyone go, "Oh, I know that song, it's '_______'."

Wah!

ATTENTION ILM: Please help me identify this song! Is it "Inescapable", as Ned suggests?

ATTENTION ILM: Please help me identify this song! Is it "Inescapable", as Ned suggests?

It might also be "Give" (off the Inescapable EP) which I remember being a set-closer around the same time.

Cranes song 'Astronauts' from the 'Particles and Waves' album is going to be included in the opening show for the American Super Bowl ! It's on Sunday 5th February and the song will appear during a pre-taped opening tease featuring athletes and actors reciting lines from Dr. Seuss' "Oh, The Places You'll Go."

My favourite Cranes story: when working at the record store one night (possibly a MOLTEN METAL MONDAY) with my friend STV we played some Cranes and a customer yelled "HEY! THIS SOUNDS LIKE MUSIC TO SAW YOUR ARMS OFF TO!" at us from across the store.

amazing ^

I've been playing Forever and Loved all day over here, great fucking albums.

This is the band with that horrible female singer isn't it? I'm with Dr. C on that. Never could stand them for a second, though I certainly met plenty of folks who liked them. I'm surprised they weren't lumped in with the shoegazing thing more, as it seems to me they started in that era, right?

Fuck, I found the song I was looking for at one point but now I can't remember what it ended up being. (It definitely predates "Lillies".)

The mystery song. I say just drop the band a line or something.

This is the band with that horrible female singer isn't it?

I think her voice works a lot better with the dense, heavy, layered songs with plenty of bass. Provides a nice contrast to her wispy, sometimes admittedly grating voice. Whereas, wispy song + wispy voice never worked quite so well for me, with this band.

^^^^ pretty much OTM, they worked much better when they maximized density (which is why Loved is so much better than the rest of their albums).

Not sure I totally agree with this. Some of their wispier stuff, eg. 'Paris and Rome', 'Cloudless', is pretty amazing.

Incidentally, my 50-year-old mother (whose favorite artists are Rascal Flatts, Sugarland, Coldplay and a wide array of contemporary Christian pop/rock) heard a Cranes album in my car this morning (Forever) and *loved* it, especially Alison Shaw's "amazing voice" -- go figure?

(Now then, Bimble, if she can get into it...)

"So Mom, you might like 'Starblood'..."

I think "Starblood" was the song I was looking for...? I need to see if I have a copy of it somewhere.

Yeah I'm pretty sure Starblood was that song. That was the highlight of their show on that 1992 Wish tour.

Been listening to Wings of Joy a lot lately, "Starblood" is incredible as is the rest of the record.

Also, THIS EP COLLECTION IS AMAZING:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/416G2QWQJQL._SL500_AA240_.jpg

A handful of the very best tracks from Wings of Joy, Forever and Loved, plus a ton of early Cranes highlights, EP only material and stuff that's otherwise only available on vinyl. I'm hard pressed to name a bad track on here. LOOOOOOVE.

Yeah, that's a good comp. Never got it cause I had pretty much all the singles and could burn my own version of it (in fact that's a good idea).

New album out next week, you crazy goths.

YOU GUYS

IT WAS "STARBLOOD"

CONFIRMED FACT

Said new album is quite excellent, BTW -- it's easily the most easygoing of their albums yet but the feeling is one of the goth stormclouds hovering high above while the keyboard-led arrangements and gentler performances suggest things like the High Llamas, Young Marble Giants, Broadcast a bit, some minimal techno...it's a nice blend.

Tempted to get this. I assume it's very much in the vein of their last two releases?

Yes, but even more restrained -- it's the keyboards rather than the drums or guitars that provide a lot of the focus this time out, but there's that same sense of rhythmic undertow and slightly ominous edge. But what's nice is that it doesn't feel any less like a Cranes album for that reason. As Alison's voice is unchanged and Jim clearly still listens out for that sense of rhythm and focus first and foremost, it's a very natural course to take.

