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Lloyd Cole (Jan. 31, 1961), born in Buxton, Derbyshire, United Kingdom. He is an English singer / songwriter who became famous for his leading role in the Scottish formed pop / rock, indie pop band Lloyd Cole and The Commotions (1984-89) while studying philosophy and English at the University of Glasgow. Their debut album Rattlesnakes (1984) is handed 4,5 out of 5 stars at allmusic.com. The band only released three albums together before Cole moved to USA and initiated his solo career. With The Commotions, Cole faced commercial success as all three albums sold either Gold or Platinum and the second studio album Easy Pieces (1985) peaked at number #5 on the British albums chart. The band also faced critical acclaim but it peaked with the debut, and the third album wasn't well-received by the press. Musically, Cole started his solo career very much in style with what the band had released in an indie pop / rock singer / songwriter territory. The debut was attributed some attention, both commercially (Gold in the UK) and critically, but he hasn't really met the same success as with his former band. The singer / songwriter genre is the collecting genre one may attribute all of his solo releases but he has touched on various styles moving from a pop / rock universe of indie to more folk-oriented music. I think, my first musical experience with Lloyd Cole was either Easy Pieces or Rattlesnakes by Lloyd Cole and The Commotions. I was very disappointed with the third studio release but I immediately bought his solo debut upon its release, as I did with the following solo album before tiring somewhat of his music. As a solo artist, I think, he peaked in the early 1990's with his first two solo albums and the overlooked beautiful Love Story (1995), before releasing minor and less interesting albums for some time, but recently he has made at least two fine albums with the more folk rock country rock singer / songwriter album Broken Record (2010) and Standards (2013), both of which have made me listen with interest to his music again.
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