"Unicorn" by Bel Canto and "Heaven or Las Vegas" & "Ivo" by Cocteau Twins

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Anybody else out there love Bel Canto's "Unicorn" and Cocteau Twin's "Heaven or Las Vegas" and "Ivo"?? These 3 songs are so addictive....and perfect for almost any mood. They are hauntingly angellic....ethereal...sublime....

Input anyone? Similar songs? I just had to gush on these...

~Jamie T

― Jamie T, Wednesday, 12 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Did you need to "gush" twice?!

― paul, Wednesday, 12 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The Cocteau's "I Wear Your Ring" is the most addictive song from that album, for me. Those overlapping vocal lines get stuck in my head, cycling constantly ..

― Dare, Wednesday, 12 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

All great songs, though I think "Mornixuur" by Bel Canto from that album (Shimmering, Warm and Bright, for those interested) is just utterly sublime. Both Cocteaus choices make me smile -- from Treasure, I also adore "Lorelei" and "Donimo," from Heaven or Las Vegas, "Fotzepolitic" and "Frou-Frou Foxes in Midsummer Fires," arguably the ultimate Cocteaus song title (but still an incredible images -- midsummer fires, I like that a lot).

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 12 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Hi Paul--

Ok...cut me some slack, man. I tried to post the second time to a difference category in the forum thinking it would file it there--but it didn't. I didn't realize all new questions went to the top. My bad.

~Jamie

― Jamie T, Wednesday, 12 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

that was 'paul' not 'Paul' - just too many of us aren't there
blame that blinded by the light guy... (no, not Springsteen nor Mandred Mann, wiseacres!)

― Paul, Wednesday, 12 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I don't know the Cocteau Twins stuff, but I was surprised to find (when a friend lent me Bel Canto's Shimmering, Warm and Bright a few months back) that I like "Unicorn" quite a lot. It's really not a style that normally appeals to me, but for some reason it clicks, despite the fact that I'm not that keen on the vocalist at all. My other favorite on that album is "Die Geschichte Einer Mutter" (A Mother's Story), which has some really nice use of orchestral samples and a lot of interesting stuff going on. The album as a whole gets a little witchy-witchy-merry-meet for my taste, but I like listening to it anyway, even if some of the lyrics are embarrassing.

btw, interesting that you like "Mornixuur" so much, Ned -- to me, it's always sounded like a particularly uninspired Sting song playing over the credits of a third-rate 1980s fantasy movie...

― Phil, Wednesday, 12 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

(...by which I mean among other things that it sounds like a self-consciously anthemic closer, and so for me, it drags the album down.)

― , Wednesday, 12 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

i dont want to sound queer or anything but i think unicorns kick ass

― chaki, Wednesday, 12 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Since posting a bunch of 4AD recommendations in your other thread, I've thought of a few more:

Dusty Trails - "Est-Ce Que Tu"
Love Spirals Downwards - "Madras"
Low - "Will the Night"
Sugar Plant - "Trance Mellow"

― Curt, Wednesday, 12 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

interesting that you like "Mornixuur" so much, Ned

Heh, hilarious comparison -- yeah, I can see what you're saying. But for me, it's a case where the buttons are perfectly pushed. :-)

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 12 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

These suggestions are awesome...keep them coming! I love the dialogue going on here. I agree that "Unicorn rocks"...as queer as that may sound. Hahahahaha

― Jamie T., Thursday, 13 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

that alisons halo album covers this ground a bit...

― gareth, Thursday, 13 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Just relistened to the Bel Canto which I loved back in 1992. But somehow it did not age too well. As Phil I don't like the singer's voice too much. My favourite track here is Waking Will where she does not sing too high and which did not lose any of its intensity and mystery. No. 2 would be the instrumental Buthania which would fit very well onto Peter Gabriel's Passion. There is an ambient component in this music as well. Unicorn has got some charm but for me it has faded a little. Spiderdust which I loved annoys me now. Mornixuur used to be another favourite but it is a little too simple and straightforward for my taste now.

Concerning similar music I'd propose Shelleyan Orphan with Caroline Crawley singing. She also sings on Blood by the 4AD collective This Mortal Coil.

― alex in mainhattan, Thursday, 13 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

has anyone heard the new or rather 'old' sugar plant record that was only recently made available outside of japan? i really liked 'after hours' but the droney ep didn't do much for me.

― keith, Thursday, 13 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Keith, it's called Dry Fruit. I only found out about it recently on the web, although I think it came out 2 or 3 years ago. You'll be glad to hear that it's a bit closer in style to the poppier After After Hours than to Happy/Trance Mellow, both of which I adore. I would rate it just below either of those two, but still quite good.

― Curt, Thursday, 13 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

three years pass...

OPO Bel Canto: Dewy Fields

― kephm (kephm), Saturday, 13 May 2006 20:42 (nineteen years ago)

fourteen years pass...

Listening to Bel Canto's Magic Box again. When I was a teenager this album was enjoyable but felt to me like a problematic attempt to simultaneously go commercial and chase that trip hop / worldbeat (Transglobal Underground?) money.

It's really only when you haven't listened to something in absolutely ages that, upon returning to it, you can viscerally sense how much your own views have changed. Now, I'm like, "this album is full of bangers, WTF was 15 yr old Tim's issue?"

― Tim F, Thursday, 20 August 2020 09:15 (five years ago)

I've never heard that one but I did listen to Birds of Passage for the first time recently and it's pretty strong throughout, I can't even pick highlights. Shimmering Warm and Bright is flat-out great. I can see lumping this band in with the electronic worldbeat trend you mention, but they stand out from it imo

― Vinnie, Thursday, 20 August 2020 11:08 (five years ago)

Oh yeah the early stuff is definitely its own thing, this is basically what teenage me was being sniffy about

― Tim F, Thursday, 20 August 2020 13:20 (five years ago)

Such wisdom! I stand by all previous thoughts — and Biosphere as well of course.

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 20 August 2020 14:36 (five years ago)

I'll have to check out Magic Box and see how it compares but I suspect I'll like it based on your description

Was not aware of Biosphere, cheers Ned

― Vinnie, Friday, 21 August 2020 00:05 (five years ago)

Bel Canto’s Birds of Passage is perfection. I prefer the pressings that open with “Intravenous” instead of “Look 3”, though

― beamish13, Friday, 21 August 2020 01:06 (five years ago)

"Look 3" is one of the odder tracks on the album, but I kind of like opening with it

― Vinnie, Friday, 21 August 2020 03:37 (five years ago)

"What if Dead Can Dance, but techno" should really be my sweet spot, haven't heard in over 20 years, but I'll bite...

― Extractor Fan (Branwell with an N), Friday, 21 August 2020 07:30 (five years ago)

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