Why do people hate Population 4? I have all their albums excpet the french concept album((always too expensive)) and while Population 4 is not one of their best,, it has not one bad song and "Sweet Unknown" is arguably their best song,, I think that the This Mortal Coil follow-up Hope Blister covered it and I'm glad that someone else thought that song was special.

Its one of those songs you'll never forget the first time you heard it,, Cranes have had me in pain with the incredible sad beauty of songs like "Tommorrows Tears" and "Paris and Rome",, but with "Sweet Unknown",, it made me feel a way I've never been made to feel by ANYTHING in art or life in general..... I'm a decent person with a pretty clear conscious,,, but that song sounded so astoundingly beautiful and pure that I felt a bit of a shabby person and it made me want to be a better person. WOW!!!

Play that song to a saint and theyll cry and promise to be a better person(((I'm not saying I'm a saint))).

As much as I love Slowdive and Chapterhouse and other bands of that era/scene,, I often think Cranes are better because they are just so incredibly unique that you feel greatful that they exist. If Slowdive did not exist I'm sure someone else would have done something similar to fill that void((not an insult,, I love them to pieces)),, but Cranes worringly could easily never have existed. Scary thought for me.

I played Population 4 once and thought it was the most boring, self-indulgent music I'd ever heard (and I own multiple Sky Cries Mary albums).

Good god. (In re: Sky Cries Mary.)

The dislike for Population Four is one of those things I'll never get my head around. People hating REM's Monster too. Because both those albums, while different from the rest,, it confuses me why people find them offensively different or wrong for that particular artist to have done.
Its like someone trying to tell me my elbows and ankles hate me eternally and have been trying to kill me for my whole life.

Surely one of you like "Sweet Unknown"?

I couldn't tell you anything substantial about any of the songs off of that album; I literally have not listened to it since the day I bought it.

I did get their most recent one off of iTunes and thought it was pleasant.

Just listen to that song. It makes the whole album.

"Lillies" is still a fantastic song, so many years later.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqUjQiQ-YNQ

also "Starblood"

more music should sound like it should soundtrack someone tenderly, lovingly pulling the face off of a kitten

The first concert I went to was Cranes at the 930 Club at the old location on 930 F Street in DC in 1996 and the memory still kind of stings. I went with my then "girlfriend" (beard) and then a week later I went to see them at the Masquerade in Atlanta with my first sort-of boyfriend, a deeply depressed goth boy named Matthew. We drove 6 hours from the tiny Appalachian town we lived in, went to see the show, then drove 6 hours back and I went to work at 8:00 a.m. at the grocery store I worked at.

The smell of the old 930 Club was a *thing*. It smelled of leather and cigarette smoke. I was completely sober and the DC show was the most intense show I have ever been to, and Atlanta was equally strong, but different. I don't know how to feel music that way anymore.

The first concert I ever went to, not just the first Cranes show.

Pop. 4 was terrible. I was in a really low point back then and I was super reliant on music to help me stay sane, and Pop. 4 was like my best friend leaving me.

Around that same time, The Cure's Wild Mood Swings and Tori Amos' From the Choirgirl Hotel came out and I decided I hated music for quite a long time.

Re-listening to their various releases recently made it so much clearer for me how 'Loved' is by far the best thing they ever did (no matter how great the other albums are).

It's been a while since I gave them a spin but from memory Forever just edged it. Agree with Je55e that the rot set in with Population 4.

not really - pop 4 was the end of something (although that disaster came out of nowhere) - when they came back they were quite a different band but their subsequent albums were never less than solid (tho probably not unforgettable)

I'll defend Population 4 forever. Seriously, Listen to "Sweet Unknown", I think it was covered by that This Mortal Coil followup Hope Blister (and a few people on youtube), so someone else obviously loves it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13CmES4-ovA

They are doing a few concerts soon, I doubt I'll ever see them here in scotland.

I've been missing Tragedie for a while, I'm scared to buy it in case the reissues start catching up again.

I have been listening to Cranes a lot this week! They remind me of a dear friend. Alison Shaw has one of those voices that's so distinct that it's really fun to imitate.
They had this one song – blargh this is going to be so vague – that I heard years ago w/like really intense feedbacky outro and she just periodically says "yeah" as the lyrics. Any ID on that one?

