Sinister: This Mortal Coil, half-remembered

[Michael Jones]

Hello gang...

In my grim, formative years I had a penchant for the foaming pit of
studied melancholia and studio experimentation that was This Mortal
Coil.  Before my lingering 4AD-fetish had finally been extinguished by
one too many Frank Black digipaks in the middle of this decade, I even
persuaded someone who is now a Prominent Listee to obtain for me the
box-set, comprising all three albums and a bonus disc of originals,
from the United States.  It was shortly after this that things rather
fell apart - the originals, in all their hissy, dated glory, so far
surpassed most of the TMC versions, that I vowed never to listen to a
polished, avant-goth reading of a 70s folk-pop obscurity again.

There were three LPs: "It'll End In Tears" (1984) - wherein Lisa
Gerrard and Brendan Perry do their damnedest to turn Ivo
Watts-Russell's pet project into a Dead Can Dance record, and
Elizabeth Fraser wraps her larynx around Tim Buckley and Roy Harper; 
I puzzled for years about the heart-stopping opening lines to "Another
Day", until I discovered that Mad Liz was warbling something like "You
put the kettle on...".  A couple of terrific Big Star covers too, one
with Howard Devoto.  "Filigree & Shadow" (1986) was twice as long, had
lots of nice droney bits, helicopter noises and eerie androgynous
spins on "Come Here My Love" (Van Morrison) and "I Must Have Been
Blind" (Buckley again).  "Blood" (1991) was my favourite record in the
world for a good three months; there's a lot of guitar-waffle on there
and too much of that Shelleyan Orphan woman, so I can't understand
why.  Kim Deal and Tanya Donelly do lovely things with Chris Bell's
"You and Your Sister" (as featured on the Uncut sampler), and
elsewhere there are not-too-bad interpretations of Emmylou Harris and
Mary Margaret O'Hara songs.

Ivo revived the project this year under the name The Hope Blister and,
er, my Mum bought it me for my birthday (true !).  Despite featuring
songs from a couple of my fave records (Sylvian's "Beehive", Cale's
"Paris 1919"), it's not much cop and just features the one vocalist
(Louise Rutkowski).  Thesedays, if it's not New Peruvian ArtStep,
chances are I'm not interested...

Mike.




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