Cocteau TwinsLullabies

Label:

4AD – bad 213

Format:

Vinyl , 12", 45 RPM, EP

Country:

UK

Released:

Genre:

Rock

Style:

Indie Rock

Tracklist

A1 Feathers - Oar - Blades 4:30
A2 Alas Dies Laughing 3:38
B It's All But An Ark Lark 8:06

Companies, etc.

  • Phonographic Copyright ℗4AD
  • Published ByBeggars Banquet Music
  • Recorded AtPalladium Studios
  • Mixed AtBlackwing Studios
  • Lacquer Cut AtTape One
  • Pressed ByMPO

Credits

  • EngineerJohn Madden (6)
  • Engineer [Uncredited]John Fryer
  • Lacquer Cut ByBilBo (3)
  • Performer [Uncredited]Will Heggie
  • Producer [Production]Ivo*
  • Sleeve23 Envelope
  • Written-ByCocteau Twins

Notes

℗ 1982 4 A.D.

Track A1 is titled Feathers Oar-Blades on the label.
Track B is titled All But An Ark Lark on the back cover.

Track durations are not printed on the release. Runout text is etched.

Barcode and Other Identifiers

  • Matrix / Runout (Side A): MPO BAD 213 A1 BilBo.TAPEOne
  • Matrix / Runout (Side B): MPO BAD 213 B1 BilBo.TAPEOne

Other Versions (3)

View All
Title (Format) Label Cat# Country Year
New Submission
Lullabies (12", 45 RPM, EP, Maxi-Single) 4AD 151.089 Netherlands 1982
Lullabies (12", 45 RPM, EP, Test Pressing) 4AD BAD 213 UK 1982
Recently Edited
Lullabies (CD, EP, Reissue) 4AD BAD 213CD UK 1991

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Reviews

  • maxal's avatar
    maxal
    “If ya got a box, you gotta open it.” – A Pan Door

    It’s all but an ark lark.

    Lullabies is a remarkable 4ad 12” EP. The sound emerged from nowhere, hardly giving hint of what Cocteau Twins would bring. The cover image, the dancer and the lily; this the soil, the roots of it all.

    The three songs are sort of litanies, chants, complex repetitions, musically and vocally interweaving, on and on. With Heggie’s resounding bass, thrashing drums, scratching harps (?) and twanging strings. I can’t help but imagine the songs are entreaties to something. Calling something, weaving into creation.

    The first 40 seconds of Alas Dies Laughing is intoxicating string work, sour notes entwine, create something strange, then Liz sings . . .

    It’s All but an Ark Lark is the track I played the most (I wonder what that says of me). It doesn’t have the immediate beauty of Alas’s intro, its power is more relentless, it goes on for ever. It still has me mesmerised as I listen to it now. Liz trilling, the drum beating and whipping, the strings twanging and screeching.

    Below are what I found of the lyrics. I can hear some of it (and understand a bit), but I also hear other things. Such as: instead of, “All for my” [repeated], I would always hear “Open my, open my open my . . . “ as in illuminated eyes (in Ark Lark).

    Alas Dies Laughing
    Flaxen, the dress is born
    Crush a crushing stone
    Tie a starching walls
    Wake takes a mumbling form
    Wake takes a mumbling form

    Flaxen, the dress is old
    Fingers, this dress is tied
    Tie a starching walls
    Wake takes a mumbling form

    It's All But An Ark
    Heel to toe to hair and hoof
    And it’s head over heels
    And it’s all but an ark-lark
    Kicked all from my curtsies
    This mockingbird
    My lullabies

    It's all for my
    All for my
    All of my
    All of my
    Charisma
    Charisma
    Charisma
    Charisma

    It's all for my
    All for my
    All of my
    All of my
    Charisma
    Charisma
    Charisma
    Charisma

    Barking, biting amongst ourselves...

    It's all but an, all but an ark lark [All but a Catholic joke?]
    • harken23's avatar
      harken23
      My copy has the A side listed as "It's All But An Ark Lark" on the disc label, and "All But An Ark Lark" on the sleeve.
      And "Feathers - Oar - Blades" on the sleeve, unlike the note (no dashes on the disc label).

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