It's on Wings Of Joy I know that much

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Dtaw5LxaVE

I only saw them once, in Glasgow on the Wings Of Joy tour and my abiding memory of it was a slightly unusual atmosphere, the audience were being very, very quiet and attentive. It was like you might have expected at a Swans concert, a somewhat solemn and religious crowd.

There were a bunch of English gothy types - that I assumed were following them around - down the front and they were shushing people (needlessly) and giggling, taking the piss, I guess they must have seen it before.

saw them once on a double bill w/Slowdive, an inspired piece of programming

Listening to Wings of Joy in full for the first time in years, possibly even ever (I mostly remember playing "Starblood" over and over and over)

this whole album is an unsettling, amazing artifact

Very fragile, for all the power of "Starblood," and that's part of the thing -- you can tell that they were equally in thrall to pounders like Einsturzende and Swans while still aiming for this incredible restraint and focus at the same time.

Really hope they bring out another record. The reissues stopped after Loved as well.

I got Tragedie at the start of this year and it is really something. Almost like Art Zoyd!

Haven't heard Wings of Joy in a decade - not sure I'd like to, as I remember it to be pretty lifeless compared to what they would do later on.

it is remarkably static, but in great, contemplative, "if I open the closet door I may find my parents' bodies" way

indeed - the cover art captures the feeling quite well. Also at the time they seemed to have a pretty strong obsession with Wenders' 'Wings of Desire': the album title of course, but also I remember them using that film's opening theme as their intro music when walking on stage - and that film is all about observing mundane life from a static and eerily lifeless vantage point.

If you’re looking for something Cranes inspired, I’ve been enjoying an album my ex recorded in 2010:

http://www.rdio.com/artist/Sarah_June/album/In_Black_Robes/

LOL. I just noticed Ned wrote the review for the aforementioned album.

I was about to say, wait a minute!

Tempted to get that last (I guess final?) album of theirs.

FFFFSSSS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89y1QJM6eNs

The version of Starblood completely bangs.

Heading Starblood in the Rose Bowl (when opening for the Cure) will always remain engraved in me

Cool, don't know when I'll watch that but thanks.

I think they said they're working on a ton of stuff but it's been quite a wait. But I'm patient.

Solo EP from guitar/keyboard guy
https://paulsmith.bandcamp.com/album/through-strange-windows

Heading Starblood in the Rose Bowl (when opening for the Cure) will always remain engraved in me

That was definitely an experience.

I saw them live during that tour. Amazing.

18 September 1991

At the end of 1994 my life collapsed around me. Five years earlier I moved to NYC and attempted to make it into the "music biz" with varying degrees of success but i got involved with a person who was a mess and a combination of that and my own immaturity led to an untenable situation. The end result meant that I had no choice but to leave her as well as the city I loved and I thought everything else as well. I did the dreaded "move back with your parents a failure" thing in my mid 20s.

I didn't have a car. I got a job at the Ledo's Pizza walking distance from my parents place, but I didn't have any money for a car and public transportation around then in suburban DC was not the best. So I didn't think I could go to shows but I had an idea: Offer someone who was into music free shows in exchange for rides. I put up a little notice in the laundry room in the apartment complex and somehow someone answered. They didn't know Cranes, but I loved their last album Loved and I was able to snag free tickets from my former life and I bought one for her boyfriend.

It was 2/10/1995 at the 9:30 Club. I saw the band and they were wonderful, but more importantly it was a tiny shred of freedom and joy in music that I had started to take for granted when I was in New York attending 120 shows a year. It also allowed me to have some semblance of a social life, which is not easy when you sleep on your parents floor in your mid 20s with nothing lined up.

In many ways, that was the best show I ever went to. It was just what I needed, just when I needed it. I will always treasure the memory of that show.

Oh, and this is perfect.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CH12Rxvz40

Yeah, in many ways "Lilies" is my platonic ideal of what I want to hear from Cranes.

