release date: Nov. 1993
format: cd (2006 remaster)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,95]
producer: Cocteau Twins
label: Fontana Records - nationality: Scotland, UK
Track highlights: 1. "Know Who You Are at Every Age" (5 / 5) - 2. "Evangeline" (4 / 5) - 3. "Bluebeard" (4 / 5) - 6. "Squeeze-Wax" - 9. "Summerhead" (4,5 / 5)
7th studio album by Cocteau Twins follows three years after Heaven or Las Vegas is much to the band's usual practise recorded and produced by the band. Since then, the band has left 4AD Records around '92 at a time when the label underwent management changes and Cocteau Twins then signed with larger Mercury Records to release music through its sublabel, Fontana Records. Apparently, the album took unusually long time to record - partly because guitarist Robin Guthrie and vocalist Elizabeth Fraser broke up their partnership, which had lasted some 13 years and given them a daughter in '89, and also because Fraser went through what has been described as a nervous breakdown while Guthrie was having troubles with substance abuse. Cocteau Twins had always been on its way playing concerts, recording albums or eps and the money earned was money spent going into studio and technical equipment investments, and easy access to drugs and alcohol hadn't made things easier.
Four-Calendar Café is not "Heaven or Las Vegas Part Two" - something many people had hoped for but the sound has changed, again, you might add 'cause that's what they had always been doing - always on their way bulding their (new) sound. It's a less uptempo album of an ambient feel compared to its acclaimed predecessor and the style has evolved to become more sophisticated with something I initially had mistaken for a touch of 'new age' but really just is a softer and more laid-back type of dream pop. The band members remain the same three but Robin Guthrie's distinct 'dreamy' or shoegaze guitar sound is considerably subdued on this, and then Fraser performs her singing in almost distinctive lyrics.
As many fans, my initial thoughts about this were less than positive, and I neglected the album for quite some time. I must say, however, that in retrospect it's much better than that, and years later, I had changed my verdict and now consider it among their best. The album has a pleasant melancholic feel and a sophisticated sound without being anything but dream pop. It's anything but an attempt to copy the success they experienced with Heaven or Las Vegas and instead represents a natural progression to a new playground of a more delicate sound. The album was reissued and remastered by Robin Guthrie in 2006, still on Fontana.
Recommended.
[ 👎allmusic.com 3 / 5, 👍NME, Q Magazine 4 / 5 stars ]
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| 2006 remaster |