I never owned any of their albums as a kid, but I must have listened to the Jewel EP with the Robert Smith mix hundreds of times. Been trying to track this one down for ages, I just could never remember the name of the song. Such an awesome version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZdEByzo-8I

yeah I got that EP for free at a show and it could well be my favorite release of theirs

this one's on it, too - i like it a lot more than the heavy version

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BOZDtGIHkM

Can't find the fan forum anymore where I used to check for updates. Hope the new stuff is further along.

Wow I was just thinking of them yesterday and wondering how they spent their days (just can’t imagine Alison Shaw having a normal job). Didn’t know they were working on new stuff

man I wore out the robert smith remix of 'jewel' in college. fell in love after seeing them open for the cure in '92. favorite song on wings of joy is 'thursday'. saw them again in NYC in '97 and it was the worst show i've ever seen

I watched that Luxor performance last night and she spends half the concert trying to hold her hat in place, but it's really good for a camcorder concert.

Sometimes I think they were the best band of their era/generation, on the strength of Loved, Forever, Tragedie and Self Non Self.

anyone here own the Music on Vinyl reissues? Do they sound good?

listened to Cranes on shuffle on Spotify today, and nearly every song was good. lots of good ideas in their music

Yeah. I understand the voice might be a dealbreaker for most but musically (esp arrangements) they were incredible. I love the buzzing drone that underpins most of their stuff, esp on Loved.

New album out today by Irish band Just Mustard who share a lot of Cranes DNA, right down to supporting The Cure. They have some great live sessions on YouTube too. There are a couple of passing mentions of them on ILM but I don't think anyone's yet pointed out this glaring similarity (which of course is a big recommendation!).

Are we taking the early Swans-inspired Cranes or the later dream poppier material?

Early stuff, for sure.

> the early Swans-inspired Cranes

maybe i should check out swans, which i never really have.

I think maybe mid-eighties Swans might be worth checking out, the rhythms have that same flavour as songs like Starblood.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHES9YAGGkU

was ok until the vocals, which were a large part of the appeal of the cranes

Still gods...and now on Bandcamp

https://cranes.bandcamp.com/

2000s albums for now, but various plans are in the works.

Bless’em

Okay, various reissues and things happening...and a 30th anniversary show for Forever, with the original lineup:

https://www.ticketweb.uk/event/cranes-30th-anniversary-show-of-earth-tickets/13090185

Also posted a very nice note about Ray Shulman the other day.

£1.75 for "delivery" of etickets. they need Robert Smith on the case

Just did a lovely near hour long chat with Ms Shaw. Forthcoming Bandcamp piece in a couple of months.

Good. I never did get the album reissues and wondered if there was any particularly good tracks that weren't on the EP collection

Xp Nice! I always wondered about her. Did she go back into civilian life then?

I didn't get full details re what they're all doing now but sounds like everyone found their own particular paths, and that the last few months brought things back together nicely. (There's more news forthcoming but not yet public; the show is I believe a one-off for now at least.)

This sparked a revisit of Wings of Joy (never my fave). I'd forgotten just how beautiful and timeless "Tomorrow's Tears" was.

Yeah that intro remains perfect.

The feature is live!

https://daily.bandcamp.com/features/cranes-alison-shaw-interview-peel-sessions

Thanks

Yer welcome

Forever anniversary gig is tonight. I probably should have listened to the album before coming because it's years since I've listened to it, have mostly listened to their early stuff recently

Jealous

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DfXd2PsSsM

And a new reissue here: Fuse, on vinyl for the first time as well:

https://cranes.bandcamp.com/album/fuse

I never thought this would be reissued

Really remarkable to see it. I think any further reissues after that would have to go through Cherry Red because I gather they have access to the Dedicated releases (which explains the Chapterhouse box from the other year), but I think that's still in the works. We'll see what follows next!

Really excited to see them in May

Saw them last night. The songs are still a joy but the band was pretty rough. Often out of sync and missing cues. But they nailed Starblood. Hope they can play a few more shows and shake things off.